Man or Astro-Man? to play SXSW

Man or Astro-Man? are going to reform, again (they did it twice in 2006) at SXSW this year. They’ll also play a one-off show March 6th at the Bottletree in Birmingham.

Strange but absolutely true facts about Man or Astro-Man?

Over their constant global journeys, Man or Astro-Man? played in over 30 countries and 49 states (everywhere except Delaware–this was mostly out of spite, but also partially due to a lack of demand). They did 8 sessions for the late John Peel. They were huge on South American MTV for one summer. They tried to get sued by NASA over a T-shirt design but were unsuccessful. One member once threatened another member by shaking a water bottle in their face. They put 436,000 miles on a Chevy 20 conversion van. They only had their van broken into once, but the thief only stole guitars from a short-lived member of the band so it wasn’t that big of a deal. They hit 2 deer (accidentally) with their aforementioned van on separate occasions during various tours. Once after nearly being arrested in Orange County, CA. for stealing their own trailer, a police officer scolded them for mistaking a basset hound for a beagle. They were banned from college radio in Atlanta for 3 years after causing mild hysteria by announcing that a plane had crashed on I-85 during rush hour traffic. After not being able to agree on what music to play on the van stereo, they instituted a “headphones only” rule in 1996. The biggest crowd they played for was 40,000 at the Lowlands festival in the Netherlands and the smallest crowd was for 2 people (one was the record store clerk) at an in-store somewhere in Southern Australia. Fitness legend/Three’s Company star Susanne Somers became a fan of their first record after meeting the band at a battered women’s convention.

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