Thirty years after Neil Armstrong's outing to the moon, mankind seems to have shifted its attention towards more mundane matters. Not so for CAPT. MOON, a band from Ghent, who even remember the names of Armstrong's travelling companions (just for the record and to get these guys out of impending quasi-nerdy isolation : Collins and Aldrin) and have set themselves a clear target : to be the first band to play on the moon. Capt Moon started out in 1996, originally as a four-piece with female vocalist Seele Luts, but already by the end of that year the band was reduced to a trio : Paul Van De Velde (lead guitar) took over on lead vocals, backed by Lode Sileghem (bass, samples and vocals) and Bart Bauters (drums). The summer of 1999 saw the release of Capt Moon's debut EP 'MANITOBA' on the illustrious Ghent-based 'Kinky Star Records' label. This enhanced CD contains five songs and some photos and videos. Liza Verhaege, backing vocalist on two CD tracks, was asked to join the band on stage for the 'Manitoba' launch gig. She's been a full member of Capt. Moon ever since. So now it's three men and a lady. And the lady does not only sing: she also strums the rhythm guitar and plays a mean piano. New personnel, different starship. As the sky is no limit for these musicians - remember the gig on the moon - the band is now a totally revamped craft, ready for some serious space travel. Over the past few years it has become a finely tuned machine, fuelled by their own interpretation of these famous words from The Six Million Dollar Man : 'We can make it better, stronger, faster...' Some important gigs Capt Moon played : Kultuurkaffee VUB, Club Brussel (Studio Brussel) Opening for : The Make Up (Democrazy), Penthouse (4AD), The Fall (Vaartkapoen) So now you've gone through the sales pitch, you may wonder what their music is all about. Do you really want to read about music ? About a guitar that definitely does not gently weep, drums that are most certainly not distant and a bass that ...well...makes one think 'Let there be bass' ? About mature men who indulge in such boyish subjects as Kate Moss and The Thunderbirds, or in less frivolous issues as Edward Hopper and war criminal Schultz ? You may ask yourself : 'Do I want to hear their music ?'. Most surely, these are men with a past which rings through in their present R.I.P.
