Space is the Place [2026]
Sun Ra’s “Space is the Place” holds a special place in the heart of the band. We play it at many of our live shows and it’s quite a spectacular phenomenon with all the planet screaming and 14-minute guitar soloes and what not. But it took many years for this song to come into our own, and for the band to understand that this was larger than ourselves. When the time came to record a version for all eternity, we knew who we had to call. And this man, this mysterious man whom we called on the phone, is a direct descendent of Colonel Bruce’s school of Zambiism. We are talking about WSMFP bassist Dave Schools.
Dave questioned whether we even had a drop of Zambi in us. I can’t blame the guy. What makes us worthy to carry on this tradition? But after a brief true or false questionnaire, he knew that important work was to be done and we set off to Spacebomb studios in Richmond, VA. First day in the studio we set up our instruments, drank a bunch of coffee and recorded a first take which ended up being the final track. Pretty crazy how the universe manifests itself when all the pieces come together. We are excited for you to hear our rendition. Space is the place!
Additional reading:
I, KSC guitarist Ben, had watched the original 1974 sci-fi musical film “Space is the Place” in some of my hazier college years circa 2013, but I didn’t get exposed to the song in a live context until the summer of 2016 at the Fox Theater in Boulder, CO. Colonel Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit had played until like two minutes before the strict noise curfew but they still wanted to do an encore. The band came out sans instruments and performed an a cappella “Space is the Place” and that is when the gears in my brain started ticking. (If any archivists have audio from this show, please contact me. I have searched everywhere). But anyways, step by step the lore of the song became a mantra. I later came out to find that this abstract cosmic musical absurdity had a name: “Zambiism.” On a tour in Colorado, Louis and I watched a bunch of videos of AQR playing the song and transcribed the Colonel’s improvised planetary wordplay, which we used as stepping stone for our form. Jake suggested a key change later in the song, which made the song even more evil. Long live Zambi.
CREDITS:
Produced by Dave Schools
Written by Sun Ra
Recorded and Mixed by Alex De Jong at Spacebomb Studio in Richmond, VA
Mastered by Raelynn Janicke at Infrasonic Sound in Nashville, TN
Cover photo by Aspen DeRosa
Graphic Design by Jake Vanaman
Louis Smith: Rhythm Guitar, Lead Vox
Brian Roy: Bass, Group vox
Ben Laderberg: Electric Guitar, Group vox
Ryan Wood: Drums, Group vox
Jake Vanaman: Saxophone, Keys, Group vox
Dave Schools: Group vox
LYRICS:
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place yea
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place yea
Space is the place
One fine day
Away from here
We will wait for you
On some distant planet
Where human eyes have never seen
Where human eyes have never walked
come on travel
And travel space yea!
Mars
Mercury
Saturn
Venus
Neptune
One whole week
From nowhere there
To somewhere here
From nowhere there
All aboard
To somewhere here
All aboard
to nowhere there
Saturn
Mercury
Jupiter
Venus
Pluto
Earth
Uranus
Neptune
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place yea
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place yea
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place yea
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place
Space is the place yea
Space is the place