David Haerle Releases 'The Great Galaxy Sci-Fi Convention Show' In Time For Star Wars Day

As sci-fi fans gear up to celebrate Star Wars Day (May the 4th), Los Angeles singer-songwriter-guitarist David Haerle has a must-add track for their playlists. 

“The Great Galaxy Sci-Fi Convention Show” song and video are out now. Paired with an out-of-this-world animated video by Michael Pottle, there’s an interesting and personal backstory with this song.

Haerle explains, “My late brother Christian was about four-and-a-half years older than me and had a great love of science fiction, fantasy and horror films. In particular, he had a passion for the special effects behind the scenes of sci-fi films as well as their musical scores (think effects artist Ray Harryhausen and composer Bernard Hermann). 

In 1978, while attending the Los Angeles Auto Show at the LA Convention Center, my brother said ‘Someday I’m going to put on my own convention here.’ Well, he went back the following week and booked the convention center for November 18th of that same year. Christian was all of sixteen at the time and, sure enough, Galacticon came into being with a little help from our parents and his friends. It was a blast. The following year in 1979 my brother held the convention at the historic (now demolished) Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd.”

David continues, “This song pulls from my own memories of attending those two conventions as well as the World Science Fiction Convention in Miami, FL a few years prior, which I went to with my brother and his friend Danny. These memories are teeming with fans in costume, panels, screening rooms playing new and classic films, and of course the ‘dealers’ room,’ where all sorts of collectibles and sci-fi related merchandise were offered up for sale. I was most excited by the flashing ray gun I bought and held as I ran from room to room at the convention. My brother left for the final frontier in 2019. This is a tribute to him and to dreaming big.”

The track was written and produced by David himself, alongside co-producer/mixer/engineer and frequent collaborator Jose Salazar. David, who plays lead vocal, electric and acoustic rhythm guitars, is joined by his longtime band--Carson Cohen (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Reade Pryor (drums, percussion), Ken Belcher (electric guitar, backing vocals), Jose Salazar (keyboards, electric guitar) and Ursula Knudson (backing vocals, saw).

David’s music traverses many genres--singer-songwriter, rock, pop and Americana--with words inspired by his life, experiences, people and observations of all that surround him. His previous album releases, 2023’s El Camino Sierra, 2020’s Death Valley and 2018’s Garden of Edendale, have all been well reviewed amongst many notable music publications including: Billboard, American Songwriter, Goldmine, Under The Radar, Glide Magazine, Rock and Roll Globe, Americana Highways, Elmore Magazine and others.

David Haerle grew up surrounded by music and the music business. His father Martin emigrated from Germany to pursue a dream of working in the country music industry and co-founded the independent label CMH Records (Country Music Heritage). His maternal grandparents co-owned the first full time country music radio station in Nashville, WENO. The King of Country Music, Roy Acuff, took him onstage at the Grand Ole’ Opry before a full house when he was 9 years of age. After picking up the guitar at age 13, he played in rock and alternative new wave bands during the 80’s, before becoming a music agent at ICM. Then his father passed away suddenly and at just 24 years-old, David took over the family business and has served as president of CMH Records, now CMH Label Group, ever since. 

But David never stopped playing guitar. In 2011, he decided to record and release his first full length album. He began in earnest and the project would ultimately take him roughly 7 years to finish. Garden of Edendale was released in the summer of 2018. His second album, Death Valley, was released in the spring of 2020. His third album, El Camino Sierra, was released in April 2023. His fourth LP is set to be released later this year.

Photo credit: Michael Pottle

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