The end is nigh!
That is the message of the Sky Captains of Industry, who come from the future to warn us about the apocalyptic wasteland of mutants and robots to come. Armed only with their musical instruments, the group’s three time-lost rockers say they have journeyed from the year 2265 to reveal the future through song. They will do so with performances at the Way Station on July 17 and at the Knitting Factory on July 27, but they worry that their cautionary efforts might not pay off.
“Can we save you?” asked bassist Tommy Jettison, who adopted the name Don Schlotman to fit in better with people of our time. “Can we warn people to change their ways?”
The trio, which also includes guitarist Frankie Quasar (known as E.W. Harris) and drummer Philter Waves (Phil Harris), play songs about fighting shark monsters, falling in love with mutant mermaids, and meeting time-traveling cavemen. The group sets their tales of the future to music influenced by David Bowie, Pink Floyd, and Queen, whose albums they discovered inside of an old jukebox robot, they say. The band members hope that their soulful rock will appeal to people of the present, while also influencing them to pay more attention to global issues like the environment.
“People thought we didn’t need science funding where we’re from,” Quasar said. “That didn’t work out so well.”
The Sky Captains also hope that their songs convey the message that people are all more or less the same.
“Whether someone is a mutant alligator or a mermaid, we’re all humans,” Jettison said. “Even the mutants. We’re all the same whether or not we have tentacles.”
Despite the apocalypse, life in 2015 is not so different from life in 2265, they say. The biggest difference, said Jettison, is cuisine.
“People aren’t trying to eat you as often,” said Jettison. “It’s nice.”
The Sky Captains of Industry at The Way Station [683 Washington Avenue between Prospect Place and Saint Marks Avenue in Prospect Heights, (347) 627–4949, www.wayst
