The Adventure Continues:

Operation Space Toaster is a continuation of the Vosto Vlad adventure series from the radio show The State of Synth. On March 8th 2022 Vosto Vlad and Bob Chester set out in hot pursuit of a synthwave vigilante group known as the Time Bandits who plan on changing history by re-recording the soundtrack to the hit movie Cannonball Run completely in synthwave. This album chronicles their adventures.

The Origins of Vosto Vlad and Bob Chester:

Over the years, The State of Synth has given birth to a wide assortment of colorful characters, but none of them are as memorable as the very first– Vosto Vlad. When Neon Fawkes and I created the show, our intention was a zany “news room” style show. Feeling the need for some over-the-top silliness, we asked our good friend Vosto for help. The wacky news reporter, “Vosto Vlad”, character was created and fit perfectly into the tone we wanted for the show.

For the first two years and without fail, Vosto would deliver funny little skits for us to play on the show. When he wasn’t whizzing through cyberspace, he was navigating through his adventures in the Nightride FM chopper with his own personal pilot “Arnold.” Vosto had a talent for creating colorful and funny characters that kept us all in stitches during some really rough times in our lives. For me, the show was an escape from a sometimes harsh reality, and Vosto created a world I couldn’t wait to go back to week after week.

When Vosto started to run out of ideas for the show, he would simply develop a new character. After we hit a few dry weeks with no real news, he decided to create the inventor Dr. Shultz. Dr. Shultz started as an old fixture from the old WWII era who was hellbent on world domination. The twist was that in between his big plans for world domination, he would be down in the Nightride FM basement inventing all kinds of wacky contraptions for Vosto Vlad to use on his adventures. These inventions ranged from time travel devices, to mind control devices, to toasters that have a secondary capacity to launch nuclear weapons! Let’s not forget his greatest invention of all– “The SynthFamulator 9000” which lets you talk to any #synthfam at a moment’s notice.

I remember waking up one morning to a message from Vosto (the real one) saying that after playing his 100th hour of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2, he had invented another character. The demo he sent me (included in the downloadable extras) was himself (who is Romanian) doing this cheap, yet fairly convincing, cowboy impersonation. After listening, I laughed so hard I nearly rolled out of bed. Thus, the synthwave loving cowboy “Bob Chester” was born.

The purpose of this album is to pay homage to a good friend who has helped me through some very hard times. The energy Vosto has brought to the show will never be forgotten. As the show progresses and real life evolves, it’s hard to tell what the future of anything will bring. All I can say is that this album is one more chance to dive into the world Vosto helped create. I hope you will join me.

--Dennis G