Nunatak were a British-Antarctic

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rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

formed at the

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of list of global issues, global issues, and to provide an active prese ...

’s (BAS)

Rothera Research Station The Rothera Research Station is a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) base on the Antarctic Peninsula, located at Rothera Point, Adelaide Island. Rothera also serves as the capital of the British Antarctic Territory, a British Overseas Territor ...

and acted as the base's house band. The five person band was part of a science team investigating

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and evolutionary biology on the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...

. They are chiefly known for their participation in

Live Earth Live Earth was an event developed to increase Environmentalism, environmental awareness through entertainment. Background Founded by producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Live Earth 2007 The 1st series ...

in 2007, where they were the only band to play in the event's Antarctica concert.

History

The band's name is the Greenlandic word for a mountain top protruding from an ice sheet. Originally, the band had named itself after a disease previously common to

Punta Arenas Punta Arenas (, historically known as Sandy Point in English) is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Chile's southernmost Regions of Chile, region, Magallanes Region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. Although officially renamed as ...

roughly translated to "Rat Shit Death" but felt that the pronunciation of that name was less than politically correct. The band disbanded in 2007, as its members returned to the United Kingdom, but they reunited to perform in the

Sanday, Orkney Sanday (, ) is one of the inhabited islands of Orkney that lies off the north coast of mainland Scotland. With an area of , it is the third largest of the Orkney Islands.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 334. The main centres of population are Lady Vill ...

Soulka festival in 2012.

Live Earth

Nunatak played the Live Earth Antarctica concert on July 7, 2007, to a "sell out" crowd of seventeen, the entire population of the Rothera Research Station. Their participation fulfilled the event's promise to hold a concert on all seven continents. Lead singer Matt Balmer, 22, said of the event that the band "expected to spend our Antarctic winter here at Rothera quietly getting on with our work and maybe performing at the occasional Saturday night party. We could never have imagined taking part in a global concert." In the buildup to the event, Director of BAS Professor

Chris Rapley Christopher Graham Rapley (born 8 April 1947) is a British scientist and scientific administrator. He is Professor of Climate Science at University College London, a member of the Academia Europaea, Chair of the European Science Foundation's ...

said: :The need to reduce our carbon emissions to avoid serious climate change is one of the greatest challenges humans have had to confront – is a complex issue that will only be solved by us all working together – scientists, politicians and society. Right now, Antarctic scientists and our colleagues in the Arctic are taking part in International Polar Year - the biggest ever globally co-ordinated research effort – to help find the way forward. Hopefully, Live Earth will make a real difference in public awareness and attract talented young people to become scientists – it’s a cool job with a real purpose. I am looking forward to Nunatak’s appearance in the Live Earth concert inspiring young people the world over. British Antarctic Survey cameraman Pete Bucktrout made videos of the band's performances that were transmitted back from Antarctica for later inclusion in Live Earth. The videos are available on the BAS website and the BAS

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channel.

Line up

*Matt Balmer – lead vocals and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(electronics engineer with the physics and meteorology team) *Tris Thorne –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

(communications engineer) *Ali (Alison) Massey –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

(

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology clas ...

) *Rob Webster –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

) *Roger Stilwell –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

(Field General Assistant (polar guide))

References

External links

British Antarctic SurveyABC News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunatak 2006 establishments in Antarctica 2007 in Antarctica British Antarctic Survey British indie rock groups Musical groups established in 2006