In Buffalo, New York the evil empire from the Star Wars films isn’t just striking back in the theaters, they’re taking the battle to the streets. With holiday decorations going up, moe. Audio Engineer Steve Young decided slapping a wreath on the grill of his truck wasn’t how he wanted to celebrate. Instead, he’s been drawing cheers and enthusiastic followers cruising around town with a scaled down, light up Imperial Tie fighter mounted to the roof of his truck.
The Tie Fighter, seen mounted above and in close-up below, was one of two ships the audio engineer and model maker made for the band moe.’s Halloween “Star Wars” based tribute show.
When the band and crew were discussing how they were going to bring the beloved franchise to the stage, Young said “You know what we need? We need a tie fighter and an X-Wing fighter that can fly out over the stage and shoot lasers.” The band readily agreed, and the crafty Young started designing.
“I looked at a lot of pictures of the ships, measured them out and built them to scale. It was slow going at the beginning. I probably spent three or four weeks on the X-Wing. We did the Tie Fighter all over the last week, but I was planning it out the whole time, and learning my lessons from making the X-Wing.”
“It was all pretty much built from stuff from Home Depot. Foam, foil insulation, two by fours…buckets! Parts of the X-Wing were made out of Home Depot buckets. I got some LED lights online and added some computer parts…and of course, good old foil duct tape.”
“I saw the first Star Wars in ’77 like ten times that summer. I saw the new on Thursday, we saw the very first show. I took my son and daughter…it was his birthday. They loved it. We’re going back Sunday, taking a bunch of neighborhood kids. It’s just like for the original one. One of the neighborhood dads would just load us up in the station wagon and take all the kids to see the original one all summer long.”
The models cost about four thousand dollars to build, but the fan reaction to them at the show was priceless. moe. has a tradition of going all all in for their Halloween shows, and even rewrote the lyrics to some of their own songs to have a “Star Wars” flavor to them, in addition to learning songs like the film’s theme and the “Imperial March.” The Rebel Alliance ship, however, did not escape the performance at the Forum in Philadelphia.
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The X-Wing wasn’t shot down in the epic battle above the crowd however. Young explained that “We sold the X-Wing to the Fillmore in Philadelphia. “They weren’t gonna let it leave the building. When they saw it flying, the said “We’re not letting that leave. So it now hangs at the Fillmore, over the catering area pointing at the load in door.”
“So, every band that plays at the Fillmore now sees that when they walk in! That’s what they see…they’re staring down the nose of a X-Wing fighter, hung in the air, with lasers and LED lights! We do have a condition with them in the sale that if we want to tour with it, they have to let us use it. We could come and take it, but then bring it back to its home, the Fillmore.”
With the double holiday this year, Christmas and the release of the most anticipated movie of the year, the new Star Wars sequel. Young decided to put the remaining ship to good use and mounted it to the roof of his truck. His move has drawn considerable attention around Buffalo, even landing him on the local news.
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“People have been waving and honking, and swarming whenever I park. It’s been great! I figure I’m just adding to the hype and helping spread some good cheer at the same time.” While he’s enjoying piloting the ship around town, he’s not sure of the model’s future.”
“We might sell it…I don’t know. I’ll have to ask the band. It’s pretty cool, but it does take up a lotta room in my garage. If someone does buy it, they will have to agree to let us use it if we ever decide to tour with it though!” (Laughs)
Check out this cool video of the lights in action, accompanied by moe.’s rendition of John Williams’ “Imperial March” from the Halloween “Star Wars Covers” show, below.
