Interview: Ad Astra Per Aspera
by Chris Pacifico
Kansas. Just that word alone brings to mind a state full of Bible thumping, intolerant and xenophobic inhabitants who every day is intent on bringing theology deeper into government. After all it is the home of Sam “God’s Senator” Brownbeck and if you’ve driven through it, there is nothing but wheat fields and Wal-Mart’s as far as the eye can see. But if you look to the northeast section of the Sunflower state, you’ll notice a hidden and liberal oasis of a college town known as Lawrence. A place which seems almost too good to be true, Lawrence is a thriving and open minded town with coffeehouses, microbreweries, and an array of exemplary college radio stations and live venues. In some way it’s concurrent to what Athens is to Georgia and what Austin is for Texas. After all, it is the place where beat poet William Burroughs spent the last 14 years of his life and a hub which the New York Times dubbed as “the most vital music scene between Chicago and Denver” which brings us to it’s most frenzied and spastic export, Ad Astra Per Aspera.
“Not too many people know of it but it’s really a great town” proclaims AAPA singer/guitarist/gentle giant Mike Tuley kicking it backstage at the Knitting Factory and nursing a bottle of absinthe. “There’s this great record store called the Love Garden and KJHK is an awesome radio station. It’s really a thriving place and all of these elements combined are what make people interested in playing music over there.”
AAPA doesn’t play music so much as they etch it into eardrums. With their debut release “Catapult Calypso”, the band treads the line between psychedelic math rock and an antsy pop dynamic with moments of chicken scratch Americana and psychotic bouts of proto skate punk so caffeinated that listening to them alone may stunt the growth. Zappa-esque moments of raw jazziness and day glo keyboards make for zigzagging barnburners which transgress into bouncy and jangling topography while Tuley’s voice ranges from cuddlesome to frantic. If a chemical concoction of amphetamine sulfates, THC and Robitussin could make a resonance, it would be similar to Ad Astra Per Aspera.
The quintet tried their hand at regular life such as college and jobs, but somewhere along the way decided to say “fuck it” and form a giddy band with the most grueling of tour schedules. “I’m 27 years old and I got a college degree, but this is what I want to be doing” explains Tulley before telling a story of how AAPA’s equipment trailer fell off their van in Chicago and nearly destroyed a BMW.
The art of AAPA seeps through the stereo speakers and gives the listener a brain rush from the variety of musical influences that jolt feverishly through their songs. Each member is transparently schooled in their own distinct sonics which mergs together as one for all of their punchy songs. Tuley is quick to list his influences in less than seven seconds speaking at the vocal pace of that guy from the old Micro Machines commercials. “Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Anthrax, Nirvana, probably back to Metallica when the black album came out, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Operation Ivy, Minor Threat, Black Flag, the Locust, and those are pretty much my favorite bands in chorological order.”
An Ad Astra Per Aspera show is worth every red scent of the cover charge. Melodic and left field mood swings abound which keep members joyously electrified as Tuley will elucidate. “When we’re up there, all of us truly feel the vibes running through our veins, but for me, it’s all about the headband.”
2006 Catapult Calypso (Sonic Unyon)
2005 Cubic Zirconia EP (Self Released)
