Man or Astroman?
I was grudgingly dragged to a Man or Astroman? show years ago, expecting nothing but disappointment. At the time I hated bands that employed gimmicks and schtick, and most of the other early 90’s surf bands I had heard bored the living shit out me. I left the show a fan however, carrying a crapload of the bands releases. I think the moment everything clicked was when I returned from the bar to watch a man in a space suit jump about and shred his guitar while wearing a flaming helmet. Really, it was like nothing I had ever seen before.
Man or Astroman? formed in 1992 and and technically have never broken up, though they’ve been pretty much inert for the past 5-6 years. In the span of 1992 -1994 it seemed they had a new single out every month (check GrunnenRocks for a discography). Their early material was mostly straight up surf, spliced with scifi movie clips and a heavy dose of geek humor. Somewhere I read Man or Astroman described as the mutant offspring of Devo meets Dick Dale, which is simple enough. I prefer the band’s later material, starting with 1996’s Experiment Zero. Edgier and darker sounding, cut in with more experimental sounds. Man or Astroman? is slated to play next weekend’s big Touch & Go 25th Anniversary show. A couple of my favorites to get you warmed up:
Man or Astroman? - Interstellar Harddrive.mp3
Man or Astroman? - Um Espectro Sem Escala.mp3
Man or Astroman? - DNI.mp3
Man or Astroman? - Jonathan Winters Frankenstein.mp3
Man or Astroman? - Configuration 9.mp3
Man or Astroman? - 9 Volt.mp3
11 Comments so far
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yup, nothin’ but good stuff with this post,
thanks,my collection of Man or Astroman is
alittle too thin!
great live…personally I like their version of 007 goldfinger
Very cool, Thanks for posting these tracks. Their are quite a few live shows of MOAM you can download at archive.org here’s a link:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3Aetree%20AND%20%2Fmetadata%2Fcreator%3A%22Man%20Or%20Astroman%3F%22
Enjoy! and thanks for this website! I do a radio show on Freak Radio Santa Cruz 101fm www.freakradio.org and always find great stuff to play here!
You Rock!!
I rocked in the new millenium with Man Or Astroman on New Years night in 2000 in Boston at the Middle East. They wore helmets and set explosives (firecrackers etc) off on them. There was so much smoke in the club that we couldn’t see and I believe the fire alarms went off. It was a totally incredible show. They are definitely one of the bands I am looking forward to seeing next week at the T&G Show.
i was lucky enough to live in atlanta when these guys came out. saw them a number of times, once with my dad when up for a visit. what he said about them after the show was “i dont think those guys will be attacking the castle walls anytime soon”. described them perfectly i thought.
They were very good @ the Touch and Go show, some probs with the PA but very good performance. Worth the trip from Dallas. The Didjits were the highlight tho…Neg Aproach not to shabby either
I saw them play at a Linux conference reception party in the late 90’s, it was a great show! SETI (so fitting) and SUSE sponsored it and there was a full open bar and free SUSE beer mugs.
Yeah, their live shows were wild. I digress….. Whilst driving along S. Van Ness in S.F., I came across a Chevy mini van (Astro) that had “VAN OR ASTRO VAN?” on the back doors. I thought that was pretty clever , anyway, thanks for the great site and all the hours you put in. I’ve been dying to hear the FU’s. my favorite of theirs: “young fast iranians” that is a rock’n'roll motherfucker there.. Along the lines of good shows(and I’ve seen a few) The New Bomb Turks put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, I always remember Fear putting on ass kickers back in the 80-83 era. and of course …….Radio Birdman Killed it on their last pass through the US. No Alternative has been playing around the Bay area regularly and man they are better now than back in the 79-84 years when I used to see them. Also saw Social Unrest and they put on some great music. Be well, Armand
Hello, Your site is great. Regards, Valintino Guxxi
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