Spaceheater at Keegan Ales
spaceheater is a quartet comprised of four veteran Hudson Valley musicians, guitarists Rick Warren and Sal Cataldi, bassist Dave Strahl and drummer Dana Fasano. Together, they put their effects-driven guitars, thumping bass and polyrhythmic drum assault to work on everything from the heaviest rock to jazz and blues to ambient and industrial sounds, in both originals and obscure covers. The latter span from early Pink Floyd to electric-era Miles Davis and Terje Rypdal to psych/garage classics like Eight Miles High and Rumble. The band regularly performs at popular Hudson Valley venues including the Colony, Pearl Moon and The Station Bar in Woodstock, The Tinker Street Tavern at the Bearsville Theater, West Kill Supply and Green Kill Sessions in Kingston, Snug Harbor in New Paltz and many more.
spaceheater is an appropriate name for the group as it was birthed during rehearsals in the winter months of 2021/22 at Kingston’s Green Kill art gallery. While jamming there, the group was warmed by space heaters, ones whose fumes may have played a role in imbuing their work with its unique hallucinatory bend. Their sound combines the loose meandering jams of “St. Stephen”-flavored Grateful Dead with the edgy prog/industrial/space rock improvs of latter-day King Crimson and Krautrock. Hudson Valley One recently called the band: “A powerhouse of genre-defying sounds, blending heavy rock, jazz, blues ambient and industrial influences.”
Warren and Cataldi have been working together for two years in the experimental duo, Guitars A Go Go, during which time they produced the acclaimed debut CD, Travel Advisory. Hudson-based Warren studied improvisation at The Creative Music Studio in Woodstock led by renowned jazz vibist Karl Berger. He is active with the Hudson-based Slink Moss and the Magic Stones and the popular acoustic folk duo, Rick and Marilyn, with songwriter Marilyn Miller. West Saugerties-based Sal Cataldi is best-known for his acid jazz meets folktronica solo project Spaghetti Eastern Music, which has been acclaimed in media like The New York Times. He is one half of the duos, The Vapor Vespers, a music/spoken word project with Alaskan poet Mark Muro, and the Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom with Kansas City drummer D. Hitchcock, a group featuring contributions by noted players like Eno/Brand X bassist Percy Jones. Cataldi also composes and performs live solo electric guitar scores for movement works by Charles Dennis, the noted NYC/Hudson Valley based performance artist and co-founder of NYC’s P.S. 122., and filmmaker/for ABT ballerina Hanna Bass. He is also a music journalist contributing to The New York Times, NYSMusic, No Depression and more. He is also the host of “Reading Is Funktamental,” a monthly one-hour show on Wave Farm/WGXC 90.7 in the Hudson Valley, where he interviews the authors and musicians about great books of on music.
Emerging from the dirt known as CBGB and the ‘70s NYC underground, bassist Dave Strahl has a style rooted in the downtown punk and no wave scene. His playing first attracted attention in the band New Noise Continuum. Strahl mixes old with new, up with down and in without. Prior to relocating to Kingston, he was the owner and operator of NYC’s Candy Ear Studios, where he engineered and/or produced recordings by a variety of artists including Jackson Smith of the Patti Smith Group, actor/DJ Idris Elba and Latin flutist Roberto Pitre to name a few. His rehearsal studio, Grey Area, was home to a number of bands including Helmet, Foetus, The Cro Mags, Prong and the Swans.
Kingston-based drummer Dana Fasano is well-known for his recent work with Waster, one of the Hudson Valley’s leading rock/thrash/metal ensembles. Over the past three years, this group has released five well-received EPs and performed at leading venues in the Hudson Valley and beyond. A good deal of his 40-year career was spent recording, performing and touring with Florida-based bands Potsie, Braille Closet, Cotton Candy Cookies & Cream, Oak Hill Drifters, Redmouth, Elvis Christ, Numb Right Thumb and others. Since his return to the area in 2016, he has performed and recorded with numerous bands in genres from punk to funk to exploration prog and jazz, including Jack Rack and The Standback and Owlbrook. In 2023, he launched a new melodic hardcore duo with Aaron Magram called A.M. Gold.
Video: Interstellar Overdrive – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF01kD2CNY4
Video: Variations on Peter Gunn – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPV7cx75g5g