Estradasphere
Residence: Santa Cruz
Style: Everything. Literally.
Members: Tim Smolens (bass), Timb Harris (violin, trumpet), John Whooley (sax), Dave Murray (drums), Jason Schimmel (guitars)
By Erik Fong

How to build your own Estradasphere
Begin with equal parts experimental, jazz, rock, death metal and gypsy music as your foundation. Decorate with tinges of rap, video game music, ethnic influences, yoga, love, peace and political activism. For best results, alternate sporadically between groove and mind-twisting time signature changes.

Bungle fever
With its unconventional approach to music and a rare ability to create musical compositions both complex and catchy, Estradasphere eventually caught the ear of Trey Spruance, a like-minded musician and guitar player for such groups as Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3 and the defunct death metal outfit Faxed Head. “[Estradasphere bass player] Tim was ass kissing Mr. Bungle for a long time, trying to get them to talk to him,” says saxophonist John Whooley. “Eventually, Trey met with him. Tim taught Trey a lot about the Kurzweil 2500 keyboard. They became friends, more and more things happened, and we opened for Secret Chiefs 3 on a national tour. Tim was actually playing bass with them the whole time, and every night we’d have a couple songs that we’d sit in on.” Estradasphere has released all of its albums through Spruance’s label, Mimicry Records.

A little something on the side
Why be in just one band when you can be in a bazillion? Outside of Estradasphere, a couple of the sluttier members perform in other projects. Tim performs in a Beach Boys-esque vocal harmony group called ISS (Ideal Social Situation). In addition, John performs in two other groups: Phree Radicals, a funk/acid jazz/electronic/Latin trio, and Whoolilicious, a solo excursion that utilizes vocals, sax and jungle beat-boxing over layers of loops.

Dancing in the streets
Just as our forefathers did during the ancient time known as “the sixties,” Estradasphere began its career by taking it to the streets. Before even having a band name, John and fellow Estradasphere founders Tim Smolens, Jason Schimmel and Dave Murray performed their first gigs outside of Bookshop Santa Cruz on Pacific Avenue. Despite having gone on numerous tours and playing in numerous Santa Cruz venues, they’ll still hit the streets every now and again. Recently, John performed as Whoolilicious at a Farmer’s Market… and it didn’t go so well. “People were giving me the thumbs down. Man, people can be brutal.”

New album
Currently, Estradasphere is recording a new album that John says will utilize “octopi, sacred geometry and the healing vibrations that are emitted from instruments.” Get it? He continues: “There are going to be a lot of different styles like all of our other albums. There’s probably a little bit less metal and a lot more vocals going on. There’s still a lot of gypsy stuff, there’s some rap metal kind of stuff, there’s Ethiopan stuff… it’s diverse, but it’ll be a little bit more flowy, with electronic, drum and bass, and beat-boxing type of stuff.” In other words, it’s the best damn musical hobo chili you’ll ever taste.

Expect to see the new album in October, with a national tour to commence around the same time.

Politically correct
Proving that you don’t have to be an after-school special to provide life lessons, Estradasphere saxophonist John Whooley is publicly endorsing House of Representatives member Dennis Kucinich for President in 2004. “We can only do our part,” John explains. “We need people who are politicians to do the political work, and we need the artists to do the artistic work. And if we want to make a change in this world, everyone needs to vote, everyone needs to stand up, because everyone’s so damn frustrated with what’s going on, and it’s just going to get worse unless we do something about it.”

Last words from John
“When the crowd’s going bonkers after a show, I know for a fact that nobody is worrying about anything in the world. Everyone’s in the moment and in the zone – clear with the music and the art and the energy of being together. I’m an advocate of trying to make a change – politically or whatever – but it’s also nice to have those moments where you can not just be thinking about that stuff at all, to be in a whole new realm. I’m an advocate for world peace and love through music. And I think the rest of the band would agree.”

Witness: Thursday, June 19 @ Bottom of the Hill (with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum); Friday, June 20 @ Santa Cruz Vets Hall
Albums: Buck Fever (2002), The Silent Elk of Yesterday (2001), It’s Understood (2000) - available for purchase through the Mimicry Outlet
Website: www.estradasphere.com