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Bad Astronaut

Acrophobe (2001)
Honest Don's

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Contributed by: Anonymous
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on February 24th 2001

If you haven't heard of Bad Astronaut yet, you will soon. Just like Foundation, this is a side project. The three members are Joey Cape (Lagwagon), Marko 72 (Swingin Utters, Nerf Herders), and Derrick Plourde (Lagwagon, Mad Caddies).

I've always liked Lagwagon. The best thing about their music is Joey Cape's voice. Without a doubt, he has one of the best voices in punk rock today. As in any of Lagwagon's work, the vocals for Bad Astronaut is top notch and is the most pleasurable thing that comes to mind when you listen to this.

Bad Astronaut is purely very highly experimental in nature. One word describes the music in a nutshell: odd. Longtime fans of Lagwagon may feel somewhat taken aback of what they hear at first. There are some slow numbers that defy meaning. Every once in a while a section of keyboards comes out of nowhere (sounding very Anniversary like) that keeps things interesting.

There are some great covers on this album that are worth mentioning. There are covers of Hedy West's "500 Miles" (trust me you've heard this song before), and Elliot Smith's, "Needle In The Hay". Both covers are excellent and dramatically stand out in comparison to the rest of the album (which is a good thing).

I know people will continue to come back to "Acrophobe" for the superb songwriting. This recording is very clean sounding and features great lyrics.

Besides "Acrophobe", Joey Cape and Bad Astronaut plan to come out with a split EP and full length. Be Sure to keep a look out for these guys.

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thatsyouth (September 1, 2009)

Near perfect record. A long time favorite of mine.

Anonymous (June 15, 2006)

Oh, my world. It is ok

bloofy (April 6, 2005)

I bought it yesterday and its pretty good!

lobsterboy (September 17, 2004)

Better than lagwagon, hands off!

Artman (July 9, 2001)

When I heard that Joey Cape is doing a side band with old Lagwagon drummer Derrick, I was excited. It had been awhile since I had heard any new material from Lagwagon (Leftovers doesn't really count) so the idea of hearing some new side music sounded good. For one, it's got Joey Cape being the frontman of the band and it has the ex-Lagwagon drummer, so my idea was that it might be a return to the "Duh" & "Trashed" days.

Later, I was to discover it was something completely different. I got my first peak at their music by visiting the Honest Don's website and listening to "Grey Suits" on RealPlayer. I was blown away!

Later when I got the actual CD, I was suprised to discover that the album was quite a collection of weird, spacey and almost bizarre songs.

Now, the dust has somewhat settled and I've found that I still have the CD in my player and all the songs on my Winamp playlist.

God bless Bad Astronaut!!

Artman

Anonymous (May 3, 2001)

Definitely one of the best CD's in a long time. I'd give it a 10 if it weren't for all the junk after Unlucky Stuntman, which, while amusing, kind of spoils the feel of the whole CD.

Anonymous (April 9, 2001)

Not afraid to stray from the tail that wags the dog... well, as long as the name of the band is different. Congratulations on diversifying the demographic and still making good music... is it Punk? Who cares...

Anonymous (April 8, 2001)

This is easily one of the best records i've heard this year...