ASTRONAUT – BREAKS DOWN THROUGH HISTORY (1990-2000)

“It took so long, but I got there…” The long oft-imitated story is basically this: In 1990, under the guidance of local big-brother band Skunk, the writing partnership of Tim Smith and David Wallingford, under the name Astronaut, had just about every perfect indie-rock opportunity handed to them on a flannel platter. The gloriously dysfunctional 1990 "Sleazy Listening" cassette EP initially shocked all the doubting local hipster dorks into placing the Astronaut into a stratosphere of glorified “in crowd” platitudes.

Inspired local youngster Kyle Bennett joined the band on bass shortly thereafter. There is no doubt from that point; the trio was conceptually amazing - celebrating inappropriate high volumes and stone cold freaking the fuck out on stage.

In critical rock n’ roll scenarios, their greasy peers proved to show complete (or at least a comprehensive) sense of grace under pressure. Astronaut was not one of those bands. Make no mistake- the band recorded decently (which has been culled here), but from frighteningly unprepared showcases to stolen equipment to bad relocations, Astronaut found just about every intricate way to absolutely sabotage such ideal clutch situations.