Tell me everything you want people to know about the Last Astronaut?
OK, Fred, in order to do this right, I'm going to break this broad request into sections.... kind of a Last Astronaut FAQ, if you will. Zyk (aka Z) and I don't do many interviews, so I'll try to make this as comprehensive as possible.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
IS THE LAST ASTRONAUT STILL ALIVE? IF SO, WHERE DO YOU RESIDE?
So, first of all, to clear up a common misconception, Z and I are NOT dead. This rumor probably stems from the fact that intergalactic space authorities found our old capsule floating aimlessly in space. We actually have relocated to a slightly more spacious corner of the universe, with better acoustics (and food). It's pretty quiet and monotonous up here - so when we're not working on TLA tracks, we have chosen some hobbies to pass the time. Z has embarked on a rather time-intensive hobby called 'med school' and I have devoted my free time to some pretty esoteric pursuits myself, like trying to predict the direction of the Japanese yen and also trying to figure out how to raise children that aren't complete lunatics.
Will we ever reveal our identities and our location? Will we ever come back to Earth? Will we ever do another record? These are all open questions, the type of which we simply don't have an conclusive answer for at this time..but never say never. Who knows, we may even go back terrestrial and do a show or two on Earth again if the demand is there, AND if someone can convince us that the atmosphere is safe for re-entry and that the situation down there doesn't currently resemble a freaking Cormac McCarthy book. We don't have a lot of confidence in that, incidentally.
WHO WERE YOU IN A PREVIOUS EARTH LIFE? WHY DO YOU CHOOSE TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS?
We can confirm that the Last Astronaut is comprised currently of two English-speaking earthlings, still alive... any more detail is extraneous. The short answer is that we don't believe that possessing the back story into our checkered, careening little path through the American rock and roll underbelly is necessary in order to enjoy our new project. Also, and this is a bit of an aside, but back in the good old pre-Twitter days of rock and roll, there was a bit of mystery, a mystique about the artists making the albums. This has been lost in our current tech-obsessed age, and we like to think we're doing our little part to bring it back. Besides, if people actually care, they could probably figure out who we are/were...we have left enough little bread crumb trails in our music, references, liner notes, lyrics, etc to fill you in. So have at it. I'll give you a hint...we were out there a little bit in terms of exposure around the things we did, but we weren't really household names at all...we're not like Thom Yorke having a little fun with the blogosphere or anything, I promise.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE RECORDING IN OUTER SPACE? DID THE SETTING PLACE RESTRICTIONS ON THE RECORDINGS?
(WARNING - musician dork-speak about to ensue) Recording in space is, in a word, lonely...but the natural reverb is a plus. Our little space capsule was cramped, eliminating the possibility for full band jamming, but it was equipped pretty well sonically. Some royalties from our previous projects paid for a decent little digital recording setup and some nice gear, like Z's sweet Taylor acoustic and one or two really good mics and preamps. Most if not all of the recording was done with Reason/Record software and stacks of sample and loop libraries, with Z's multi-instrumentalist and production talents really shining through on all stringed instruments and synth and drum loop patches.
Speaking of restrictions, we tried something new when we started this project- after a career of saying 'anything goes', we decided to place a couple self-imposed restrictions on the music. It sounds weird, but restrictions actually can be liberating, and we ended up having more fun then we've ever had recording before. Ours were the following:
- We had to write the song entirely on an acoustic guitar first, and be pleased with it entirely, before attempting recording and producing it - So, basically, it had to function as a strong pop song in its most skeletal form before adding all the production bells and whistles....because we have learned the hard way that all the studio bells and whistles in the world can't hide weak songwriting.
- We tried forbidding heavily distorted electric guitars, feedback, etc- as it was a familiar crutch given the punk-influenced music we used to play - admittedly, old habits die hard and we ended up breaking this rule a little on a couple of the songs, a little like an addict backsliding, but we stayed relatively true to this in general.
- Do everything ourselves...writing, recording, performing, production, mixing...all of it. We invited a couple old friends into the capsule for cameos and such, but 99% of everything you hear was just just the two of us - really me on vocals and Z on every other single damn thing. I am so proud of what Z does on this album - he is an absolute monster on everything, even instruments that he had never really played before like the banjo and ukelele.
- Every electric or synth bass line in the album is doubled underneath note for note with an acoustic guitar...we had never tried that before...it's super subtle but its' there and we think it helps give the record a little bit of extra groove.
WHAT WERE YOUR INFLUENCES WHILE MAKING 'THE LAST ASTRONAUT'?
We were really influenced by a couple very specific things during the making of The Last Astronaut. Lyrically, the stories of Ray Bradbury were a big influence on me during this project- his writing isn't science fiction, it's just truthful and timeless depictions of the human condition in all its myriad sadness and beauty, placed in occasionally otherwordly settings.
Sound-wise, we listened to and watched a lot of David Bowie from, say Space Oddity up through to Ziggy Stardust initially...at one point, we were even going try and mix the record like Tony Visconti would've. But early on, we ended up scrapping that idea as we decided we didn't want it to sound like some retro homage...that seemed like the obvious way out for a project called The Last Astronaut. We wanted it to sound current and not really like any one else. So Bowie ended up much more an abstract inspiration versus a template for what we would sound like.
Z and I have always been huge old school hip hop fans..especially late 80s-early 90s East Coast, like ATCQ, Wu, Guru/DJ Premier, Pete Rock, etc. While nothing on this record is anything approaching hip hop per se, it's interesting that a couple of these basic rhythm tracks started their life as freestyle beats that Z had created for impromptu sessions with our long-time friend Slik Nick or when producing the rap group Filthy Frisbees...I'd hear a beat and be like, "Dude, there's no way you're giving this beat to someone else!" There isn't a single real drum on the album, at least not real in the sense of us recording it in real life from a drum kit...we used loops and such, and that gives the record a hypnotic, metronomesque
In terms of more contemporary influences, we have been blown away by what some of the singer/producer electropop supergroups like Broken Bells or Miike Snow have done, in terms of recording slick, facile pop music that has still manages to harbor a deep, dark core. We kind of looked at ourselves as a "poor mans" version of a Danger Mouse and James Mercer - i.e, not a 'band' in the traditional sense, but more a pairing of a singer/songwriter type and and a master musician/producer, just having fun with no expectations.
WHAT IS THE ALBUM 'ABOUT'?
The idea of "The Last Astronaut" in general came to me one day when I was thinking about how most songs about space deal with the guy who is actually lost in space and people back on Earth are wondering what happened to him- like , you know, Major Tom or whatever. But, how much lonelier would it be to the be the last guy left ON earth after every other person has fled? That's where lines like "Abandoned Shopping malls/barren waterfalls/yeah, we got beauty and grandeur" (from the song Automatic Sunshine) came from - that concept.
And from there it kind of took on a life of its own. In terms of the individual songs thematically fitting into the bigger picture, however, I really wasn't trying to push a thematic agenda or anything, most of the time. I was just reacting to the music that Z was making and trying to capture the feelings the music evoked in the moment. However, with the benefit of retrospect and some reflection, I can now see pretty clearly that there is a central theme that most of the songs fit into....and i think it's the story of a person who is trying to determine in his own mind once and for all whether there is something greater than himself out there to believe in.
I'd like to think that this does not automatically place the album in some sort of "Christian" or "spiritual rock" type of heading, from any stretch of the imagination - first, I generally detest that stuff, and second, both atheists and believers alike will likely find plenty to hang their hat on with this album. One song ("Off the Map") is about the need for intellectual and religious tolerance in this post-terrorism world, one is about the manipulative powers of organized religion among other things ("I'd Believe in Any Little Thing"), and a bunch of them (principally "SOS", "Saturday's Sinner", "Save Yourself", "the Breaks", and others too) all struggle with the concept of a creator as an an omnipotent 'puppet master' that supposedly governs destiny. But I don't want you to think that we're being too non-committal in the conclusion...in the end, the protagonist in this album reaches a verdict of whether he believes or not ...I'll let you listen and decide which side of the ledger you think he comes down on.
Wow, that makes this album sound like a ponderous, self-absorbed turd of an album, doesn't' it? However, as you can hopefully tell from our bio and general persona, we don't take ourselves all that seriously, and a couple of the tracks are just plain tongue-in-cheek too. 'O.U.T.T.A. My Head', for instance, is a goofy-ass nostalgia nugget that tries to pay homage to multiple eras of that 'California white-boy sound' (as Beck once said) Z and I loved so much (if you listen close in the chorus, you can hear a theramin right out of a Brian Wilson head trip, as well as blown guitar and bass sounds lifted directly out of '90s era Weezer or Pavement). The song also pokes a little fun at our old band, which very consciously made that kind of music (again, if you listen to the chorus, you may even find a direct reference to our old band, in fact). If we ever shoot a video for that, I 'm picturing a mosh pit riot at a nursing home...shot by Spike Jonze, of course. And 'Rich Girls Behaving Poorly' is a silly little Tom Petty tribute, in that very 70s way in which everyone seemed to be singing about some lost girl who got caught up in the proverbial 'fast lane'...oh, you know the old "You think you're going to take her away/with your money and your cocaine" type thing. I've always wanted to rhyme "jersey hair" and "au pair" in a song...and now I've had my chance.
I could go into more detail about our favorite songs, more specific meanings, etc....but this "3 questions" is already way too long as it is! Let me know if you want more specific detail on any of the songs or anything.
WHAT TYPE OF CHEESE DO YOU GRAVITATE TO WHEN MAKING A SANDWICH?
Ok, that's an easy one...while I am somewhat lactose intolerant, and cheese doesn't hold up too well out here in space, I oftendream of my time on Earth when i would top off a panini with a thick layer of muenster. Close second would be provolone. Z is obsessed with anything with a "Southwest" flavor so I'm guessing pepper jack for him. But Zyk and I don't eat a lot of sandwiches in space, since good bread is pretty damn hard to source. We eat a lot of astronaut-type dried food, like that wack freeze-dried ice cream and beef jerky. We ate so much beef jerky during the recording of the album that we started developing pet names for the different types of Jack Link brand jerky...like how Jack Link Sweet and Hot is "the Truth", or how the Beef Steak Nuggets are affectionately referred to as "Ted Nugents" by us.
ONE OF MY CURRENT OBSESSIONS?
Just one? That's tough...Ok, let's see...in a word, books...but that's not probably fair, since I've always been obsessed with them. Being interstellar affords one a fair amount of quiet time for reading and reflection. My wife bought me a Wes Anderson coffee table book by Matt Zoller Seitz for my birthday a couple weeks ago....this thing is amazing in its detail and finishing, if you like Wes ( I am obsessed). I have also been concurrently reading the definitive Harry Truman biography by David McCollough, Chronicles Vol 1 by Bob Dylan, Bradbury's short story collection Quicker Than the Eye, and I recently finished Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (yes, I cut and pasted that name from Google).
Oh yeah, and my not-quite-three-year-old daughter is obsessed with Vampire Weekend. But, admittedly, she got that obsession from me.