Little Spaceships : Captured Moment in Time

PRESS RELEASE October 2022 - EPK Drop Box

Indie rock band, Lipstereo, has released its new single “Little Spaceships” with visual assistance from Bumper V-2, the first rocket to lift off from Cape Canaveral.

The single cover features an iconic photograph taken on 24 July 1950, as the ambitious two-stage rocket blasted off. Bumper V-2 was developed by General Electric Company, based on technology used in the German V-2 guided ballistic missiles that bombed London in WW2.

The upper stage of the rocket was able to reach altitudes of almost 400 kilometres, higher than even modern space shuttles that fly today. Its purpose was primarily for testing rocket systems, and also for research on the upper atmosphere.

“I just fell in love with the photo, particularly the media in the foreground, attempting to capture the fleeting moment. It encapsulates the theme of the song so well, about moving on from the good times, and trying to remember them.”

Sam Stranges, Lipstereo

Norris Gray, the Cape’s first fire chief and emergency services officer, recalls there being an elderly woman on site in 1950, so intent on capturing the moment in time, that she refused to move away from the prohibited launch area. After threatening bystanders and officials with a shotgun, Gray bravely removed the firearm, picked the woman up, and carried her off the site.

“Every release should have a good cover. Should have a meaningful cover. I spent a long time researching different concepts and ideas that might be appropriate for Little Spaceships. I feel kind of silly that it took so long to realise that it should be a picture of a rocket. So I started scouring the NASA public archives and stumbled across the image that we would end up using. I did a bit more digging, and found out that the license that the photo was taken with would allow us to use it for the album art. I emailed the Multimedia Division of NASA just to confirm, and then went ahead and used it!”

Sam Stranges, Lipstereo

Little Spaceships is available on the band’s debut EP, Modern Mythology, and will be released internationally on 11 November 2022