Science Fixion was a Burlington-based experimental band that spanned many years, existing as an ever-evolving being that created cosmic, experimental music that cannot be defined.

In the late 1970s, R. Shamms Mortier, a multifaceted performer and creative, formed and led a jazz band that would go through several iterations. It grew from Vibraharp and Bass duo ‘Windows’ to a quartet called Northstar which quickly expanded into a seven-piece band, first welcoming Dave Hebert on drums and Peter Brown, the principal cellist for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, who was equipped with a pickup for his cello and an amplifier with a digital signal processor that made the cello sound like a cedar saxophone.

The quartet grew to include Lee Clark on keyboards (later replaced by Andy Hildebrandt), Steve Blair on guitar, Roger Berard on drums, and hand-drummer Ken Dunbar.

As the band expanded, so did its repertoire, with the addition of Shamms’ original compositions to the jazz standards that the band played, creating a body of work described by bass player Peter Williams as “conducive to interstellar travel, the blues, swing, hard-bop, and funk.”

One afternoon, Peter Williams remarked, “You know, Shamms, this band is science fiction.” The band’s name was quickly changed to fit this descriptor, from Northstar to Science Fixion.

Science Fixion was active in the Burlington music community for many years, playing at an eclectic series of venues. They hit their stride around the time that Phish was rising to fame, offering up a jam band unlike any other, and though they did not acquire a fan base comparable to their world-famous neighbors, they were held in high regard by the influential artist in experimental music Sun Ra, as well as the audiences they captivated locally. Phish also took notice of the band and would come to see their shows.

These shows were interesting at the very least, both musically and in the performance art that Shamms was constantly creating. The coffin doors from the exhibit are from a performance at Burlington’s Club Toast. During a packed show, the keys played a processional as the other bandmates carried the coffin around the room. When they reached the stage, Shamms burst from the coffin, dressed as eclectically as the music that he was about to play. The crowd went wild.

The band’s sound continued to evolve as time went on, moving to include a KAT percussion controller that played samples, many engineered by Shamms, as well as vocals. These new developments and the sounds they produced were like no other, ranging from pirate and Klingon vocals to samples of the sound of volcanic activity.

At this point, there was some disagreement within the band regarding the creative direction Shamms was going in and its inability to appeal to a wider audience, and as a result, Peter Williams ended up leaving the band, who continued on with their eclectic endeavors by touring Russia with Juston Rose on bass, before eventually dissolving.

*Peter Williams in 2021. Photo by James Lockridge.*

Shamm’s creativity was described by his bandmate Peter Williams as “animated fractal geometry, an ever-expanding universe in which he danced not on the head of a pin, but on the point,” a description that remained constant throughout the band’s long and fluid existence.