On Friday, Vinyl Theatre will walk onto The Maintenance Shop stage in their space suits to perform their latest rock tour, Starcruiser. A spaceship intercom voice-over will introduce the show and its supporting acts, Royal Teeth and The Catching.

The Milwaukee-based band got their start all the way back when the members were in high school. After writing over Skype for a while in college, the band decided to pursue their love of music further. 

“Writing from that distance is like a huge chore,” said Keegan Calmes, lead vocalist. “Being in the same room as one another and trying different methods of recording has changed us completely. Sending an email is not the most impersonal thing you can do, but when it comes to writing a song, there is some sort of distance when it comes to that sort of personal connection. Now that is almost gone.” 

Vinyl Theatre’s writing inspiration comes anywhere from bands like The Killers and Rush to their old favorites like Supertramp and Guns and Roses.

Welcome to Starcruiser.
📷: @MisterBeardMan pic.twitter.com/hqMoOitxsc

— Vinyl Theatre (@vinyltheatre) September 8, 2018

The band takes pride in their Midwestern heritage. Throughout their journey they have stayed true to the “flyover state politeness,” but that does not mean other states don’t have it, according to Calmes.

“It is definitely different than New York, [Los Angeles], or Nashville when it come to music,” Calmes said. “There’s not as many people to go collaborate or write with so you are sort of insulated a little bit, but it makes you closer as writers. When you write together for nine years, you are going to have more breakthroughs, at least in my opinion, more breakthroughs than if you are writing with 50 different people that you don’t have an emotional connection with.” 

From electric shows in Washington, D.C., to some hard times on the road, this band of brothers has a pact to never split up and to make it through it all. Vinyl Theatre works to step up their performance game with better writing and instrumentation as a team.

“We produced this entire record on our own,” Calmes said. “Our drummer tracked and mixed everything. That is a huge step … I think he has really pushed the boundaries on some of the production and sound, so we have grown past not even being to record ourselves or being able to produce our own record. It’s pretty huge for us.”

The band is currently touring their new album “Starcruiser.” According to Calmes, a self-professed SpaceX nerd, this tour has made him happier than he has ever been. The band focuses on their fans, and after a time of worry, the fans have pushed them to be better performers.

“I hope they take the theatrical experience away from the show and not like realize just a lot of work went into this but realize that is is a rock show,” Calmes said. “We are trying to put on a display of like ‘Hey this is our record Starcruiser and this is our show Starcruiser.’ We are trying to push that boundary and make it tighter, better, and more theatrical. I just hope they take away a good experience. A lot of people have left our shows feeling ‘I needed that this week. It took me out of reality for a second.’ … that is just what we are trying to do.”

Vinyl Theatre will moonwalk onto The M-Shop stage at 8 p.m. this Friday. The doors will whoosh open at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the show are $15 ($10 with a student ID) in advance, with a $2 increase the day of the show.