Aint nothing gunna keep this train from rolling!
Since we last posted we've been busy with the usual stuff.
On the gigging front we were down in Dublin yet again with another roof raising Mother Fuzzers Ball session along side our nordie mates, Baleful Creed, Motherfuzzers own Electric Taurus, Beltbuckle Overdrive and old schoolers Castero.
The following week brought us back to Voodoo, Belfast on a mighty bill with the world renowned Black Magician, new local lads on the scene Tome and our favorite local hero's Slomatics. Being on a bill with Slomatics made us very happy and we look forward to the next time we get out with these lads!
The next night we trailed our way to the fabulous walled city and The Castle, Derry got hit hard this night.
Denim Roach are a fantastic band of younglings pumping out music that is seemingly more mature than their combined age, fair play lads.
The big surprise on this night was Balls Deep and thanks to the lads for putting on the show. Their own particular stylings of brutally crushing heavy thrash/grind metal were well received and left us jawdropped. Looking forward to next time dudes!
Balls Deep at it again.
The following two weeks were consumed by recording and prep for release and future gigs. It is nice to have downtime but every time we get some it seems to magically get filled with something to do. No rest for the wicked, huh!?
Clark and Tom laying down some powerful vocals!!
Recording for the next EP is now fully complete and the mixing process begins this weekend. Its all exciting at the minute in the Astral camp as we're aiming for a launch in early April (details to come soon) and hopefully plenty of subsequent launch gigs. Thanks to our genius brother from another mother Clark Phillips without him our recorded sound would not be as beefy, cheers mucker!
A new venture we've taken on is Astral-spotting. It's simple, if you purchase some of our stickers either at a gig or online (or indeed if you ask really really nice depending on where in the world you are we'll send you them for FREE!), stick them up somewhere in the world with a landmark in the picture background and send it to us we shall use it in our facebook photo album and replace your stickers for free.
You can check out our work so far right HERE!!
We also settled on a North American distribution deal with our US counterparts Brolester Records, respect to Jeremiah and David, you guys do great work. Go check out their website for they have plenty of bands they care and work hard for.
As always, it is ONWARDS AND UPWARDS for Astralnaut.
This upcoming weekend see's us in the illustrious Empire Music Hall, Belfast to take part in Blazefest III. This event is an all day metal/rock-fest in aide of The Belfast Children's Hospital. Organized by Maw 'n' Paw duo Darren and Dawn Shields Pettitt it is indeed a valiant and noble effort to show appreciation for the help their son Blaze (of whom the event is tribute too) received from the professionals at the hospital. Read all about it right HERE, article courtesy of Mark Ashby @ Paradise City.
The following weekend we return to Dublin again for St. Patricks Sabbath alongside Five Will Die, Electric Taurus, Dark Matter and Kerouac.
The following weekend we hit up the more local spot of Portadown for a well overdue session with some close pals of ours. Katabolisis, Anti-Depresants and Nocturnal Trip will supporting us on this night. All of these bands are fantastic, you should go check them out and listen to their tunes, you will be impressed!
After this night we make our way to the home of Glasgowbury's G-Sessions in The Cellar Bar, Draperstown. Along with us on this night is Dying Breed and local lads The Last Generation.
The following week we makethe return to our hometown and the stamping ground that is Arthurs Bar, or as its affectionately known in the local realm, STANS! looking forward to a session with our bro's Lucid Nightmare and another set from Nocturnal Trip.
And last but not least, the final gig of the month for us lads is the highly reputable Siege OF Limerick in (you guessed it...again) LIMERICK! ;) too many bands to list here but among them are headliners Mourning Beloveth, irish metal legends Mael Mordha and Darkest Era. We are greatly looking forward to this night, mostly because we get a hotel party into the bargain, YUSS!
Last but not least we want to give our respects and a massive shout out to our brother David Roy! This man writes for the Irish News and rarely has us omitted from his column 'Noise Annoys', thank you David, your respect is returned ten-fold and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow at Blazefest.
Davids recent writings:
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.
Pearse