Real rock and roll. The kind your mother hates.

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ROCK: Punk, ROCK: Hard Rock



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Call them relics, diehards, or fearless sonic explorers. For the past three years, the Space Heaters have been proving to Detroit audiences that rock and roll gets better with experience.
If it wasnât for a shared, undying and loving addiction to first-rate raucous noise, successful collaborations in the past, and a mystical chemistry which has thus far bonded the band members together in both camaraderie and creativity, the Space Heaters may have never left the drawing board.
All four members of the Space Heaters have done their share in contributing to incomparable gene pool of Detroit rock and roll.
Associations over the past decades range from the 1970s punk flavor of the Denizens, the Ramrods, The 27 and the Boners to 1980s Detroit garage innovators Hysteric Narcotics to the Murder City Wrecks, one of the few Detroit bands of the 1990s imbued with enough energy, attitude and overall punk spirit to create dance floor tremors in the decade of the stationary audience.
This is a new century, though, and one in which the four beat-hungry Space Heaters intend to surpass those past efforts with keen musicianship and songwriting skills that are second to none in the current realm of Detroit rock and roll.
Just this side of their third anniversary as a band, Space Heaters Dean Denizen (bass, vocals), Dave Hanna (lead guitar), Mike Murphy (drums, lead vocals), and Pat Shaw (guitar, vocals), have played sporadically in the Detroit area to receptive and enthusiastic audiences.
The group recently released a split single on the Detroit Vinyl label with fellow Detroit up and comers the Blame
The Space Heaters released their first solo single in early 2006 (James Johnson b/w Minnie) and have been recording songs at Matt Downeyâs Blue Grotto studio in Royal Oak in preparation for a full-length release.
Now, a full-length (by 1960s and 1970s) compact disc has been dredged from the bowels â just kidding â of the group, and we hope you like it and tell all your friends about it. Itâs called âWarming Up,â meaning that the Space Heaters have only just begun to spit out what will indeed considered in the future to be classic Detroit rock and roll.
In terms of repertoire, the Space Heaters have taken on a multi-dimensional approach in both their original compositions and their choice of cover material, which in the past has included choice revivals of songs composed by the MC5, Curtis Mayfield, 60s garage greats the Fabs, Gene Vincent, and the fabulous Undertones.
Original songs, some of which have a historical bent, are as varied in sound as the bandâs cover material.
Band members contend that their not concerned with fitting into any rock and roll subcategory, be it punk, garage or pop.
âWeâre really all of those things,â said Murphy, the bandâs founder and primary songwriter and lyricist. âWith the Space Heaters, we hope audiences ditch the labels and appreciate us for what we are. Weâve got some new tricks in this band.â
Murphy, who played with Dean in the Denizens, Dave in the Boners and Pat in the Murder City Wrecks, brought the initial batch of original material to the band, but said the Space Heaters have now begun to create songs as a group.
âItâs exciting,â Murphy said. âEveryone in the band is contributing now, and weâre surprising ourselves.â
The Space Heaters like to think of themselves as avatars of the New Vaudeville Blues, but thatâs something thatâs thus far only in their collective imagination.
âWeâd like to start a movement, and why not New Vaudeville?â Denizen said. âThat way, more musicians get paid.â