AST
MAN OR
STROMAN?
Man or Astroman? was on a North American tour in
November. I caught up with Coco, their leader, and
asked him a few questions about life on Earth and
how it differs from life in outer space.
IRST OF ALL, WHO ARE YOU?
We are Man or Astroman?. We weren't a band
initially where we're from. We were traveling
through outer space, and had no idea what bands
were, or anything like that. Unfortunately, due to a cal-
culation error and a big mistake, honestly, on my part,
we ended up plummeting towards Planet Earth. We hit
your atmosphere, and the ship, not
being designed to withstand all
the rigors of Earth's atmos-
phere, broke into thousands
of pieces scattering over the
Earth. Those of us who sur-
vived ended up in the rural
town of Auburn, Alabama.
We did a quick assess-
ment of the life forms on
Earth. Apparently, humans
were on top of the food
chain. So we disguised
ourselves as humans; you
don't want to disguise your-
self as a squirrel on Earth. I
think we did a pretty good job.
So we decided we had to start
planning how to get home. We knew
the people of Planet Earth haven't
done the best job with alien visitors:
Area 51, for instance. We knew we
would have to be disguised.
We saw groups of people loading
technical-looking equipment into
Ivans and that is what we modeled
ourselves after. It turns out these
people were in bands, so that is
what we did: disguised ourselves as
a band. We went through all of the
information we had regarding rock
and roll bands from Planet Earth. We
heard stuff like Dick Dale, Link
Wray, and the Ventures. There you
go: rock and roll.
We started as a local band and
people came up to us, saying,
"Hey, that's really cool, you guys
are doing this retro surfy thing."
We were like, "What are you
talking about? What do you
mean retro?" What we
hadn't realized is the
information we had
about Planet Earth
had traveled so far
to the depths of
outer space that
there was actually a time warp and the information
was 30 years out of date. We based our entire exis-
tence on this planet on information that was out of
date. We actually owe our sound, style, etc., to a
math error.
If we did our math correctly, we would sound like
Limp Bizkit, which shows just how important math is.
Where are you from?
Outer space. Specifically, Grid Sector 26B-1.
What is Technetium?
We made our album Made from Technetium actually
out of the material Technetium. Take the CD and put
it on your chest; you'll wake up with a tan.
Technetium is actually the first human synthesized in
a lab material made by scientists. It is our tribute in
appreciation to the Earth materials technology devel-
opers. It is one of the few things that your planet has
donated to the cosmos that is of grand importance.
Atomic weight of Technetium?
We actually printed the wrong atomic weight on the
T-shirts, and we got in trouble with the people who
regulate the atomic weight and measures. I don't even
remember; I think it's thirteen. Not much higher-
twenty-seven, thirty-two, I have no idea.
Half-life of Technetium? How long is my CD
going to last?
That's a good question. There has been negligible
decay since the initial pressing. They're holding up
just fine. If you find that your CD is actually
degrading, we have some control studies. Just let
us know and we'll replace it.
Favorite TV show?
It varies depending on who you ask in the band. My
current favorite is Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
TV channel?
The Sci-Fi channel is good, but now there is the
NASA channel. There is a channel in Canada that
plays an oscilloscope 24 hours a day-sort of the Man
or Astroman? lava lamp.
TV?
Philcos are cool, where the tube is separate from the
rest of the model. Flat screens are interesting. If we
had the option to carry flat screens on tour, we would.
They save space.
HDTV?
We are in support of anything that has to do with
high density. Man or Astroman? is working on
hyperdensity; it allows us to fit all this shit you see
onstage in our van. We are working on the audio
equivalent of hypersolid: an eight-song 7". Eight full
songs employing a new density/compression algo-
rithm developed, at Astro-Technologies that will
enable us to do this.
That concludes my questions.
I hope I concluded the answers OK.
WORDS AND PHOTOS
BY JOE
+AMMEKE
BAD BRAINS
OMEGA SESSIONS
Bad Brains
"Omega Sessions"
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PUNK ROCK JUKEBOX Ency
The Bouncing Souls
"The Bouncing Souls"
thegetupkids
The MIGHTY MIGHTY
BOSSTONES
DEVILS
NIGHT
OUT
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
PENNYWISE
"Devil's Night Out"
R
Pennywise
"Full Circle"
FULL CIRCLE
SERIAL KERBER
Various Artists
"Serial Killer Compilation"
DESCENDENTS
|||||||||
EVERYTHING SUCKS
Descendents
"Everything Sucks"
Various Artists
"Punk Rock Jukebox 2"
Slayer
"Show No Mercy"
electric
FRANKENSIEIN
MONSTER
Electric Frankenstein
"How To Make A Monster"
THE
BOUNCING
SOULS
hatebreed
ALL STAR
ALL STA
Hatebreed
"Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire"
The Get Up Kids
"The Get Up Kids"
at.the.drive.in
VAYA
At The Drive-In
"Vaya"
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