Spycats + Celestial Guard

In the spirit of the local underground, Eleven Empire presents The Underground Exchange on May 9. Here, the SPYCATS (Salzburg/Boot) and the Graz band CELESTIAL GUARD (Vienna/Seayou) will meet after both bands have previously shared a show in the rest of Austria. To frame the theme, there will be stylish upper and underground music from the turntable. Spycats sound like [please insert generic AI description here]. Stories about escapists, the upheavals of their youth, and the new reality as "best agers" in the "rock biz." Authentically realized with prompted analog instruments: guitar, bass, drums, and synth. So easy! Brought to life by, now four, DIY dictators who also create all videos and artworks in their in-house BOOT studio. "A Hunter S. Thompson and Lou Reed all-nighter in Old-Town Palm Springs."

Celestial Guard is a Vienna-based band formed in 2020, in the tradition of The Gun Club, Suicide, Crystal Stilts, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Doors, and The Velvet Underground. Using the means of electric, Anglo-American guitar music, they address the state of the world and the living beings within it. It’s about shattered dreams, disappointed hopes, broken promises, the black ocean of lies and suffering on which we are slowly sinking like a leaky disco ship. The band consists of Joe Albrecht and Ronald Raimund, and live and in the studio, they are joined by Wolfgang Schlögl (I-Wolf, ex-Sofa Surfers, and more) on keys, Alexander Lausch (Lausch, Bad Ida, and more) and Leo Kuraitė (ex-Petrol Girls) on guitars, and Michael Lind (Dun Field Three, Pippa, ex-Velojet, and more) on drums. Their debut album "Ruinous Powers" was released on September 6, 2024, on Seayou Records.