I caught a great show at Bowlero last night. The crowd wasn’t huge, but the performance absolutely was. Simulation — a local Detroit band — opened with a tune that immediately reminded me of Hawkwind. Back in the day they called it Space Rock. I could almost picture the band performing with Go-Go dancers (not naked like Hawkwind’s Stacia Blake). That was ages ago, right around the time the wheel was invented…(read more)

Below is a pic of Lemmy (of Hawkwind and later Motörhead).

Now, if all of this sounds too old‑school for you, here’s the twist — Simulation reportedly doesn’t draw inspiration from Hawkwind, Nektar, or any psychedelic-era bands. So maybe my interpretation doesn’t matter. I’m starting to think they developed their sound organically.

I’ll know more soon. I plan to talk with their guitarist, who reminds me of Gregg Rolie from early Journey. I also want to chat with the drummer, who — according to lead singer Logan — is a Prog Rock fan. So the next blog might tell a different story.

Simulation is not a noisy band. They’re tight, syncopated, and surprisingly clean live. If I could make one suggestion, it would be to add some background graphics or projections. Nektar comes to mind — they used moving, psychedelic visuals that looked like early Mandelbrot-style fractals. (What’s a Mandelbrot? Not important, but you can generate that kind of math-based art on a computer or even an Amiga emulator.)

Anyway, I digress.

I’d like to feature Simulation here on Movies Plus TV and on my CTV network. Maybe even on Rockefellas TV — especially if I end up producing a more polished, studio‑style video for them. The band already has videos, but they’re mostly live performances with minimal lighting. So I’ll see what I can do. If I can get together with the band, maybe we can create something worth your time.

For now, here’s a quick video I grabbed from the interweb.