Warp 11 is a Sacramento based four-piece band whose Star Trek themed music goes from speed metal to folk and from dirty to... dirtier. Their name, for those of you not well versed in Trek mythology (if this is you, you probably won't appreciate their music so much) refers to the rule that warp 10 is the asymptotal velocity that cannot be achieved by warp engines.
The band's members are Captain Karl Miller on bass and lead vocals, Chief Medical Officer Jeff Hewitt on drums, Chief Engineer Brian Moore on guitar and harmonica and Chief Science Officer Kiki Stockhammer on backing vocals.
Their first album, 2000's Suck My Spock (Spock rhymes with a lot of things, you know) contains the following tracks:
1. Yeah Brother
2. Shatner
3. Deanna What's On My Mind
4. I Always Knew I would Die Alone
5. Crusher
6. Make It So "TOS"
7. Wormhole
8. Kirk Gets Laid Again
9. Spock Me Shock Me
10. Space Opera
11. Help Me Spock
12. Holosuite Woman
13. Suck My Spock
14. Wesley Crusher -Yeah!
15. Baby You Make Me Crazy (Featuring New Cadets on the Block)
16. Montalban (Live Bootleg)
This first album is almost all punky except for I Always Knew I Would Die Alone which the band describes on their website as a "Jamaican-influenced silly romp".
Red Alert is the band's second album with the single Everything I Do I Do With William Shatner receiving some mainstream radio play down in the wacky world of LA. The tracks go like this:
1. Red Alert
2. Everything I Do (I Do with William Shatner)
3. Warp 11
4. Old Country Doctor (The Ballad of Bones)
5. 7 of Mine
6. Space Happy
7. Yeah Brother "TNS"
8. Don’t Klingon Me
9. Trekkie Girl
10. Q
11. Rand
12. Sto Vo Kor
13. Suds Me Up Hikaru Sulu
14. Replicate My Love
15. Warpcore (On the Dance Floor)
16. That’s Why I'm In A Star Trek Band
Red Alert shows a great deal more variety than Suck My Spock, in structure and in style. Most importantly, alongside satisfyingly dirty rock numbers like 7 of Mine the intelligent commentary becomes more eloquent. It was there before ("His toupee’s always perfect and he’s always tanned"), but becomes the focus of some songs, instead of witty-one-liner material.
All in all, any Trek fan with a sense of humour and a dirty mind (casting a pretty wide net, there) will get a kick out of these crazy cats. They're pretty indie, but also make some damn fine music, acceptable to most any contemporary palate that favours loud, dirty music. I doubt they'll achieve significant commercial mainstream success, due to their unique choice of subject matter, though*. I think the impact of their humour comes from the tendency for those in the know to engage in holy wars over fairly trivial things, which the band then makes light of. And, they talk dirty about Seven of Nine.
The band has their own official website at http://www.warp11.com, full of other information from their very own mouth-equivalents. They also have a video clip from Evening Magazine available, in which they admit that it's not all about the sex. It's about drinking, too.
*Whether or not this is a Bad Thing is up to the reader.