Music
Press
It's difficult to describe this project without making it sound like a novelty. Put simply, VFF makes instrumental Rock music with copius amounts of dialogue from the original Star Trek series. As hopelessly nerdy as that sounds, the music on Stardate Unknown places it light years beyond the throwaway gimmick that even the best description might imply. The quotes interplay with the tempo and intenseity of the songs, arranged with such brilliance that even non-Trekkies would have a hard time not enjoying it. The dialogue is selected so that each song is an ode to the episode it was borrowed from, often with narrative continuity. Like the show, the songs are a compelling mix of action, suspense and innuendo, providing a shot of nostalgia for anyone who remembers the original series. Musically, it ranges from heavy Stoner Rock to more ambient and Techno sounds with lots of overlap. Atop a mix of live and sampled drums, reverberating bass and chiming guitar provide a constant organic counterpoint to the electronic percussion and keys. The tunes are also sprinkled liberally with sound effects from the show: tricorder chirps, phaser blasts and that unmistakable whoosh of the Enterprise's automatic doors. Aside from outstanding composition and performance, the other aspect that makes Stardate Unknown so surprisingly tasteful is reverence for the source material. Let's just hope the next album isn't full of quotes from The Next Generation. (Ezra Waller) Grade: A - Citybeat april 11-17 2007
Discography
Stardate Unknown, 23 tracks, all available at vulcansrock.com for streaming or download. added to over 160 college stations over the summer, top 10 requests over 20 stations
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Bio
Stardate Unknown plays audio homage to Gene Roddenberry's classic vision of the future. Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of its air date, Vulcan Freedom Fighters Christopher Haines, and "The Captain" Brandon Wiggins, spent 3 months writing, recording and watching a lot of Star Trek in Barcelona, Spain. The result of their efforts blends ambient space rock, trekno overatures and stoner-based riff rock with sound FX and dialog from the original series. Allman Bros. & Govt. Mule touring blues harp vet, Hook Herrera, showed up at the sessions and contributes to 5 tracks while AC/DC, DCFC, Vic Mackey, The Sopranos, Metallica & Lars' Dad appear occasionally in sampled spirit. With 23 tracks and an hour of music, the Vulcan Freedom Fighters may have gone boldly where no band has gone before or should necessarily go in the future, but they've emerged from the studio with a disc that's worth checking out.
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