PILOTS OF BAALBEK - BY THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS - 12" LP (OUTTASPACE)
PILOTS OF BAALBEK - BY THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS - 12" LP (OUTTASPACE)
Limited to 150 copies
Posting now!
READY FOR TAKEOFF: PILOTS OF BAALBEK’S NEW ALBUM IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!
Greetings, earthlings!
WAAAAY back in 2021, we dropped a not-so-small hint we’d like to release a record by Canberra space punkers PILOTS OF BAALBEK. Kaptain Adamski (Adam Agius, founding member of legendary prog-metal band ALCHEMIST; ex-LEVITATION HEX) and his crew crash-landed at the ACT’S semi-annual Punknats festival before pandemics were even a thing. We could have flown to the moon and back in the time it took to make our dream a reality, but fasten yer seatbelts tight and low, kids, because BY THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS is here on glorious, 140-gram black vinyl, and it’s a match made in ROCK’N’ROLL HELL!
This is your Kaptain speaking: “I was sort of contemplating what I wanted to do musically,” says Adamski, from PILOTS OF BAALBEK’s HQ/hangar.
“I was a little bored with extreme music and so decided to investigate the music that made me want to be a musician in the first place: rock’n’roll, proto-punk and heavy metal. I just sorta slipped back in time and started having heaps of fun doing it so it’s my main gig now.”
Joined by Mistress of Arms Melinda Walker (guitar and vocals), Wing Walker Leah Walker Mollsuso (bass) and Astro Navigator Lachlan Paine (drums), these deadset space cadets (and “fully qualified weirdos”, according to Kaptain Adamski) have clocked up thousands of frequent flyer points in bands such as PAGAN BABIES, CONTRARY MARY, POD PEOPLE, LOOKING GLASS, FROZEN PLANET and CELL BLOCK 69.
PILOTS OF BAALBEK’S debut 2020 record UNCONTROLLED AIRSPACE (digital; compact disc) was recorded and mixed at the Brewdio, Kaptain Adamski’s space place in the nation’s capital. It is an indie cosmic delight, with maximum riffage and shit-hot cover art by Aussie muso and punk artist to the stars Mike ‘Fox’ Foxall (NANCY VANDAL; THE NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION; SICK FIZZ) aka THE ART OF FOX. (You can watch Fox’s clip for OFF THE PLANET here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTuhG8kNVN8).
The band chose Fox again for BY THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS, which was laid down in the same studio. Kaptain Adamski explains the control setup: “We record through an antiquated HD Pro Tools system with some vintage analog preamps: API, Universal Audio, Solid State Logic, and some great tube compressors — Tube-Tech and dbx.
“It’s a small room so we record drums live and then separately track everything else. Everything is compressed through the analogue tube compression and then a little reverb and delay,” Adamski says. “No EQ.”
Sharing stages with international and local artists such as NASHVILLE PUSSY and WITCHSKULL, as well as OUTTASPACE label mates THE DUNHILL BLUES, THEE CHA CHA CHAS, THE WARTS and SPACE BOOZZIES, 2024 is starting with a bang for PILOTS OF BAALBEK: “[We wanna] play as many gigs as possible, start writing new tunes and make more friends!”.
A groovy platter of ‘70s-style space rock, punk, heavy metal, boogie and glam (with a generous dash of proto-punk), BY THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS features trace elements of rock’n’rollers past and present — think HAWKWIND, THE SWEET, NEW YORK DOLLS, AC/DC and MOTÖRHEAD (side B opener FAMILY KNOWLES has Mister Kilmister’s DNA all over it). Adamski agrees: “I would say Astro Navigator had Motörhead on his flight chart when composing that number.”
Hard-hitting, focused and a limited run on vinyl, BY THE SEAT OF OUR PANTS is available at shows and limited stores.
For CDs go to https://pilotsofbaalbek.bandcamp.com/album/by-the-seat-of-our-pants?fbclid=IwAR0KLeWqrVGEER23zLMtM22uRIHifeoNgRBQRpLxT79VrBTqozUxnnjcJXk
To stream -- https://ditto.fm/by-the-seat-of-our-pants?fbclid=IwAR18l8KeIBrLh4TED4BZCR4NGKOIdhxEeC_8fenhLmqiI6Yt-javZETeGK4
See the new clip CARGO CULT here: https://youtu.be/_FQu1qh5G7I?si=woLAY5zuH8epWY2p
Happy landings!
https://pilotsofbaalbek.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/OuttaSpaceRock/
International and wholesale please email for prices.