Originally formed in 1994 as the Electric Mindfunk in Bowling Green, Ohio, the Spaceship 9 soon took the small college town music scene by storm when their first show ended in a near riot at Easy St. in May of 1996.
"It was fitting really. I mean, we making such a beautiful racket on the stage that the meathead bouncers had no choice but to despise us. So of course they pick a fight with one of our friends in the crowd which lead to Geo hitting a bouncer with his guitar which lead to us being banned from the venue for much of the summer. Actually, it was the band Jackie-O that insisted the ban end so that we could open up for them at a big show there. Actually, we recorded that show but Geo burned the tapes once he heard them. You know, some nights are good and some nights are bad..." - Mike Pennington
So the summer of 1996 continued and the band really started spreading their wings as a live act. They were loud and hypnotic. Anthony Buehrer hit the drums with such force that there was literally a gathering of saw dust under his kit. Mike Pennington would lay down trance-like bass lines that were very much Pink Floyd inspired. Mike also handled the business side of the group. Matt Gannon and Geo layered guitar pyrotechnics over top of the grooves. Two completely different styles that meshed together perfectly. Matt would lay down melodic runs that held the songs structurely together, and his soloing was absolutely brilliant. There always was a feeling that Matt was the biggest talent in that band. Geo's guitar playing at the time was more like that of a sound alchemist. He combined things, whether they be effect pedals or strange tunings, or even acid-slide guitar ala Syd Barrett to create sound paintings that stretched the musical pieces almost to their breaking points. Through all of this Hal Hixson was the glue that kept everything together and moving forward. His thought-provoking vocals were merely a hint at the singer-songwriter mastery that he is known for today. "It was Hal and Mike that steered the car while Geo tried desperately to get everyone lost. Matt & Tony were along for the ride, no matter where it lead them." - Robert Palmer (during a VH1 story-tellers session in '04)
As with every psychedelic prog-rock band, there was a mythology behind it all, and that was the belief that there music truly was other-worldly and that it generated from a spiritual leader called Funkasis Maximus. Legend has it that during the summer of 1994 Geo had an out of body experience and found himself floating into space. Once he coasted by the edges of our solar system, he met what appeared to be a severed head of the black dude in the movie "Enter the Dragon." Except he had a goatee and two hands sticking out of his afro - each holding a lightning bolt. This was Funkasis Maximus. After 22 months of aprenticeship under the Great One, Geo returned to Earth with the secret power of the "infinate wah" and assembled the Spaceship 9 out of the ashes of the former Electric Mindfunk.
Their first album "203 S. Church St." has been consistantly ranked as one the greatest psychedelic offerings ever recorded and received rave reviews in Rolling Stone, Spin, Billboard and various European magazines. The future seemed so bright, and that's when everything fell apart. During the Fall of 1996 Matt Gannon was arrested for lack of payment on 57 parking tickets over a 3 year period in Bowling Green and the band was forced to cancel a European tour. During the hiatus, Hal Hixson launched a solo career which has become very fruitful and never returned to the band. Anthony Buehrer began drumming with a new group which called itself Aloha and became the darlings of the indie music scene. Matt Gannon went on to form Canteloupe in 1999 (after being released from jail after a judge over-ruled his life-sentance in early 1997) and also joined Portland, Oregon's eclectic band Vulture Party which evolved into Drats. He still remains an active member of Who Knew?. Mike Pennington recorded with Sweatpants before retiring from music in 1997. He now runs a cat farm in Utah. Geo was in and out of various rehab clinics for much of the late 90's. When he wasn't locked down, he played guitar for powerful blues act Pistil and contributed bass guitar for 2 of Hixson's solo albums and for the first 2 Canteloupe albums before playing in the immensely popular group the Savages (which was also known as Prison Bitch). In 2005 he re-formed the Spaceship 9 and entered the studio to begin work on a double album which is due to be released in Fall of '08
