Five Year Mission

Five Year Mission is a Star Trek tribute band that formed in Indianapolis and released their first single in 2010. The band is made up of five Star Trek fans who aspire to write a song corresponding to every episode of the original Star Trek series.^[1] The band is composed of Noah Butler (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, and keyboard), Andy Fark (drums), Patrick O'Connor (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, and keyboard), Mike Rittenhouse (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, and keyboard), and Chris Spurgin (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, and keyboard). Butler, O'Connor, Rittenhouse, and Spurgin have thus far each written four songs for each album.

Origin

Mike Rittenhouse was the founder of the band, being an obsessive Trekkie. "Many years ago, around 2003, I had an idea to take each episode of Buffy and write a song about it. [My friend] Patrick was interested in the idea and we talked about it briefly. Then he moved to California and the idea was put on the shelf. Then I became obsessed with Star Trek around 2005 and the concept changed," says Rittenhouse. When he came up with the idea, he had originally planned not to name the songs after the episodes and only vaguely reference them. However, soon this changed, and they decided to name every song after the episode it was written about.

Noah Butler joined second, followed by Chris Spurgin and Patrick O'Connor, but they still needed a drummer. They started auditioning people, but the first couple of drummers did not fit in well with the band. They then discovered Andy Fark, who was looking for a new band to play in. "After one practice," Rittenhouse says, "it was as if he had been in the band all along!"

Originally, the band was going to be an occasional hobby, but as members joined and the band succeeded in booking shows, playing out and practicing became a regular occurrence.^[2]

The first single from the band was "Miri", which was released in July 2010. "Year One" followed closely after, being released in November of the same year.

The second single was "Errand of Mercy", which was released in the July 2011. "Year Two" was released in December of the same year.

Year One

Overview

Year One is a diverse album. There are several rock songs, "The Cage", "Miri", and "Dagger of the Mind" being prime examples. "Charlie X" has a surf guitar riff, and both of the "Menagerie"s are ballads. Some songs, like "The Man Trap", "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Enemy Within" and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" are more abstract and do not mention any specific characters from the show, while songs like "Shore Leave" and "Dagger of the Mind" summarize the episodes they were written about. "The Corbomite Maneuver" is a satirical commercial told from the point of view of Leo Walsh (AKA Harry Mudd). "The Naked Time" and "Balance of Terror" both focus on one aspect of the episode, rather than the plot as a whole. The last song on the album is a preview of Year Two voiced by Fark.

Year Two

Overview

While Year One is diverse, Year Two is even more so. "The Squire of Gothos" has a Spanish sound, while "The Devil in the Dark" sounds Middle Eastern. "Court Martial" is the only Five Year Mission song that could be classified as western swing. "The City on the Edge of Forever" is a quiet ballad that is full of longing, and "Operation: Annihilate!" is a power ballad. "Amok Time" begins with the famous fight music during the classic fight between Kirk and Spock on Vulcan. As on Year One, Fark closes the album with a preview of the next album.

The Trouble With Tribbles

Overview

For the iconic episode The Trouble With Tribbles, each of the five members (including Andy Fark, who had never before composed or sung a song for Five Year Mission)^[3] wrote a song, and gave fans the opportunity to vote on which was their favorite. An EP with all five songs was released on November 24, 2012. In addition to the Tribbles songs, the wildly popular "Happy Birthday, George Takei" appears on the EP.^[4] The winning song, The Trouble With Tribbles #3 (Spurgin's) appears on Year 3.^[5] The band is working on a similar EP for the infamous episode Spock's Brain.^[5]

Year Three

History of Year Three

Unlike any album previous, Year Three was funded by fans through Kickstarter.^[6] As time progressed, it became obvious how well respected Five Year Mission really was, as hundreds of dollars turned into thousands practically overnight. By a month and a half after they launched their Kickstarter campaign, they had met all of their goals, including funding and professionally mastering Year Three and reprinting Year One.

Shows

Five Year Mission attends many sci-fi conventions throughout the year, as well as all-ages shows and bars.

Local

They frequent Indianapolis bars Locals Only^[7] and The Melody Inn (where they have played at the event Punk Rock Prom). They have appeared at local all ages venues Indy CD and Vinyl, Monon Coffee Company, Scotty's Brewhouse,^[8] Old National Centre, and Hero House Comics.^[9] They have also made appearances at the Indianapolis area conventions Starbase Indy, InConJunction,^[10] Indy Pop Con,^[11] and Gen Con Indy.^[12] Their first appearance at Starbase Indy took place in November 2010,^[13] which coincided with the release of Year One. Year Two was released at Starbase Indy 2011, and the following year The Trouble With Tribbles EP was released there. In 2013, they released the much anticipated Year Three, and they plan on releasing Years Four and Five at Starbase Indy as well.^[14] The band played at InConJunction in July 2011, 2012, and 2013.^[15] On July 26, 2014, the band played a special show at the Nuvo Best of Indy Block Party in downtown Indianapolis.^[16] Directly after this show, they journeyed a few blocks away to Scotty's Brewhouse and played a more intimate concert there.

Nonlocal

They first played at a Wizard World convention in Chicago in 2011, and then the next year appeared at the Wizard World Convention in New Orleans, where they opened for William Shatner. In the summer of 2011, they traveled to Riverside, Iowa (future birthplace of Captain Kirk) to play at Trek Fest. On February 9, 2013 they traveled to Dayton, Ohio where they played two shows, one at Bell Book and Comic and one at Omega Music. On October 12 of the same year, they played at Pandoracon in Cincinnati, Ohio. Early in 2014, they played their first show in the state of Kentucky, a convention in Bowling Green called Concave.^[17] In September 2014, they ventured to Lexington, Kentucky to play at a Star Trek party at Al's Bar.^[18] They also served as the house band for Star Trek Las Vegas in August 2014. On March 20, 2015, Five Year Mission performed at the Arcada Theatre in Chicago, and on the following day they played a show at Carnahan Hall in Lafayette, Indiana.^[19]

Influences

The band has many musical influences, including Warp 11 The Cure, Fugazi, The Dead Milkmen, Electric Light Orchestra, Sigur Rós, Wilco, They Might Be Giants, Green Day, NOFX, Ramones and the Beatles.^[20]

References

External links

• http://www.facebook.com/5yearmission
• http://fiveyearmission.net/
• https://twitter.com/#!/5yearmission
• http://www.youtube.com/fiveyearmission
• http://www.myspace.com/5yearmission
• http://www.last.fm/music/Five+Year+Mission
• http://www.creationent.com/cal/st_lasvegas.html#menu