London electro-punk three-piece Calling All Astronauts have a lot to say, but what are the true A-Z factors about them that they want to tell their fans?
A Song Which Made You Want To Make Music:
My parents had loads on old 60s records when I was a kid, I used to play them all the time I had favourites, Bits And Pieces by The Dave Clark Five and Hippy Hippy Shake by The Swinging Blue Jeans, I was hooked on music from age 4
Best Experience While On Tour:
We haven’t actually toured as Calling All Astronauts, yes I know we’ve had 2 albums and 12 singles out, but we have very young children, so it hasn’t been possible so far, we’ve kinda stuck to playing high profile one off shows and festivals
Cover you would really like to do?
Strangely enough, we have just released our “Influences EP”, a quadruple A-side single. Four tracks that have influenced our love of music, we did a Pendulumesque version of Gary Numan’s “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” and followed that with a stripped back, dark, atmospheric version of T-Rex’s “Metal Guru”, we then took on on the legend that is David Bowie’s classic, “Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)”, and rounded it off with a Post Punk version of Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” we hope we have made them our own.
Deepest Lyrics One Of Your Songs Features:
That’s a tricky one as I’m so shallow, hahahah, I do like the chorus of our song Divisive, “Greed equals power, equals war, equals death”
Easiest Song You Wrote:
None of our songs have been easy or hard, we take a long time writing, our last album took us 2,000 hours, it’s just a process we go through, all our songs develop over a period of time in the studio, I don’t think we’ve ever written one in a short space of time.
Favourite album/single/EP you have released:
Our “Anti Social Network” album is my favourite, we could have easily released every track as a single, it also marked a vast improvement in my production skills, I believe that album sounds like we recorded in a major studio rather than in my lounge, though we did actually record it in my lounge
Greatest Show/Festival You Have Played:
We’ve had quite a few good shows, I think my favourite was when we played “Death To Dicso” at Notting Hill Arts Club, it was a night run by Alan Magee, but the crowd was all Made In Chelsea type people, it was totally sold out, we thought we were going to stiff, but within 2 songs, we had a pit and crowd surfing, a really awesome night
Happiest Moment You’ve Experienced In The Band:
When we hit #1 at 2 minutes to midnight on December 24th on the Hype Machine Chart, knocking Adele off the top spot and getting the Christmas Number One!!
Interesting Fact About One Of Your Members:
Paul used to be a tree surgeon
Jokes You Have In The Band
We have so many, they are always “in jokes” that we find hilarious, but would never made anyone else laugh, if you ever meet Paul ask him “would you like some pork?”:
Kicking Off Your Set Is Best With Which Song:
We change our intro regularly, but always seem to kick of the set with “Someone Like You”, it was our frist single and got us BBC radio play within a week of release, so it’s a very special tune for us
Longest Distance You’ve Travelled To Play A Show:
J has toured America, I think just travelling there is further than the whole size on the UK and sadly we’ve never played outside England so far
Movie That Best Represents The Band:
It’s very cliched, but I’d have to say Spinal Tap, especially when we all want everything to be on 11
New Band You’d Recommend:
I really like Ded, they have a song called “Anti-Everything” which I just love, I must have watched the video about 100 times
Opening For This Band Would Be Ideal:
For the right Target audience, any of NIN, Ministry, Killing Joke, Marilyn Manson, we’d be stoked to play with any of them, from a personal point of view, I’d love to tour with The Offspring or Editors
Place You’d Most Like To Tour:
America, I’ve been there many times, but have never played there, it would be awesome to see more of the country
Quote That You’d Like To Pass On To Readers:
One Man’s plagiarism is another man’s art
Reason For The Title Of Your Recent/Forthcoming Release:
As I’ve mentioned our latest EP is called “Influences EP” because we recorded covers of songs that have influenced us, the working title for the new album is “Divided States Of America” because that is exacly what Trump has done
See Us Live At: –
The First Song You Ever Played Together As A Band:
I really have no recollection, I would guess it would be either “Someone Like You” or “What’s So Good About?”
Unusual Merchandise:
We have zero mechandise, which I suppose is quite unusual in itself
Variations You’d Like To Do On Any Of Your Songs: –
Worst Experience On Tour:
Because we use a lot of programming, we have clicks coming to the stage monitors, so we can hear where the songs start, at one festival, the clicks went to the field, and we didn’t have a clue when any of our songs were going to start #nightmare
X-rays Or Any Other Treatments For Band Related Injuries:
I have broken loads of bones, my leg, ankle, wrist twice, Paul has had several operations on his back, I don’t think J has ever broken anything
Your Favourite Show You’ve Ever Played:
When we were in US:UK, we sold out The Marquee and got as many of the audience on stage for the encore as was humanly possible, that was an amazing night
Zoo Animal That Best Describes The Band:
The chimps as we love a good tea party
Our aformentioned Influences EP is available here
EUPHORIA OF BREAKDOWN 