The Los Angeles band’s new video pays homage to the long-closed Satellite/Spaceland nightclub and the former Silver Lake Echo Park Hollywood neighborhood.
Once one of the cultural landmarks of Los Angeles’ east side, Satellite Nightclub (formerly Spaceland) in Silver Lake hosted acts like Lady Gaga, Foo Fighters and many other nationally known alternative and pop groups before falling victim to declining attendance due to the pandemic.
The venue, like other clubs and concert halls across the country, has been closed since 2020.
Ben Golomb, a member of the band Modern Time Machines, came up with the concept for the video and spent years finding photographs and footage.
“I’m an LA native, so finding before and after photos of familiar local stores always makes me smile,” Golomb says, “I guess it’s a little like finding an awkward photo of your parents in your high school yearbook; you just need to be more aware of the little details. I named my band Modern Time Machines, and being a vintage-obsessed time-travel nerd, I knew creating this video would be on brand from the moment the idea came to me.”
Inspiration for Golomb came in late 2019, when Amoeba Music on Sunset Boulevard closed, shortly after the demolition of the Googie-built Litton Savings Building on Sunset Boulevard (which was a Chase Bank before being demolished).
“We had to quickly jump on-site to shoot the scenes for the video, which meant multiple visits to the site where the demolition was taking place,” Golomb said, “and then we had to manually visually match the time lapse shots. It was a lot of work, but a real labor of love. It was all practical effects.”
The video also reuses unused footage shot in a DeLorean in front of The Satellite in Silver Lake in 2014, which was used in a promotional video for Modern Time Machines. “So, in a way, I’ve been working on this video unconsciously for 10 years,” Golomb said.
In the process, he became a sort of local historian, especially when it came to the “satellites.”
“Back in the 1950s, this was a restaurant called The Happy Hollow, and later became known as The Red Chimney,” Golomb says. “The recent closure of The Satellite was especially painful for many in the local music community. That venue was a name-recognition spot, like Cheers in Silver Lake. Most of the locals I know still get a little sentimental when they drive past the closed and boarded up place.”
Modern Time Machines perform the music for the video: “We recorded a dreamy space rock song called ‘Ghost Sign (Sleight of Hand)’, with lyrics about drifting through space, destroying memories and traces of the past, and a meditation on how time travel may (or may not) bring back what we’ve lost.”
Musicians included Modern Time Machines bandmates Mike Morgan and Olya Volkova, and friends Alex Jack, Nadia Franks, and Diana Christine Herreld, who all collaborated on the recording. Golomb and Josiah Mazzaschi served as co-producers.
The actors featured in the video are Charles Phoenix and Happy Hollows lead singer Sarah Negadari.
Check out the video above.