Following the hugely successful reunion of his old outfit The Earthmen, Aaron Goldberg blew his revenue on a startling array of guitar effects pedals. Soon he got sick of trying them out by himself so his mates Simon Strong, Sonke Rickertsen and Stefan Schutt organised for a jam to be held on 27 July 2016 to help him out. Simon was keen get a new group together to play his local boozer The Yarra since he’d seen a few cool groups there and it was quite close to his house. Him and Ziggy were in the Pink Stainless Tail who were still together but hadn’t been in the same room for almost a decade apart from The Pop Group reunion show that they’d all gone to. Stef was in Stavros Bros, Ashtray Boy and so many other groups that one more wouldn’t hurt. So they started off jamming on Hawkwind’s Silver Machine (obviously enough) and it was agreed at the end of the session that it constituted the first practise.Soon they were trying their own compositions but Simon was having trouble getting new words out fast enough. He was locked into his tradition of working out epic poetry over several years but Stef suggested he should just start shouting random shit instead and, despite some initial reservations, it worked out surprisingly well.
Soon the group decided to name itself after a giant Soviet-era transport vehicle that people often found difficult to pronounce.
Like some sort of refurbished dirty power station in Kazakhstan ready to reap in the profit the Ekranoplans burst onto the scene last night to rock the Yarra. With lead ranter Simon Strong whirling dervishly, Master G Goldberg pushing pedal power to the fore and the rhythm section sounding like they’d just stepped off the stage of the Howard Stein Music Academy circa 1973 this bunch of hard rocking psychedelic Soviet sympathisers demand your attention…
— Michael Helms on Ekranoplans debut show, 3 Feb 2017.
| More than you wanted to know about Ekranoplans |  |
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| Aaron Goldberg Releases |
Sonke Rickertsen Releases |
Stefan Schutt | Simon Strong Releases |
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| Year of birth | 1969 | 1963 | 1966 | MCMLXIV |
| Birthplace | Melbourne, Australia | Hagen, DDR | Munich, DDR | Sheffield, UK |
| Instruments played | Guitar, drums | Guitar, drums, cello, piano, sax, synth, percussion | 6 and 4 strings | n/a |
| Where educated | Melbourne | Germany | Whyalla, S.A. | Sheffield 5 |
| Former occupations | Fabric cutter, record store clerk, storeman and packer, computer dork | Gardener, painter | Car park, market research, storeman, writer, web guy, teacher, academic | Artificial intelligence researcher, bookseller, toilet cleaner, typographer, bouncer |
| Musical education | A few lesson age 16, Habba’s dad, Issy, Adrian Woodward in London, via Skype | Autodidact | Fast Forward cassette magazine, NME, Juke | Pete, Jim, Nigel, Colin, and all at the Beat Tandoori |
| Age entered show business | 22 | 15 | 13 | 37 |
| First public appearance | My Bar Mitzvah. | June, 1978 | Singing John Denver’s Country Roads at the Bayview Hotel in Whyalla | Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, London. |
| Biggest break in career | Winning the J-Session national band contest | Touring with My Bloody Valentine and Once Upon A Time | Outdoor gig at the ABC Shopping Centre in Whyalla | Having Stewart Home explain the occult mysteries of the universe to me |
| Other groups | Vinyl Death Pop, the Earthmen, Oar:Field Recordings | Slub, Black Cabinet, Pink Stainless Tail, Crybones, The Stuff | Yacht Club, Snapdragons, Stanley’s Dance, Nam the Musical, Peachfuzz, Big Cat Safari, Schmozzle. Stavros Brothers, Ashtray Boy | Pink Stainless Tail, The Barry Jeffries |
| Hobbies | Guitar playing, electronics, gardening, gym, yoga, wanking | Dancing, shadow boxing, speaking in thongs | Fava beans and mountain bikes | Drinking, smoking, eating pre-formed potato snacks |
| Biggest influence on career | My older brothers’ record collections and getting bullied by them | Beatles | Guided By Voices | Robyn Hitchcock, David Peel |
| Favourite colour | Red | Blue | Orange | Salmon pink / Ash grey |
| Favourite singer | Chuck D | Nina Simone, Scott Walker | Tobin Sprout | Roger Whittaker, Tony Christie, Robert Wyatt |
| Favourite actor/actress | Jerry Lewis, Isobel Huppert | Elizabeth Taylor, Klaus Kinski | Don’t have one | Lina Romay, Alistair Simm |
| Favourite food | Vietnamese | Peasant food | Fuul madamas | Egg, beans and chips |
| Favourite drink | Single malt whiskey | a good beer | Ayran | Strong Continental Lager |
| Favourite clothes | T-shirts | Birthday dress | Black, old, cheap | Old mod/skinhead gear from op shops and jumble sales |
| Favourite composers | Brian Eno, Lee Perry, Schoenberg, Russians, Neil Young | Ed Kuepper, Bowie, Kurt Weill | William Basinski | Lee Perry, Serge Gainsbourg, Neil Palmer, Robert Calvert |
| Favourite groups | The Stooges, Velvet Underground, 13th Floor Elevators, Roxy Music, Public Enemy, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth | Lee Scratch Perry, Pop Group, Can, Sleaford Mods | many | Hawkwind, Culture, Akvarium, Kino |
| Favourite sex position | I’m not in the position to have sex at the moment | ? | Prone | E=MC2 |
| Miscellaneous likes | Vegetables, humid weather, clean beachers with surf, forests, recreational drugs, knickers | Nature, industry, birds, clouds, camp fire | WG Sebald | The 20th century (well, approx. half of it) |
| Miscellaneous dislikes | Neo-conservatives, neo-liberal philosophies of any sort, bad personal hygiene, dust, ice addicts or any sort of addict | 98% | People who don’t indicate | The 21st century (all of it) |
| Most thrilling experience | Sex, flying in jet planes, getting stoned by protestors in Jerusalem, playing live and the crowd loving it | Losing my virginity | Watching Antiques Roadshow | Too many to choose from |
| Tastes in music | Reggae, minimalism, Krautrock, 60s psych, early blues, punk and indie, hip hop, techno and house music | Tribal, raw, funky, experimental stuff | Confused | Sheffield electro, any kind of Reggae pre-1990, Space-rock, Soviet-era USSR tunes, English hippy dippy psyche, militant music, French Ye-Ye. |
| Professional ambition | To not work a job yet make a living and have more sex than I do right now | To rock until I roll over | Rock stardom | Immortality |