Something I Learned Today

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