Thursday, July 05, 2007

World's "Coolest" Unknown band

Nunatak, an unknown rock band from Antarctica, is about to become famous.

However brief its moment in the limelight, the group comprising two engineers, a marine biologist, a meteorologist and a polar guide will be watched by millions around the world when it appears as part of the Live Earth concerts (A Campaign for a Climate in Crisis that will reach people across the globe through Live Earth, a 24-hour concert on 7/7/07 across all 7 continents).

Billed as the "coolest gig in Live Earth", the outdoor performance at the British Antarctic Survey's Rothera Research Station will be pre-recorded and broadcast on the day on television, the Internet and possibly at the gigs themselves.

While rock royalty like Madonna struts her stuff before a live audience of up to 90,000 at London's Wembley Stadium, Nunatak can expect to perform in front of 17 colleagues braving the freezing temperatures of a Southern Hemisphere winter.

"At the moment we have had a sudden drop in temperature - it is minus 18 degrees Celsius outside," Matt Balmer, lead singer of the band, said from Antarctica.

"You've just got to be very quick getting the songs done."

The 22-year-old engineer says he and his fellow musicians had been rehearsing in the last few days and would record the performance on Thursday or Friday (local time), in time for Saturday's event.

"It's quite daunting in a way, but on the other hand we don't have TV and that much media really," he said.

"What we see is through the Internet. It's hard to understand how much hype is going on. When we play there are 17 people on the base, so it's just a bit of fun really and hard to get the bigger picture."

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