The Astronauts

1) Anarcho-punk band inspired in CRASS Records. https://www.facebook.com/TheAstronautsBand 2) Surf band from Colorado in the early 1960's. Their appeal was primarily regional, but their 1963 single "Baja" drew national attention and reached #94 on the Billboard pop charts. 3) A nostalgic surf rock band from Bielefeld, Germany. Their style is instrumental space-surf rock n' roll. The liner notes from their 10" EP "Lost in Space", released in 1993 by Pin Up Records, shed some light on their retro aesthetic: "Do you play your Pin Up Monaural long-play recordings on a Mono phonograph? Please do. 4) Hudson Valley, NY rock band "Astronauts" consisted of 4 great friends and a desire to create music from the heart. 2 CDs and a demo were recorded ('Wizards', 'Avanti', and 'Deep Vermont') under the original line up consisting of Chris Bigley, Corey Burleigh, Simon Hegarty, and Steven Markota. Under the stress of juggling school and touring, Corey and Chris parted ways with Astronauts. Needing a guitar player and a singer, Steven and Simon found Mike Tash and Jacob Kolbinski to play. A 2 song demo was recorded, entitled "Boneshaker". The new line up of Astronauts played many shows but the original fire was not there. Astronauts soon fizzled out and new bands were started. 1) Anarcho-punk band. Inspired by the UK punk explosion. Mark Astronaut formed the band with a few friends in 1977 and began playing local gigs in their hometown of Welwyn Garden City.By 1979 The Astronauts were regularly appearing at free festivals and gigs in London organised by a hippy collective known as Fuck Off Records and from these began a close friendship with London punk bands Zounds and the Mob. That year the first Astronauts ep was released on local label Bugle Records and musically it reflected the hippie drug culture combined with the energy of punk.'All Night Party' still sounds like the paranoid nightmare it did back then.The record established the Astronauts on the local gig scene among the non mainstram hippie/punk/biker crowd.Also in 1979 an ep was released under the assumed name of RESTRICTED HOURS on the Stevenage Rock Against Racism label.'Getting Things Done' attacked the political apathy of smalltown life while 'Still Living Out The Carcrash' was musically a typically nightmarish theme. By 1980 gigs throughout England with Zounds had won over an army of fans and the 'Pranksters In Revolt' ep sold all its copies within weeks.Musically the 4 songs were not as adventurous as the first ep although the lyrics were as incisive as ever.Like many great bands from the postpunk era the Astronauts were completely ignored by the UK music press which then as now was only interested in anything trendy,fashionable or middle class.Local fanzine Zero began to champion the band as did the local newspapers. 'Peter Pan Hits The Suburbs' was released in 1981 to widespread acclaim.Incredibly it received great reviews in virtually all the UK music press.The typical Astronauts audience at the time was largely hardcore punks attracted by the energetic gigs and a handful of hippies so the album was something of a surprise.Full of heartfelt folk ballads and featuring legendary jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill the album was not what fans had expected but appealed to a different audience.The contradiction of heavy chaotic punk performances and structured melodic alternative pop/folk/ambient songs continues to this day. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/acidstings/ASTRONAUTS.htm.html https://www.facebook.com/TheAstronautsBand https://myspace.com/herestheastronauts Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.