One of Sci-Fi-London’s favourite indy films, The American Astronaut, is about to make a welcome return to the UK, accompanied by the film director/writer/star’s band, the Billy Nayer Show. Although it may be that the film is accompanying the band. Either way it will be a great evening’s entertainment by one of the unsung heroes of the US independent film and music scene.
The band, The Billy Nayer Show, is a lyric-driven bass-drums-and-autoharp rock trio that spins sonic yarns which have been described as frightening, endearing, psychotic, elegant, disturbing, absurd, and most lovingly “hard to describe.” They have seven self-released, critically-acclaimed albums to their credit. For reasons only Billy Nayer Show fans will understand, crowds have been known to hurl stuffed rabbits at the stage. Please visit www.billynayer.com for sound clips and information.
Frontman, Cory McAbee, has to his credit 15 years of music, artwork, books, cartoons, comic strips, short films, and the award-winning feature length film The American Astronaut. McAbee, who has been likened lyrically to William Blake and visually to David Lynch, has performed on his instrument of choice, the autoharp, at the Guggenheim and Lincoln Center, while his rock band has headlined universities, night clubs, museums, and bowling alleys throughout the US. Through constant touring and defiantly DIY distribution, the cult status of both the Billy Nayer Show’s movies and music has grown well beyond US shores. This is the band’s second UK tour.
With all the excitement of that other sci-fi western (Serenity) still in everyone’s mind, now would be a great chance to catch this truly original take on the genre. Described by the San Francisco Bay Guardian as a “retro-chic futuristic space western-film noir-rock opera”, it has to be seen to be believed.
The 91-minute feature film follows the adventures of an interplanetary trader on a quest to provide the all-female population of Venus with a suitable male while evading a cold-blooded, if slightly childish, killer named Professor Hess. Through gorgeous black and white photography, rugged Lo-Fi sets, riveting musical interludes, and McAbee’s wholly distinct artistic sensibility, The American Astronaut conjures the dirty, isolated vastness of the final frontier while creating a unique iconography that has spurned a rabid cult following. For more information, please visit www.americanastronaut.com. Copies of the DVD will be for sale at all the gigs.
The tour schedule is listed below. We have been given a pair of tickets for each show, and two pairs for the London show. To be in the draw answer the following question: at which Sci-Fi-London festival was The American Astronaut first shown? E-mail your answer along with the gig you want to attend before October 31 2005.
13 November: Glasgow – 13th Note Café
50-60 King St, Glasgow G15QT
0141 553 1638
www.13thnotecafe.co.uk
Screening of The American Astronaut only with Q&A by Cory McAbee
9pm door: £3
14 November: Edinburgh – Cabaret Voltaire *
36 Blair St, Edinburgh EH1 1QR
0131 220 6176
www.thecabaretvoltaire.com
8pm: £6
15 November: Aberdeen – Cafe Drummond **
1 Belmont St. Aberdeen AB10 1JR
0122 461 9930
www.cafedrummond.co.uk
8pm: £5
16 November: Manchester – Night & Day ***
26 Oldham St, Northern Quarter, Manchester M1 1JN
0161 236 4597
www.nightnday.org
8pm: £6
17 November: Liverpool – Cavern **
10 Matthew Street, Liverpool, L2 6RE,
0151 236 1965
www.cavern-liverpool.co.uk
7pm door: £7/£6 in advance
18 November: Leeds – North West Ward Liberal Club *
Woodhouse Street, Leeds, LS6 1XX
0113 225 6888
www.coughsyrupleeds.co.uk
For club “Cough Syrup”, with the Third and Jinzena
8pm door; £4/£3 in advance
19 November: Bristol – The Cube ***
4 King Square, Kingsdown, Bristol, BS2 8NQ, UK; (0) 117 907 4191
www.cubecinema.com
This show will include live performances by The Daggerbrothers and Eftus Spectun
8pm; £6/£5 in advance
21 November: London, England – Spitz **
109 Commercial St E1 6BG (Old Spitalfields Market)
020 7392 9032
www.spitz.co.uk
7pm door; £6/£5 in advance
* Billy Nayer Show only
** with screening of The American Astronaut
*** with screening of BNS short films