Man or Astroman? was a huge deal to me. An impetus. A launching pad. Their silver surfer sounds traveled north to my part of Alabama, reaching my hungry ears around 1994. I went to Huntsville to visit friends at the University of Alabama at Huntsville and they got me hip to Man or Astroman? and “Mystery Science Theater 3000” in one swell weekend. (Did you notice I didn’t mention the co-eds of UAH? Yeah. Those guys weren’t much help there.)
The first listen to Man or Astroman? was mind blowing to me. This band was from Alabama?!?! Auburn, Alabama?!? All of a sudden, Auburn was the center of the South’s musical map in my mind.
At the time, I didn’t know squat about surfer, garage and trash rock. I had no idea what The Cramps were about. I had heard Link Wray’s “Rumble,” but couldn’t tell you that he was responsible for conjuring that dangerous-sounding song. I would eventually seek out regional rockers Los Straitjackets from Nashville and Southern Culture on the Skids from North Carolina because they were often mentioned in the same breath as Man or Astroman?. (Yeah, I think the proper punctuation would be to put a period after that question mark since it is part of their name and even though it ends a sentence.)
Man or Astroman? was the atomic blast that would throw me into a chaotic world of better, interesting music.
I nabbed any 7″ record of theirs available at Sunburst Records in Huntsville that I could find. And then I started grabbing other records too. Thee Headcoats. The Mummies. Bikini Kill. Fun Girls From Mt. Pilot. The Slackers (the punk band from Huntsville).
But my attempts to see Man or Astroman? on stage always ended in failure. Because of horrible luck, they were my personal space-age version of George “No Show” Jones. I traveled to Nashville in 1995 (or maybe ’96) to see them at Lucy’s Record Shop near Vanderbilt. The show was canceled. A few months later I tried to see them at the dingy, grimy Tip Top Cafe on the south side of Huntsville. No dice. Show canceled. But this is a horrible representation of them. MOAM? were known to tour this country and others hard and often! (I would eventually see them during an early afternoon show at City Stages around the year 2000 and write a interview/review for The Plainsman. It was not the experience that I had longed for.)
By the time I transferred to Auburn University in 1997, their vapor trail that led to Athens, Ga., was cold. The band was long gone. And all that was left were the stories of Man or Astroman?’s time on the Plains. I heard snippets of tales: trashed houses, bowling alley shows, etc. Sadly, I’d also heard that the band had grown tired of living in Auburn, realized that they could get more attention in Athens, and had moved. Their new HQ was in Athens. Hated Athens! They would never play in Auburn again.
But now comes word that the band (that disbanded in 2001 or … ahem … retired to their “underground cryogenic center”) is reuniting to play a show at The Bottletree in Birmingham on March 6 (at this time, tickets are available). Another show in Georgia the night before (tickets still available). And more shows at South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin later in the month.
And now I must pump information from you, dearest reader, to entertain and delight us all. Were any of you living in Auburn during the early-to-mid ’90s? What were some of your favorite MOAM? memories? Do you have any photos? Any illegitimate space children? Are they responsible for the carbon scoring on your droid and you demand restitution in astronaut ice cream?
Let us know! Send us any photos/stories/recordings/slanderous rumors that you might have and we here at The War Eagle Reader will compile them into a sort of “unofficial oral history” of Man or Astroman?’s time in Auburn.
Please send your info to: [email protected] or post it up on our Facebook page.
Click here to read Chunklet‘s interview with Birdstuff (drummer Brian Teasley) about the upcoming reunion shows.
Click here for a list of MOAM?’s six (count them … 6!!!) sessions with John Peel at the BBC (includes audio).
Nice post. Saw them one time at a house show in Auburn (1993?). I walk across the street to the Conoco to buy a drink, and as I’m leaving one of the band members (don’t recall who) comes into the store. With his guitar. He has a remote and a headset and is still playing with the rest of the band, who are back at the house.
They were still making on 7″ records in 1994?
Let me rerhrase that… You still owned a turntable in 1994?
Ben — thanks! I’ll be sure to repost that in the event we get a bunch of stories together. (I have a feeling that I’m going to have to pump most people for information that were living in Auburn at the time.)
Alex P — Yep. There was a whole universe of great new music on wax. It was the cheapest way (well, maybe a cassette tape was cheaper) that an underground band could get its tunes to the masses.
I saw them play at that Bodegas place, whatever it was before it was Bodegas, a coffee shop? The Coffee Bank? Maybe that was where it was, I forget, maybe it was at a house, anyway saw them circa 96 or 97. They were famous for weird costumes. “Theme from Mystery Science Theater 3000” is still a great tune.
I once played pinball with Link Wray at the old Greatsouth Music Hall in the ATL. Can’t remember who won.
JB
Sweet Mosrite axe-love the Danelectro bass. And is that a Silvertone (Sears Best?)
JB
beermotor — I remember it as The Coffee Bank. Yeah, I think that’s it.
JBoggs — When was that?!? Do you remember what pinball game it was?
I saw them at the Paradise Theater in Montgomery. I can’t remember if they were the main act or the opening act. I also saw Follow For Now there, so maybe MOAM was the opener that time. As a side note, I used to date the guitar player’s cousin.
I was at AU from 91-96 and saw them several times, most notably a show they played at the little amphitheater behind Parker Hall (during which one of the guys threw star-crunches into the crowd), and at a show at an armory somewhere outside of Auburn.
After they moved, I remember seeing an article about them in a music zine that said they were from Athens. I felt so betrayed.
JM, it was 1977-78 something like that. He was touring with Robert Gordon. Great SE Music Hall (best known for being the first place the Sex Pistols ever played in the US) was a terrific small concert venue in Atlanta. An old movie theater with a slanted floor, they took out the seats and put up short padded walls and padded the floor so you could sit comfortably. Held about 800 people. I worked for Polygram Records at the time and we had a act on the bill with RG/LW-not sure who. There were a couple of pinball games in the lobby and while the sound checks were going on we took turns playing pinball. Sort of an ordinary guy-didn’t say much, didn’t smell all that good if I recall. Had I not known who ihewas, I wouldn’t have known who he was if you know what i mean.
Ah, the good old days.
JB
Thanks for the article. I traveled back to Auburn not too long ago for a friend’s wedding. The place looked like it had been put in a giant Sani-Freeze blender. Everything was backwards or moved 5 blocks from where I remembered it being from my time there. I don’t know if it is all the time travel or degenerative memory lapse – but it was cool to hear stories about the wayback years to help reassemble things. Let me know if I can be of help.
I saw them several time around 92 or 93. I remember my first week in college, there was a stop sign (I feel that it was at Mag and College could it be before there was a light there?). Anyway, there was a Man or Astroman? sticker on the sign and I could not understand because there was question mark. Could this be some weird college-y humor. No, it was a badass rock band.
The shows I remember were one above Toomer’s corner (entrance in the alley behind), one across from the Conoco on Samford and one in a bar that was in the old Auburn theater before it was torn down. During the Toomer’s show, I felt that the second floor loft’s floor would collapse. During the Auburn Theater show, some stupid frat boys were taunting the band and the guitar player jumped on their table and wailed. He almost got in a fight–it was great.
Oh man! Thanks for reading, Star Crunch.
@Ricky D – I remember that night at the theater with the frat guy. He had a bottle of beer on the table and was giving me this “tuff guy stare” like he was going to kick my ass if I knocked it over. I think it got knocked over anyway – but one the coolest parts about being in a band is that you know that there are at least 3 other guys in the room that will help rescue you from sticky situations.
The frat guy must have had super powers, though. After the last song that night, I walked off what I thought was part of the stage (it was not) – fell – and landed on my Gretsch. Broke the Bigsby right off – and dented the heck out of the body.
I was music director at WEGL for a couple of years in the mid-80’s. Graduated before the band was playing around town. I really wish I could have seen them back at school, but was able to catch a couple of shows in Atlanta. I have never heard a better band come out of Auburn.
I remember seeing Man or Astroman? at Bostons in Tempe,AZ in 1996 for the Mini-Microscope tour and it blew my mind. I had never seen a more colossal band in my life. People were singing along with the movie samples that play before each song. Every song was amazing. The music made me want to start a band and I did several times.
When I saw them again at Boston’s in Tempe for the Made from Technetium tour I met Dexter X who couldn’t have been nicer. He signed my flyer. The show was great and it rained. Birdstuff was totally cool also. He had someone from the audience play drums along with him to one song.
One lowlight was when I met StarCrunch. He was playing some Mars Attacks pinball game at Bostons and hanging out before the show. I was impressed with his lyrics. I told Starcrunch how much I enjoyed his lyrics and his response was, “hey kid I just wrote them in the studio they don’t mean anything.”
He then turned his back on me and went back to pinball. What a disappointment. I was hoping for some great revelation but instead of got some short words. I forgive you there SC. I wish you best on your new shows. Your words might not have been meaningful to you but they were to me. Experiment Zero is my favorite album of all time. 1000X is a solid album too. I am happy that they plan to play stuff from that era.
Brian Teasley was always cool to me. He allowed me to interview him for my college paper at a later show. Brian was always funny and super gracious. Man or Astroman? as a whole was never afraid of their fans. They will never know what a huge impact that had on their fans. Awesome.
The show at the Jackson Hole in Phoenix (now the Old Brickhouse) was great. Causey Way opened for them and Coco donned an afro wig to play bass for them. The Spoozys and the Mooney Suzuki opened for Man or Astroman? at Nita’s Hideaway for a good show on their last tour.
I will be very excited to see a reunion tour if that happens. May your trails be happy and your campfire never dim.
Sincerely,
Dr. TX
@ Dr. TX – no mortal man dare interrupt my pinball game!
hmmm…wait… that doesn’t sound like something I would say – but my apologies if I did – or it came across that way to you. I unfortunately don’t remember that specific conversation (I do remember playing an intense game of pinball from time to time). It’s especially confusing as many of the lyrics do/did mean something – and I don’t think I’ve called anyone a “kid” in my life. Whatever was said, it obviously left a bad impression – so my apologies for that. Thanks for sticking with us…
I have seen a few shows and they were all great, couldn’t imagine interrupting Starcrunch in pinballI and also don’t think he would call someone a kid, maybe junior, but not kid.
Haha no mortal man indeed! It will never happen again SC.
Thanks for taking the time to write me back Starcrunch. Apology accepted.
Man or Astroman? will always be my favorite band of all time. You are my Beatles!
You said that your lyrics “do/did mean something” would you treat us to some lyrics and shed some light on how you created them?
Were the lyrics included with the Bandai Japanese version of Made From Technetium/ 1000X accurate?
I will buy you a beer when you come to Arizona to play a show. There is no longer a Boston’s for you to play but the Brickhouse still stands. Marquee Theater would be a good place too if you open to suggestions.
Well, I can still remember how bad I felt that Man or AstroMan? played a much better set at Denaro’s while I was playing with Big Audio Dynamite at some lame frat party in Auburn. Not only did these guys not know I was part of the Clash, MorA was doing a cover of “Down at the Globe” the same night…and nailed it in their MorA way…
I take pleasure in, result in I found just what I was taking a look
for. You have ended my four day long hunt! God Bless you man.
Have a great day. Bye