You have probably heard about Live Earth the giant worldwide concert taking place on 7-7-07 to raise awareness about the global warming problem. Rolling Stone reports that one of the bands playing is a group of scientists living in Antarctica. The group is called Nunatak.
Of the dozens of bands playing Live Earth this Saturday, one has a seriously close connection to the event's global-warming warning. When organizers looking to stage events on every continent learned they couldn't land commercial flights on Antarctica due to its fierce winter weather, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) suggested that rather than bring in outsiders, Live Earth hire the research team's house band, Nunatak.
Nunatak is Greenlandic for "an exposed summit of a ridge mountain or peak (not covered with snow) within an ice field or glacier" - it's also the name of the five-piece band that entertains BAS's 22-person scientist team. All the bandmembers work at the BAS's Rothera Research Station "investigating climate change and evolutional biology on the Antarctic Peninsula," which has experienced an almost 3-degree Celsius climate change over the last 50 years. Tomorrow, the band will make their global debut as they perform their "two most popular tunes" outside on the peninsula in a show that will be broadcast via live feed.
Nunatak - Matt Balmer (electronics engineer, singer-songwriter and guitarist), Tris Thorne (communications engineer, fiddler), Ali Massey (marine biologist, saxophonist), Rob Wester (meterologist, drummer) and Roger Stilwell (field general assistant, bassist) - formed when the scientists were training at the BAC's headquarters before heading down to Antarctica, and the members spend time jamming when they're not outdoors researching.
NPR also has a story about Nunatak and below is a video of the band rehearsing.
