“These guys aren’t like anything you’ve seen or heard before…I saw Phenomenauts play in both New York City and San Francisco; each time the place was jam-packed with people chanting “Science and honor!” A few dozen were dressed as robots, and endless streams of chicks looked like they’d just landed in from an R-rated Jetsons episode. Fanfare of that sort doesn’t happen by coincidence.”
- Thrasher
“A band that lives, loves and rocks on the grand scale of the cosmos ”
- SF Weekly
“This is a band that NEEDS to be experienced live, by everyone.”
- Punknews.org
High Resolution Graphics: [PRESS DOWNLOADS]
Members: Ensign Ion Malidée (keyboards/chaos theory), Major Jimmy Boom (drums), Commander Angel Nova (guitar/vocals), Leftenent. AR7 (guitar/vocals), Professor Greg Arius (keyboard/effects), Atom Bomb (bass)
Press: Talia Miller | PRawr – taliaPRawr@gmail.com (571) 225-0698
Booking (USA): Dave Romano – dave@covertbooking.com
Booking (Europe): http://www.phonocaster.com/
Label/Promo: avi@silversprocket.net
Legal: Lee Rudnicki, Esq. – DrumLaw80@gmail.com
Management/Interviews: Phenomenauts@Earthlink.net
Next Release:
From Earth’s capital of Oakland California, THE PHENOMENAUTS are set to boldly make the leap from the stage to the page with their very own comic book, Adventures In The Third Dimension, a 48-page collection of stories written by Rich Fogel, a legend (and Emmy Award winner) for his work on TV-shows like Pinky and the Brain and Batman Beyond. The comic features artwork from notables like Erica Henderson (Venture Bro’s), Mitch Clem (Nothing Nice to Say/My Stupid Life), Nicholas Kole (Disney/Dark Horse), Claire Hummel (X-Box), and Chris Wisnia (Slave Labor Graphics), an comes with a 7” vinyl EP of the group’s latest hits, I Am (Not) Robot and Particle Accelerator.
Official Bio:
The Phenomenauts perform a science-fiction inspired mix of punk rock, garage and new-wave. Combined with compelling antics and theatrics, the group’s message is a call to arms to defenders of science and honor across the galaxy, dealing with the serious implications of science fiction, science fact, and offering new perspectives on Earth life as we know it.
Conceived in the amazing year 2000, the group got early recognition as the East Bay’s craftiest and bravest band for their now infamous commando-style performances in which they would set up in front of large music venues such as the legendary Fillmore and perform rollicking sets powered by car batteries for unsuspecting crowds. These early “missions” landed them on the cover of multiple bay area publications, including The San Francisco Weekly, The East Bay Express and Independent Musician Magazine.
Now with three full lengths and countless USA and European tours under their tactical belts, the band’s success has steadily progressed to include music videos with over half a million views, commercial and college radio airplay (charting on the CMJ top 25), collaborations with NASA, and social activism through humorous shenanigans.
For The Phenomenauts, “Science And Honor” isn’t just a catchy slogan but a way of life. “We like having a good time,” said Commander Angel Nova, “But it is especially great when we can trick someone into learning something.”
A critical part of the Phenomenaut experience has always been their live show, during which the band proudly displays their ever-evolving arsenal of homemade “Phenoma-gadgets.” The Theramatic Helmerator, or “top of AR7-Bot’s head,” contains a wireless Theremin that creates Sci-Fi sounds reminiscent of old Star Trek episodes. The Streamerator, manned by Professor Greg Arius, blasts rolls of toilet paper out into the audience, bringing them in as part of the show. Clouds of CO2 envelop the crowd while rockets launch from the Rocketerator. Inflatable models of Earth even hover above the band as they play the crowd favorite “Earth is the Best” using vortex technology swiped from The Smithsonian. These cleverly crafted devices add to the mystique and cult appeal of the band and are just some of the gems one can expect in the live spectacle.
With a band name that means, “to pilot an unusual experience,” it’s no wonder they travel in a mode of transportation true to that description. They have customized their own fleet of Phenoma-vehicles bringing their space age image to the streets. Littered with electronic gadgets from the late 20th Century such as remote controls, stereo components, and motherboards of defunct computers, they are easily mistaken for pieces of electrical equipment turned inside out, and never fail to turn heads on the highway. Catching a glimpse of one of these ships is truly an unforgettable experience.
When they are not touring the galaxy, their ships dock at the top-secret Command Center, located in the industrial heart of Earth’s Capitol, West Oakland, CA. It is the center of The Phenomenauts’ universe and serves as home, rehearsal studio, and think tank for all things related to the band, as well as location of their infamous parties. The Command Center was featured on the Discovery Channel, a three-page spread in Fat Mike’s (NOFX) magazine Punk Rock Confidential, and appears in the independent feature film Punk Rock Holocaust.
The Phenomenauts were honored with a private tour of NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, which included meetings with astronauts, scientists, and hands-on experience with space station parts and training facilities. Believed to be the first punk song ever to be broadcasts from space, the single “Infinite Frontier” was played aboard the International Space Station as the first wake-up call of the STS-124 mission in 2008.
On May 21st, 2011,The Phenomenauts decided to prank the infamous Family Radio organization which predicted the “rapture” for May 21st. With a bus-full of fans, the band staged a rapture of their own in front of the Christian radio station’s headquarters by releasing a flock of helium filled blow-up dolls into the heavens (tied to fishing-wire to avoid littering the planet). The prank was covered on television news-programs world-wide by ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and got the band’s photo into 4,855 newspapers with help from the Associated Press and Reuters wire services. “We’re just poking fun at people who still believe in ‘bronze age’ fairy tales about floating people and stuff, and we’d like to gently convince them to believe in science,” explains Phenomenauts front-man, Commander Angel Nova. “In a super-modern age of satellites and cell phones and television, it’s kind of silly to be thinking of people floating away or sprouting wings.”
To date, The Phenomenauts have toured the world with the likes of The Slackers, Aquabats, Demented Are Go, The World/Inferno Friendship Society, The Briefs, The Toasters, The Epoxies, The Frustrators (Green Day side-project) and had their own “Space Station” stage for two years of the Vans Warped Tour. The band has trekked the states on numerous headlining tours with support from acts like The A.K.A.’s, Teenage Bottle Rocket and Kepi Ghoulie. Music videos have been featured on the front-page of YouTube and Myspace, along with television appearances on MTVu, G4 Tech TV, The Discovery Chanel, SyFy (Sci-Fi) Chanel and Cinimax.
Be prepared as The Phenomenauts help keep us focused and guide us through the turbulent waters of what the future might become. If we follow their lead, things might turn out alright.
Discography:
Rockets And Robots (CD, 8-Track, 2000 Arlington Lab Records/2002 Springman Records)
Mission Transmission (7” 2003 Springman Records)
The Rocky Horror Punk Rock Show (CD, 2003 Springman Records)
Pre-Entry (EP-CD, 2004 Springman Records)
Re-Entry (CD & 2x 10″ LP, 2004 Springman Records)
Punk Rock Holocaust (DVD, 2004 Springman Records)
Beyond Warped Live Music Series (Dual Disc, CD, DVD 2005 Immergent Records)
2005 Van’s Warped Tour Official Comp (CD, 2005 SideOne Dummy Records)
Backyard City Rockers Vol. 4 (CD, 2005 Smelvis Records)
Dog Train (CD, Book, 2005 Workman Publishing)
Go Cat Go! A Tribute To the Stray Cats (CD, 2006 Hairball8)
For All Mankind (CD, 2008 Silver Sprocket)
Adventures In The Third Dimension (Comic Book + EP, 2012 Silver Sprocket)
And many more compilations…