The Supersonic Travel Agency - epilogue
From left to right, Roberto Granja, Christian Eugster, Michael Bütikofer, Amadeus Huber
On Saturday 8th June 2024, the Supersonic Travel Agency celebrated the release of their first album, Eversun, with a concert at El Lokal in Zurich.
According to the band, the album is based on a rock opera with the same title from 1978. Unable to find a copy of the mysterious album, the band decided to re-write the album on their own but including more modern effects, music genres and recording technology.
The album is a six-song modern day version of a prog rock concept album, retelling the story of Luke, the King’s son, and a “simple maid”, Ann, in their quest to be together. They have to take on Luke’s father and the Eversun, an invention created by the King, which keeps the sky lit up at all times so that the couple’s movements could be tracked.
The concert to celebrate the release of the album was, however, their last.
Joined on stage with Jasna Vukusic for the song, Two Suns
It all began in 2020 in Hausen am Albis, a small village outside of Zurich, nestled in the hills not too far from the Uetliberg, which has an underground music scene of its own. There are often annual festivals and concerts taking place - one highlight being the HAS Club Festival which is a four day festival in the HAS Club, a former Swiss army bunker hidden in the hills, with a line-up of bands from 5pm until the early hours. The festival itself is an experience. There have also been open air festivals at the Türlersee and to celebrate the music of Woodstock.
The ideas behind the songs from Eversun came from Michael “Micha” Bütikofer, who was able to bring the project to life and develop the album with the aid from Christian Eugster on drums, Roberto “Robi” Granja on lead guitar, and Amadeus Huber on bass (who replaced original bassist, Jonas Plüss, and played with Robi in OrgAAn). By 2021, the songs were taking shape - early demos had been recorded and the band had started playing a few concerts.
Where the story takes a slight turn is that by the summer of 2022, I had been contacted by Robi to replace Amadeus, who was leaving the band. I can recall listening to the demos whilst on holiday in Poland, learning the songs and already having a great feeling about the band. I was even more convinced after seeing the band play at the Woodstock Festival in Hausen am Albis, learning more about the concept album and from being made to feel part of the Supersonic Family from the very beginning. I was enthusiastic about the project and gave up a band, where I played lead guitar (badly) and let down a couple of friends (sorry, James and Miguel), to focus on the Supersonic Travel Agency.
The album, Eversun, also reflected my musical tastes at the time - I had been delving deeper into Wishbone Ash, King Crimson and Jethro Tull. The latter’s Thick as a Brick, along with Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage, were listened to regularly and there has always been something about a concept album, to have a theme/concept running through the album and the whole album itself is held together by it. Even if I wasn’t in the band, I would be interested in listening to the album and finding out more about the making of it.
The Supersonic Travel Agency in 2022 with myself on bass
Creatively and musically, I was fortunate to see first-hand how the album developed - the amount of influences - next to the obvious prog rock, psychedelic rock, 70s rock, there are the metal riffs which find their way through at times (Two Suns, The New Order), duelling guitars (The Plan), as well as lighter-in-the-air moments (On The Run, Fairy Queen). There was a meticulous amount of detail put into the sounds - no matter how big or small the part was in the song.
After a few months, we eventually parted ways amicably, we lost contact for a while and life moved on. I was pleased to hear that the album was being recorded and kept an eye on the updates to the recording to see how it was going.
Fast-forward back to early June 2024 - having found out about the concert and the release party I knew I had to be there. It was only through reading the event description on the El Lokal website that I discovered it would be the last show. This, of course, normally causes two contradicting thoughts - the sadness that after reaching a milestone, that the band decided not to go further; and the joy that such a great project could be wrapped up after being able to have the album recorded, released and celebrated as the end chapter. The concert brought back a lot of memories and it was a fitting farewell concert showcasing the band’s best performance that I had ever seen. The whole of Eversun was played from start to finish - sandwiched between an opening song and an encore of the Allman Brothers jam mixed with Black Sabbath-influenced riffs.
This is where the Supersonic Travel Agency story finishes for now and I wish them all the best. Who knows - maybe the album goes missing and in fifty years time, another band tries to recreate Eversun from memory and using the new recording technology available to them.
Before it could potentially vanish, check out the album here on:
The Supersonic Travel Agency in 2022