NEW!  NEVER-BEFORE RELEASED HERMETIC SCIENCE CONCERT FOOTAGE!
(POSTED AUGUST 2009)

It is no exaggeration to say that over 95% of the people who own Hermetic Science CDs, or have downloaded Hermetic Science Mp3s, have never seen the band perform live.  Nonetheless, between 1996 and 2000 Hermetic Science were a live band, playing roughly 25 shows, all of them in the northwestern corner of California; nearly all of the tracks on Hermetic Science (1997) and roughly half of the tracks on Prophesies (1999) were performed live at one time or another.  However, during the summer of 2000, Ed Macan made the decision to turn the band into a studio-only project, and they have not played a live show since.

Recently, some bootleg video footage of the band’s live shows of 1997 and 1998 has surfaced; we are very pleased to present excerpts of this footage for the very first time.  Please keep in mind that this is bootleg footage; therefore, both its audio and visual quality is at times a bit dodgy.  Nonetheless, the band’s energy comes through quite clearly.  Ed Macan always believed the band was first and foremost a live band, and was very sorry to have to pull the plug on its live incarnation.

The first track, “Esau’s Burden,” from the debut album, features Macan (vibes), Andy Durham (bass), and Joe Nagy (drums), and was from an April 11, 1997 show.  The second track is a medley of the first two movements of the Prophesies suite, “Barbarians at the Gate” and “Hope Against Hope”; unfortunately, the last sixty seconds of “Hope Against Hope” were not filmed, hence the video clip’s sudden ending.  This footage was from a show of April 10, 1998, and featured Macan (marimba, vibes, soprano recorder, ARP string ensemble), Andy Durham (bass), and Matt McClimon (drums).  For those of you familiar with the Prophesies album, it’s interesting to note this medley was filmed some six months before the band’s studio recordings of these tracks.

We hope you’ll enjoy this footage, and that we can post more excerpts on this site in the future.

Esau’s Burden, recorded April 11, 1997.  Ed Macan (vibes); Andy Durham (bass); Joe Nagy (drums).  Recorded at the Lakeview Room, College of the Redwoods, Eureka, California.

 

 

Barbarians at the Gate/Hope Against Hope, recorded April 10, 1998.  Ed Macan (marimba, vibes, soprano recorder, ARP string ensemble); Andy Durham (bass); Matt McClimon (drums).  Recorded at the Lakeview Room, College of the Redwoods, Eureka, California.