Hovercraft

See also: Pearl Jam

Roaring forth from its Seattle-based laboratory, instrumental trio Hovercraft frees guitar-based music from its redundant shackles and provides the soundtrack to a journey on a spacecraft with a mind of its own.

Formed by bassist Sadie 7 and guitarist Campbell 2000 in the mid-90s, the band was first introduced to U.S. audiences as an opening act for the Foo Fighters and Mike Watt in the spring of 1995. The "0001" single and a short video followed, reinforcing the music's visual aspect. (Hovercraft performs in front of a frenetic, quasi-documentary assembled by Campbell from years-old stock film footage). Life-altering live shows with Unwound and Come hammered the point home throughout 1996, and by 1997 the band had readied its debut album Akathisia for public consumption.

Released by Mute/Blast First!, Akathisia is a 65-minute journey to the outer reaches of rock music as most know it. Grooves appear and then collapse inward on themselves while Campbell exorcises various demons from his guitar, slicing and hammering the strings into otherworldly tones.

Its followup, 1998's Experiment Below, introduces drummer Dash 11 into the trio and incorporates an element of subtlety rarely found on earlier recordings.

The band has contributed to the soundtrack for the film "Chicago Cab" and had its tracks remixed for an EP by Scanner. As of 1999, a collaboration with DJ Spooky remains tied up in "evil rock empire limbo," according to Campbell.

Album reviews

Experiment Below
Mute (1998)
"Maybe it was that Diamond Shiva we smoked last night or the radiation leaking into our practice space, but some freaky shit happened while we were recording this album. Would you like to see?"

Akathisia
Mute/Blast First! (1997)
To understand Akathisia, the debut album from Seattle noise fiends Hovercraft, try relating to the record not as a collection of songs, but as a soundtrack to an otherworldly voyage.