Riff Mongers Unite!

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

A drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts

The last time we blogged we were planning on a quiet-ish month on the gigging front with just one date in January @ Voodoo, Belfast with the mighty Bad Boat. Joining us and blowing minds on this stellar lineup were the amazingly crushing Nomadic Rituals and impressively danzig-esque Cutter.

Two Tom's of Merch

And what a successful night it was. Thanks to lads for having us and everyone that turned up on the night, your what its all about. Thanks also to our friends McHip, Paul Duffy and Trevor Seery for providing their photographic skills on the night. Of course we can't forget the massively hungover savior Kevin McGowan for taking care of our merch stall, its all much appreciated lads! 

And of course there was the partying afterwards, which includes the obligatory visit to the 24hr Mace at 4am!

                                                                                                                                                            

In recent weeks we have recommenced recording on our next EP which will have five tracks. Track listing and artwork will be released very soon ;) 

As soon as guitars are finished (expectantly in the next fortnight) we shall make our way, yet again, to the awesome Clark Phillips @ Great Northern Productions to polish the remaining tracks off with vocals and a wee bit of mixing. 

Other happenings for the band include recent press we have received, full acknowledgment and appreciation goes out to our new mucker Edwin Mc Fee (TheBigListNI, HotPressMag, Metal Hammer), thanks for everything dude.

Also a massive shout out to Teabag Stallone from Cankle Sprainage @ Core Of Destruction Radio, Trevor from Fuzzed Out @ Grip Of Delusion Radio and the mighty Stoodge Mc Nulty from Full Metal Racket @ Strabane Radio and Firebrand Rock Radio for recent plays on their great shows. We're flattered and couldn't ask for more!

THE BIG LIST
(N. IRELAND) 

JANUARY 2013

HOT PRESS MAGAZINE
(IRELAND)

JANUARY2013

So onwards and upwards as always for Astralnaut. Between recording, plugging and getting fresh merchandise pressed due to a sell out of t-shirts we will be squeezing in some mighty gigs. This friday see's our return to the fair city of Dublin with Castero, Celestial Burn, Beltbuckle Overdrive and our good ole buddies from the north, Baleful Creed. Thanks again to the amazing Matt Casciani from The Mother Fuzzers Ball for having us down again.

The following weekend we will be tearing up the north with a much anticipated gig in Voodoo, Belfast alongside Tome, our local hero's Slomatics and the English doom quintet Black Magician. Thanks to Lar Bowler and James Loveday (Distortion Project) for making this one happen, yer sound lawds!!

The night following we trawl our way up to Derry city for our much anticipated return to rock out with local lads Balls Deep and Letterkenny rapscallions Denim Roach.

See y'all on the road. Keep your eyes and ears fully peeled for future happenings. 

Pearse

The Beast Awakens...

The new year is here but we have by no means been dormant over the festive period... Stoner-Claus was very busy this year...

December saw the launch of our new single "Emerald Lord of Pleasure" from our forthcoming second e.p. Work has been on going throughout the month and we hope to bring you the fruits of our labour this spring! 

Sign up to our mailing list for exclusive info on the e.p. as it develops. To receive the monthly newsletter just enter your name and email address into the grey box, top right. No spam guaranteed.

December wasn't quiet on the gigging front for us either. After the single launch we had the pleasure of playing the Phoenix Music Venue in the lovely town of Kildale. It was a blast playing along side some great bands whom you should all check out. Namely 9TH Life, EdenFire and Taibhse! Many Thanks to our good friend Sandra who put us up! It was a night of eminent craic!
The road home was highly comical also, subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more of our drunk/hungover shenanigans!

Fuzzy heads after a night of fuzzy riffs in Kildare!

We've ended 2012 as we intend to carry on throughout 2013! Rocking heavy riffs and wrecking peoples necks! On New Years Eve we rocked home turf in Keady town. This was the debut unleashing of a new local Keady outfit Only Escapades! A fresh rocking riff oriented band who we look forward to hearing more from in the future. Fair play to you lads! Hail the riff!
Also many thanks to our friend Vinyl Tap (of Freedom 35's fame) for taking care of rock funk DJ duties and everyone else who turned out on the night! It was a great way to rip open the new year!

NYE Keady 2012

NYE Keady 2012

NYE Keady 2012

NYE Keady 2012

We like to send our special thanks to David Roy of the Irish News who mentioned us twice within the same number of weeks in his article Noise Annoys! (Read it Friday's along with the gig guide!) David touted our debut e.p."Back to the Bog" as one of his favourite of 2012. High praise indeed as we were mentioned alongside so many great bands, such as our local 'buddies' ;-P Gascan Ruckus, as well as Derry riff hallions Triggerman, Droids and many others!

We've also had the honour of being featured on Heavy Planet's new compilation "Bong Hits from the Astral Basement", which according to last know reports has now been downloaded 1200 times! "Live for Nothing" the final track from our debut e.p. is track number 3 on the compilation. We're reaping the rewards of our alphabetical prioritization! If you want to listen to a top class collection of heavy riffs, download your free copy from Heavy Planet's bandcamp.

Thanks to everyone who came to see us, bought some merchandise and in anyway supported us throughout 2012! We've had a great year and a fruitful 7 months on the Irish music scene.We played the guts of 30 shows nationwide, gained over 1500 dedicated followers on Facebook and Twitter and a very similar reaction to our first official music video which was uploaded just over a month ago. We couldn't have done it with out you and we look forward to bringing you new noises in 2013! 

As recording continues... 

Clark Phillips working his magic at Great Northern Productions

Our next show is on the 19th of January, in Voodoo, Belfast and see the reformation of local doom legends Bad Boat! They will be re-releasing their 2009 e.p. "Lonely Doom" on vinyl. Support will be from ourselves, our doomster friends Nomadic Rituals and Cutter. See you there!

Many thanks! Doom on!

Thomas

A Quest for the Wicked

Ten days ago we were all getting excited to release our second single from our current work in progress (due for release in early 2013) and the unshackling was well received. Emerald Lord of Pleasure took too the glorious world as fervently as he was admired. 

Along with the offer of free download (BANDCAMP), the track is conjointly acknowledged in a music video along with some trippy occult satire and heavy doses of rockin'. 

After the online release on Wednesday we made our way to The Mother Fuzzers Ball at Fibbers Magee's in Dublin on Thursday. Ran by an amazing fellow called Matt Casciani, 'The ball aims to serve the pleasure palette of all stoners, fuzzers, groovers and doomers alike. In with all the usual challenges of attracting attention to a new event Matt balances a healthy work life with his own band, Electric Taurus. Fair play to ye man, you're holding the tribe together!

Motherfuzzers on this night was particularly well matched. Kyzyl Kum a stoner doom duo from outside Bordeaux, France, gave us the ultimate fuzzy trip to begin the night. Following were Dublin's own Celestial Burn and these groove merchants fairly brought the pace up a bit. All in all the night was amazing, great fun between the band members and mighty craic all around. 

Here's a shot of the bands and sound engineer Jean-Claude in the greenroom post gig. Massive respect to Jean-Claude, he is easily one of the best engineers in the country and Matt behind the camera. 

Fast forward four days and we're in Auntie Annies after having just setup and had a sound check. The tension builds, positively, as riots spurred by some colored material rage on in Belfast city, a horde of noise loving fiends made their way out to party with us in celebration of our newest release.

If it weren't for the two great acts, Nomadic Rituals and Annapurna the energy in that room would not have been as high to encourage us and the audience together. Such a great response to an equally honest performance. Thank you so much to all for coming out on a cold and damp Monday evening among the ever politically torn northern capital.

And not only this but the pleasing request for an encore bellowed from the audience and after much deliberation and confusion we whipped out a tune that has made the cut for our next release. Here's a wee taste of Urban Brawl, filmed by the guy that directed and produced our first official music video, Stefan McShane.

Nomadic Rituals

Annapurna

So, onward for Astralnaut, Friday the 7th we recommenced recording with Stephen on the drums and Beano Kinneas at the helm. We are continually settings plans for further studio ventures so watch this space.

We have also received some new snaps from our very good photographer friend Tomas McKenna (check out his work here) and we are very pleased, here's a peak but if you wish to see more visit our facebook page

Saturday the 15th of this month see's us back to Kildare for a good oul blow out with our mates from The Phoenix Music Venue. The bill on this night includes friends of ours, 9TH Life along with EdenFire and Taibhse.

Then the last gig of the year for us lads is New Years Eve. This night promises to be a good ole traditional hometown stomper! With Keady's newest birth Only Escapades and longtime scene-riders Chocolate Love Factory, we intend to blow the town away at the tipping point and into 2013 with grooves hanging!
And to end the night in true style we have a very good friend of ours, Vinyl Tap, spinning records until ye cant dance no more.

Keep the hallion hand strong people!

Pearse

Astral Lords OF Singles

So here we go, new single inbound this week.

The artwork for the single is by a wonderful person we had the great pleasure of meeting in Dublin last week. W. Ralph Walters has made some art for American stoner and doom giants such as High On Fire, Groan, Kalas, Thorr Axe and many more.

Ralph was on a journey around our fair isle for a week and he happened to bump into a mutual friend who pointed him in our direction as a gig to see that weekend, the rest is history.

I think its pretty needless to say but we instantly fell in love with what he created for us.

Catch Ralph's podcast (THE CORRIDOR OF DOOM) here or visit his website to view his other fine works of art.



We have a video to accompany the single directed, produced and edited by our good friend Stefan Mc Shane, thanks for all the hard work homeboy. Here's something we've done together in the past:

 Pics from the video shoot:

Also we have a few new pictures shot and edited by the wonderful Tomas Mc Kenna, you can visit his page to witness his other works or if indeed you need a young, eager photographer for..well....anything really, he's mad for it!

Monday 10th December is the date that see's the official release of the single 'Emerald Lord Of Pleasure' on hard copy (limited edition b-side), on this night we will be playing in Auntie Annies in Belfast alongside Annapurna and Nomadic Rituals, all thanks to Kevin McGowan @ two1two promotions. Cheers Kev!

Though if you cant make the gig fear not! We shall be uploading our video and single for free download this week. Watch out on our facebook for the video, set to be unleashed on Wednesday and the free download of  'Emerald Lord Of Pleasure' is to be made available the following day. Keep your eyes and ear holes peeled!

LIMITED EDITION HARD COPIES are available with the single 'Emerald Lord Of Pleasure' and the b-side which is a live acoustic version of our first single 'Back To The Bog'.

Much respect to the lads and their involvement with this single and not forgetting the awesome Clark Phillips @ Great Northern Productions for recording/mixing/mastering and the hallionistic Beano Kinneas for his recording expertise.

Keep 'er lit.
Pearse