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The Laundronauts
The band is seated on a couch with their instruments.
The Laundronauts original members
From Left: Gordon Marshall, Gareth Wynne, Stephen J. Horak
Background information
OriginVictoria, BC, Canada
GenresRock, pop
Years active2007-
LabelsSpincycle Records
MembersGerman Ebert
Stephen J. Horak
Gareth Wynne
Past membersGordon Marshall
Website[1]

The Laundronauts

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The Laundronauts are a Canadian rock music trio from Victoria, British Columbia, formed in late 2007. Founded by Gareth Wynne and Stephen J. Horak, The Laundronauts release their material on their own label, Spincycle Records.

Origins and Usage of laundronaut

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The first published use of the term laundronaut comes from a 1963 Cornell University publication describing a new fad. “[A laundronaut is someone who backs] into a coin-operated dryer. After he is in position, his ‘crew’ deposits a coin in the slot and he begins to revolve in the dryer.”[1]

The etymology of "laundronaut" comes from the two roots: laundry + nautes. Nautes[2] of Greek origin, refers to a ship or a sailor and is used in English words such as nautilus, nautical, astronaut, and cosmonaut. Laundry, meaning “things to be washed,” comes from the French lavare, "to wash."[3] A laundry list, in the figurative sense, arose in 1958 and the term, launder, in the criminal banking sense was introduced in 1961. Using the invented prefix, laundro, taken from the word Laundromat, The Laundronauts have coined several neologisms: laundrock, laundrotainment, and Laundromeda, their mythical home planet.

History

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Prior to the formation of The Laundronauts, bassist Wynne and guitarist Horak played in the seven-piece sixties garage-rock band, Captain Cook and the Nootka Sound, which broke up in 1998 and who performed at Fuzz Fest ’98 and toured with El Vez. The collaboration ended when Wynne left Canada for South America in 1998.

On a return visit to Victoria in 2007, Wynne reunited with Horak and the two decided to form The Laundronauts. They recruited Gordon Marshall, with whom Wynne played in the Edmonton garage-rock band, to join as the drummer.

The inspiration for the band name came after learning of the fad from Patrick Sheehy, a laundronaut of the 1960s. The name was chosen as both homage to Sheehy, who had since passed away, and as a reference to the youthful craze he described.

The Laundronauts played shows throughout North America in their first two years as a band. They were selected as "Band of the Month" by commercial modern rock radio station, The Zone 91.3 FM[4][5], receiving regular airplay. Horak's guitar solo for the song Stain[6] was featured in a Vancouver Island Brewery beer commercial starting in November 2009.

MuchMusic began airing The Laundronauts' music video[7] for Stain[6] in December of 2009 on The Wedge[8], the same month that The Laundronauts album The Laundronauts Come Clean[2] arrived at the number one position on the national campus and community radio report, Earshot.[9]

Music

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File:Laundronauts Live for Wiki.jpg

The idea of using laundry as a metaphor become a creative writing project for Wynne and Horak, influencing their style and musical direction. The lyrics appear on the surface to be concerned with laundry, however, “The songs are heavy on double entendres [and] each song is couched in reality: Come Clean is about love while Lint Trap is about lying.”[10] Other critics agree, “With some bands of this ilk, things get gimmicky, but listening to the album, it’s just easy to enjoy the rock ’n’ roll and have the occasional chuckle at the lyrics.”[11]

Branding itself as laundrock, a combination of garage-rock, mod, beat, psych, punk, and doo-wop, The Laundronauts sought to create a new sound from what they considered were the best elements of various genres. The Laundronauts' songs seldom run longer than three minutes and the arrangements are designed to be tight and punchy. Vocal harmonies are a key element of the sound and every band member has vocal duties. Horak's guitar effects are also a characteristic element of The Laundronauts' sound. An electronics expert, Horak has created a broad range of sounds through use of upwards of ten guitar pedals—several of which he created—and extra amplifiers that make the trio sound more like a five-piece.

Production

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After releasing a three-song 45 rpm EP in May of 2008[12], recorded locally, the band decided to look for a studio that would better realize the sound that Wynne and Horak had in mind for their full-length album. They found Detroit producer, Jim Diamond, known for his work with The White Stripes, The Von Bondies, The Romantics and other notables.

“The band’s first [album], Come Clean, a fuzz-bomb of bubbly garage rock, was recorded in Detroit with producer and one-time Dirtbombs bassist Jim Diamond (the White Stripes, Mooney Suzuki, Electric Six), a producer of note in the garage-rock revival community.”[10]

The Laundronauts chose to work with Diamond in Detroit at his analog studio, Ghetto Recorders, to get the gritty sound they were looking for, “the sound of broken glass, spilled beer, hot rod engines, and burning pork.[13]

Live Performance

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The Laundronauts’ signature look is white-on-white uniforms with white-rimmed sunglasses. Live shows are bathed in blinding white light, smoke, bubbles, strobe effects, and a pneumatic laundry cannon that fires socks, undergarments, and the occasional Laundronauts T-shirt into the audience. The Laundronauts address audience members as Earthlings and end their shows holding out hand signals—one a "V" and the other an "L"—for, "peace and laundry."

File:Laundronauts live San Diego for wiki.jpg

A critic from a Vancouver monthly music magazine says, “Really, they’re a giant washing machine of kick-assery whomping and rattling around the stage, and one wouldn’t hesitate to witness their fury live.”[11] The Laundronauts have had their live performances highlighted as a tourist attraction in their home town of Victoria, BC.[14]

Band Members

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Gareth Wynne: bass and lead vocals. Born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Wynne has lived in the United Kingdom, Argentina, and all over Canada. He studied Linguistics and Latin American Studies at the University of Alberta.[15] He is a Spanish translator[16] and an expert on Latin America where he lived many years and cycled independently through every country.[10]

Stephen J. Horak: guitar and vocals. Born and raised in Calgary, AB. Horak is the electronics expert of The Laundronauts. He created the band's pedal-operated laundroscope (capable of filling a venue with bubbles in seconds) and pneumatic laundry cannon featured in the live shows. Horak uses upwards of ten guitar pedals (several of his own design) to create The Laundronauts' unique sound. Horak is also one of the founding members of Bovine Love Jelly, who toured with Sloan in the early ‘90s.

Germán Ebert: drums and backing vocals. Germán was born in Montevideo, Uruguay and grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His musical credits include drumming for Los Barreiro (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and touring as the drummer for the L.A. rockabilly band 3 Bad Jacks. Ebert replaced original drummer Gordon Marshall in December of 2009.

Discography

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The Laundronauts release their material on CD, digital download formats, and on limited-edition white vinyl (in keeping with the band's theme) with the motto "Spincycle is a-goin' around and around" etched between the run-out grove- a reference to a lyric in Spin Cycle, the first song they wrote as a band.

Hard Water EP, released 2008
1. Hard Water (single version)
2. That Kind of Laundry
3. Outta My Head

According to Bryce Dunn from CITR 101.9 FM, The Laundronauts' Hard Water EP on white vinyl “brims with Sonics-style energy.”[12]

The Laundronauts Come Clean LP/CD, released 2009[3]
1. Stain
2. Come Clean
3. Stop, Drop, Fluff-N-Fold
4. Unbalanced Load
5. Launder-Annette
6. Colourfast Girl
7. Slow Dry
8. Laundrendezvous
9. Spin Cycle
10. Lint Trap
11. Whirlpool
12. Hard Water (album version)
13. Agent Detergent

The album is described as “garage-rock, full of fuzzy guitars, '50s style backup vocals and dirty bass,” and “raucous but focused, especially on those instrumental surf-rock tracks that showcases the bands musical presence, making sure you know they can rock out even without their chosen lyrical theme.”[11]

Mike Devlin from CanWest News and the Times Colonist says, “Only a dead fish could resist their rambunctious brand of garage punk and mod-infused rock and roll.” He goes on to add “The songs are heavy on double entendres [and] each song is couched in reality: Come Clean is about love, while Lint Trap is about lying.”[10]

Music Videos

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The 2009 video[7] for the song STAIN[6], currently in rotation at MuchMusic[8], features The Laundronauts onboard the Laundro1 spaceship in a frenetic reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Calgary director, Troy Niemans, shot the video on a green screen/stage at one of the movie studios in Calgary's Currie Barracks in the summer of 2009. For the digital effects, Niemans collaborated with Toronto artist, Lee James Ormerod.

The video[17] for the song Come Clean[18]was chosen for the 2010 Vancouver Island Short Film Festival[19]. The video was a collaboration between The Laundronauts and University of Victoria film students, Alina Cerminara, Megan Russell, and Chantal De Brouwer. The film students were tasked with making a music video featuring a local independent band as a term project. The video was shot at Sparkle Bright Launderette in Victoria and the University of Victoria's Finnerty Gardens.

Influences

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The Seeds, Ohio Express, The Who, The Kinks, The Clash, The Pixies, The Dead Kennedys, Fats Waller, The Flaming Lips.

References

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  1. ^ Joel Sussman, "The Cornell Daily Sun", January 7, 1963, "Source 1", retrieved January 26, 2010
  2. ^ Douglas Harper, "Online Etymology Dictionary", 2001, "Source 2", retrieved January 26, 2010
  3. ^ Douglas Harper, "Online Etymology Dictionary", 2001, "Source 3", retrieved January 26, 2010
  4. ^ The Zone 91.3FM,"The Laundronauts Band of the Month", November 2009, "Source 4", retrieved January 26, 2010
  5. ^ The Zone 91.3FM, "Rockstars in The Zone", November 2009, "Source 5", retrieved January 26, 2010
  6. ^ a b c CBC Radio 3, January 2010, "Source 6", retrieved January 26, 2010 Cite error: The named reference "cbc" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b Troy Niemens, Lee James Ormerod, "STAIN, Music Video", December 9, 2010, "Source 7", retrieved January 26, 2010 Cite error: The named reference "video" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Much Music, The Wedge, December 11, 2009,"Source 8", retrieved January 26, 2010 Cite error: The named reference "much" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Earshot, National Charts "Source 9", retrieved January 26, 2010
  10. ^ a b c d Mike Devlin, "The Time Colonist, Canwest Global", October 28, 2009, "Source 10", retrieved January 26, 2010
  11. ^ a b c Douglas Mackenzie, "Discorder Magazine", November 2009, "Source 11", retrieved January 26, 2010
  12. ^ a b Bryce Dunn, "Discorder Magazine", July/August Issue 2009, "Source 12", retrieved August 2009
  13. ^ Jim Diamond, Ghetto Recorders, "Source 13", retrieved January 26, 2010
  14. ^ Fun Tourist Attractions, "Source 14", retrieved January 26, 2010
  15. ^ Office of Public Affairs, "University of Alberta Express News", October 28, 2009 "Source 15", retrieved January 26, 2010
  16. ^ Guillermo Gonzales Uribe, translated by Gareth Wynne, "Los Ninos de la Guerra," Editorial Planeta Colombiana, S.A., 2004 "Source 16"
  17. ^ Alina Cerminara, Megan Russell, and Chantal De Brouwer, "Come Clean Music Video", November 3, 2009, "Source 18", retrieved January 26, 2010
  18. ^ Last FM, January 2010, "Source 19", retrieved January 26, 2010
  19. ^ Alina Ceminara, "Vancouver Island Short Film Festival", "Source 20", retrieved January 26, 2010
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Official Band Site

[[Category:2000s music groups, Canadian alternative rock groups, Musical groups established in 2007, Musical groups from Victoria, Pop rock groups, Punk rock groups] Jaetoe (talk) 07:11, 28 January 2010 (UTC) Jaetoe (talk) 08:20, 28 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

January 2013

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Hello, I'm CherryX. I noticed that you made a change to an article, The Laundronauts, but you didn't provide a source. I’ve removed it for now, but if you’d like to include a citation to a reliable source and re-add it, please do so! If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thanks, CherryX (talk) 22:45, 16 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, I'm Rocketrod1960. I wanted to let you know that I undid one or more of your recent contributions to The Laundronauts because it didn't appear constructive. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Rocketrod1960 (talk) 18:53, 17 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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