......

1997 saw the addition of Mark Stone on rhythm guitar, allowing Joel to further explore the stratosphere on lead. Another Midwest jaunt was undertaken which saw the band playing their largest and most successful show yet at Weedstock outside of Madison WI. A compilation CD of the event was released featuring a smokin' live version of the band's Neu! cover medley, "Hallohero."

 

Contacts formed from roadwork enabled the band to fulfill a long-term ambition to play with Hawkwind . This happened  on Labor Day weekend at the Strange Daze festival in Sherman, NY. Other space rock luminaries such as Nik Turner's Space Ritual, F/i Farflung, Alien Planetscapes, etc. were also on the bill. A CD compilation of this show has been released on Pangea records.

 

January 1998: After the release of  "Spaceage" on yet another Italian label (Black Widow of Genoa), ST 37 saw their most significant local recognition yet with a major feature in the Austin Chronicle and a string of prime Saturday night shows with the likes of 7% Solution, Ursa Major and 60's psych legends Silver Apples.   An original score for the 1926 Fritz Lang classic "Metropolis" was written that summer and has been played three times since then at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema to ecstatic, ticket-scalping crowds and adoring press. Large portions of the score will emerge on "The Insect Hospital", a forthcoming  double LP/single CD from Black Widow Records.


July 1999: After the release of the vinyl-only limited edition LP
"The Secret Society", ST 37 played five dates in the Bay Area with some great bands like 3-Day Stubble, Liquorball, Beyond-O-Matic and the amazing Rubber O Cement.