Astro Al - Psychedelic Theater for the Sci-Fi Avant-Garde

​Astro Al (that’s ‘L’) is the Massachusetts based duo of Paul (Count Robot) and Deb (DNA Girl) Angelosanto, whose uniquely uncategorizable recordings have been enchanting my cranium for over 20 years. They’re psychedelic, they’re theatrical/poetic, they’re experimental, they’re sci-fi, and they are always ripping FUN!

Exhibit A: Die Unceremoniously, the recently released new Astro Al album. Throughout its eight tracks, the Count (and sometimes DNA Girl) provide an ongoing spoken word preacher/poet/inspirational/ranting narrative, aided and abetted by a constellation of atmospherics, music and effects. Weirdly spacey jingles, psychedelically disorienting melody that sounds like phased shifted strings or an acid dosed Japanese tea ceremony, cavernous/aquatic soundscapes, rattling and tribal percussion, trippy folk guitar licks, kazoo jams, horn blows, whistles and spectral chanting voices. It’s subtle but there’s a lot going on. Instrumentation includes mandolin, bodhran, drums, acoustic guitar, theremin, duotron, kazoo, violin, stylophone, Aztec death whistle, duck call, modified tape player and FX… all put to righteous use.

And this is only one example in a sizable catalog of varied albums and projects. I’ve been communicating with the Count and DNA Girl for years, but it occurred to me that there’s much about their background and creations I don’t know. So now, I present to you… Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Astro Al But Were Too Disoriented To Ask…
 
JK: Let’s start with a summary of your backgrounds. Given the nature of Astro Al’s recordings, I’m guessing both of you have maybe some combination of music and theater background?
 
Count Robot: Just a heads up, since we’re discussing Astro Al, I’m going to answer as my alias for that band. Just to explain, I’m not trying to hide who I am. It’s just that I think rock and roll aliases are more fun. DNA Girl and I met whilst performing in murder/mystery dinner theater shows, so we have a shared performance background. We did a lot of those shows in real castles. They were fun. I was in a couple of audio projects before and during those days, but none of them really went too far until Astro Al launched. Many moons ago I did a bunch of poetry performances, some with or without music, but I just wanted more. A bizarre need to make bizarre sounds that weren’t being made as ineptly as they could be made.
 
DNA: Yes, very much so. I performed in theatre for many years. I got involved in dinner theatre as well, that opened the door to murder mysteries. That is where we met in Dinner and Death productions. We had to kill each other off several times. As for music, I used to sing lead in a rock band (Legacy) in college. After that broke up, I got the co-starring role of the Leading Player in Pippin, that led to a couple of decades of theatre. As for music, in addition to Astro Al, and all the other bands we are currently involved in, I was in Katfish 4, and the Lionhearts. (Both folk) playing primarily mandolin and singing a bit. 
 
JK: The first CDs you submitted to Aural Innovations were by Paul Angelosanto and the Melting Poetry Collective. I’m revisiting the A Blade of Grass album (2002) and it’s certainly in the same spirit as Astro Al… spoken word, music meets avant-garde radio drama, sci-fi freakiness. I’ve got a Jihad Cafe (2004) CD too. I see miscellaneous other names in the credits, but it still seems to be mostly Paul and Deb. Was the change to Astro Al just a reflection of that or a more thought out ‘evolution’?
 
Count Robot: Great question... well I want to apologize to everyone involved with those projects for being a bigger idiot than I always am, and for putting my stupid birth name above everything. It was hubris of the worst kind. If I could go back into the past and slap myself, I would. The original name should have just been, The Melting Poetry Collective. Instead, you can just look for me on the bridge of sighs. Egos shouldn't get in the way of creation. We changed the name to Astro Al for many reasons. Here's a few: 1. Astro Al is easier to fit on a CD cover. 2. We already had the domain name for Astro Al. 3. It’s easier to fit Astro Al on a marquee outside a club or other venue, etc. You may have noticed those CDs you mentioned are not on our Bandcamp page. The reason being is they are pretty much disowned. We really came into our own as Astro Al. More DNA Girl and less me makes it better.
 
DNA: That is when I started playing with Paul. Basically, I just planned on playing a little guitar to accompany his reading, but it turned into something strange, wild and fun. It became Astro Al. The name is not one we would have chosen today. So many people refer to Paul as Al, and I guess I’m just an appendage, hehe. 
 
JK: Another early encounter I had with you was your performance at Carlo DeShouten’s 2004 Space Rock Con. I didn’t get to hear it, but Carlo sent a bunch of pictures, and I published a photo gallery in Aural Innovations. Were you by that point Astro Al or was it still the Melting Poetry Collective?

Count Robot: When I saw how ridiculous our original name looked on the gig poster for that show, I knew we had to change the name of our act. It took a bit to make the change happen. Personally, I just pretend we were called Astro Al at Carlo's Space Rock Con and I feel happier. That was a fun show. We met some dude who came all the way from Chicago on his motorcycle to see Nik Turner. Big thanks to Carlo for putting the show together and super big thanks to you, Jerry, for enriching our lives.
 
DNA: What Paul said. We pretty much started to call ourselves that at the Space Rock Con. Carlo is amazing. Was a pleasure to work with.
 
JK: Has live performance always been a big part of Astro Al? Do you perform live much?
 
Count Robot: Playing live as Astro Al is something we now only do a few times a year. I think we only played once last year. If we had a road crew it would be possible to play out more. Otherwise, it’s just an occasional thing. Mainly we like to record and record and record and playing out live eats into that time. The lack of a budget means we can’t hire roadies which means we have to haul everything ourselves. My zillion year old back doesn’t enjoy lugging all our gear. Astro Al has never played out a lot. We have done a few cable shows. Those were quite fun. Especially Sal's Show and Lowell Train.
 
DNA: Not much anymore. We played out more before the pandemic. Oddly enough, ironic as it is, especially since I used to do so much theatre, I get stage fright playing music. It takes a while for me to get the courage up and lots of rehearsals. Paul does not have that problem, so with recording I feel much more comfortable. With experimental music too, I am much more relaxed.
 
JK: You went to England to perform at the 2022 Sonic Rock Solstice! How did that come about?

Count Robot: Ever since I was a teenager (about a billion light years ago) I have always wanted to go to a psychedelic music festival in England. The UK psych festivals seemed to be the gold standard for musical festivals. Well, I was right about that! After Crudvid ended, the amazing Martyn Hasbeen announced that he was putting together the 2022 Sonic Rock Solstice. I thought... well why not try and ask if we could perform? So, I contacted him and Martyn agreed to let us make noise on his stage. Martyn is truly awesome. He lent us a guitar, let us jam with Dr. Hasbeen, and we played as Astro Al twice at the festival. It was truly a dream realized. Martyn and everyone involved were so nice and fun. Even the security guards were polite. It was paradise. Thank you Martyn and everyone at 2022 Sonic Rock!

DNA: Again, what Paul said. It was such a privilege to play in the UK. The people were so nice. We felt right at home. Fun group of people and Martyn loaned me the guitar he was playing. That’s a lot trust he had in me, and he didn’t even know me. What a thrill that whole experience was!

Count Robot & DNA Girl at Sonic Rock Solstice 2022 (Photo by Peter Stanley)

DNA Girl at Sonic Rock Solstice 2022 (Photo by Harry Collison)

JK: You seem to have targeted, associated yourself, etc. – at least in part – with the Space Rock crowd. There’s certainly a lot of spacey fun in your work, though you’re ultimately uncategorizable. Is the Space Rock connection intentional, a reflection of what I know to be Paul’s space rock interests, other?
 
Count Robot: Space rock is a vague genre. I have seen some bands described as space rock that don't seem to fit what I would have thought as being space rock. Astro Al is probably more psychedelic than space rock, but then again, psychedelia is at the core of space rock. Are we space rock? What is space rock? I've heard a couple of Madonna songs called space rock, so I guess we can fit into space rock too. Ultimately, Jerry, you are right, we are uncategorizable.
 
DNA: Comedy is a big part of what we do. Monty Python, Bonzo Dog Band, Robyn Hitchcock, etc. are some examples, progressive rock, experimental, folk, poetry, all influence me/us.
 
JK: Let’s have some fun. I’ve always loved your work because it’s impossible to describe. I just let the impressions roll when writing about new albums. When asked to describe Astro Al, what is your response?
 
Count Robot: Recorded audio that needs no purpose other than existing. Over the years we’ve described ourselves this way, or that way, and I think the descriptions were accurate at those times. Labels are best left at the grocery store. At one point we often said, it was children’s music for psychedelic adults. Now I am inclined to say, we’re just weird. 
 
DNA: I always liked psychedelic children’s music for adults. I think that describes us well, but we also do some heavy pieces, like Anne Frank, or horror stories, like on Beyond the Wall. It’s a mixed bag.

JK: Continuing with the describing Astro Al subject, you’ve got an enormous discography, but to further entice our readers I’ll select one example that’s stuck in my mind - 2024’s Dr. Gumdrop’s Flea Circus Show. Your description: “This is a recreation or a creation of a flea circus show with Astro Al acting as all the performers (musicians, actors, aardvarks, etc.) including the fleas who juggle elephants.” Who could possibly not love that! My description when I posted about it was - “Think Sesame Street meets Pee-Wee’s Playhouse at the Grand Ole Opry and the entire cast are tripping their asses off”. So, with this as an… if I may… Astro Al ‘case study’ - How does a work like this come together?

Count Robot: Love it! Thanks for that description. Pee Wee is so much unbridled fun, both in his edgy and not so edgy form. The Dr. Gumdrop album was a long gestating idea. Back on our first album, 4:20, we wrote a song called Dr. Gumdrop. It was fun to play so it popped up more than a bit during our few shows. At one point we just started talking about Dr. Gumdrop and what his life was like. In his first song, the doctor sold a medicinal elixir in the frontier wild west days of the United States. He had a medicine show, would sing a song, then pitch his tonic which he pitched all throughout the one song for his show. We started to talk about how what if the Dr. was now in the peak age of Vaudeville around 1900, but still that was too normal for Gumdrop, so instead he had a flea circus. Then we figured if we built an album around that premise, it would be fun. That album really pushed us in some odd directions and had lots of fun obstacles to knock over. Rules were created and changed as we went along. At one point I almost completely re-recorded the whole thing in mono. Finally, we settled on all the elements. We performed all the musical and comedy portions of the flea circus. The fleas and animal acts had no musical accompaniment because the Dr. was too cheap to pay anyone else to play during their segments. So, that's the show which is the album. How did Gumdrop get from the frontier age to the 1900s (it's possible, maybe)? Did his medicine work and extend his life? Was he a descendent of the original Gumdrop? Is someone stealing his name? Who knows. Maybe he'll be back again in another age.
 
DNA: I think our theatre/dinner theatre backgrounds were a big influence on that album, definite comedy vibe.
 
JK: Not sure what my question is here, but your work has always had a tremendous element of pure FUN!
 
Count Robot: Thank you! One thing any type of art should never be is boring. We do strive for fun. Even when we go goth and deep, I like there to be something fun at the bottom of the bottomless pit.
 
DNA: I like that. If we can put a smile on your face (and hopefully others) it makes it all worth it. I think some people just can’t believe we perform as off the wall as we do. Some love it, some don’t, I’m sure. We have fun though.
 
JK: There have been several Astro Al collaboration albums. But your numero uno collaborator seems to be goat herder extraordinaire - Tim Mungenast. Is there a special relationship there?
 
Count Robot: Tim Mungenast is a goat guitar god! We found him because of YOU! We heard Tim’s song ‘Candles’ on your Aural Innovations radio show and we were blown away. We went to see him play and what a great experience we had. It’s an understatement to say we get on well with Tim. He stays at our place a few times a year to hang out and record. Sometimes we go out to NY to see him. We are way overdue to do that again. All this is to say, there is a special relationship there. Tim is part of my brain! He digs a lot of the same stuff we do. Creating with him is easy, we hardly talk about what we're going to do, we just do it, and it is. Tim is a Zen Goat. Thank you for existing Tim! We love you man! He is a wonder! If you asked me to list my top 100 guitarists he would be on the list. Tim knows how to love his instruments and craft goat-rific music! He is whimsy! We often watch B movies when we get together. What can make you bond more than that?
 
DNA: We go back a long way with Tim. He is a great friend and a guitar master. He has become like family. It all started on your show. I thought he sounded like Jim Morrison, and the songs were fun, so we were curious to check them out. He and Michael Bloom (who I used to play with in Katfish 4) were playing at a coffee shop and we caught their set. Been friends since.
 
JK: In some cases, you’ve released albums under different ‘band’ names. There have been several Static Apparitions albums. That’s the two of you, right?
 
Count Robot: Yes, Static Apparitions is usually just the two of us. We did have a guest on one track on the first album which was Mark Paradoxos who played some fine keyboards. Thanks Mark! We found ourselves veering a bit from what Astro Al is (that's a whole question in itself) and wanted to do something more like a soundtrack to a 1970s Italian horror movie and that’s how Static Apparitions came into existence. There are two rules with Static Apparitions: 1. No lyrics or words although vocalizing is fine too. No writing in advance. It's all improvised and then cut/mixed/sculpted together later.
 
DNA: Yes, it started during the pandemic. We decided to goth it up and do strictly instrumental and cut loose music with a spooky vibe. We both love horror and supernatural movies, so it has become another part of us.
 
JK: And you’ve released several albums by Amplissima, which is clearly its own ‘band’. Tell me about that one.
 
Count Robot: Amplissima came about because Tim introduced us to Eric, AKA E Dahlfree. We got to talking and the four of us decided to record outside in an abandoned World War II gunnery site and we had a blast. Then we knew we wanted to do more and more. Now we have probably a couple of hours worth of stuff waiting to be mixed. Amplissima is... its own experiment. Is it free jazz? Is it art noise? Is it a caged John Cage? Who knows? I just know I really like creating with this band. We have plans for some more recording sessions this year at different locations. Not only is Eric truly a creative entity he also has a knack for locating harmonically rich or spiritually rich spots to record in, such as a potentially haunted house. He listened to classic Hawkwind a lot so that makes him cool in my book.
 
DNA: We have a ball recording with Tim and Eric, and sometimes Vanessa LeFevre joins us. So much fun making music with them. We try to find places outdoors for the most part - Echo Bridge, the bunker at Maudslay State Park, the artillery place Paul mentioned, etc. We have more plans for this year, though we did record in a haunted brothel at one point.
 
JK: Any other projects I’m forgetting?
 
DNA: Paul knows them better than I do. I always ask him what we are doing. 
 
Count Robot: Another project we’re in is Neurodivergent. A few times a year we get together with a vast array of characters in a secret house that looks normal from the outside, but the inside looks like the waking vision of any musician (with wall-to-wall instruments and gear) and we perform. The shows are all live streamed for free and then re-mastered and posted again for free. This is all run by the incredible David Peck. David is in a stunning collection of bands/projects and has played on more albums than Miles Davis (I'm not exaggerating at all). Pek (as he’s called) truly is a wonder, and I am so happy to make an idiot of myself with him. None of the music is planned in advance. We just improv and every time the show ends I want to cry. I just don't want it to stop.
 
Here's some links to this wild stuff.
https://neurodivergent1.bandcamp.com/
https://evilclown.rocks/nd-recordings/
https://www.youtube.com/@GiantEvilClown
 
JK: What are the best sources for Astro Al? I’ve got your Bandcamp and Astro Al web sites.
https://astroal.bandcamp.com
https://www.astroal.com
 
Count Robot: Those sites you mentioned are the best sites for us. There's also a YouTube channel as well. 
https://www.youtube.com/astroal
 
JK: Any final words? News? Wisdom? Other?
 
Count Robot: As David Lynch would say, "Be kind to each other." And I would like to thank you, Jerry, for being a giving, gifted, cool, person. As to news, we'll be dumping more sounds on this plane of existence throughout the year. Some of them include another Rust album with Tim Mungenast, an Amplissima album recorded at Echo Bridge, an album with our friend and experimentalist Vanessa LeFevre, an Astro Al single, some videos from Static Apparitions and at least one more Static Apparitions album. Phew. 
 
DNA: Not that I can think of, except thank you so much Jerry for having us on your show. It is always a pleasure.