My first awareness of the Astronauts was when I found their album “Surfing with the Astronauts” at a thrift shop in the late 70s. Became a fan. I was born in the mid fifties so I was just a kid in their heyday.
I saw these guys in Glen Burnie, Md around 1965/1966 playing a fashion show at a mall. We (our little band) were so impressed at how good they were live and one of the guys was sick that day. Bob stepped in to play bass for the sick band member and you could not tell the difference. I guess Bob stayed at bass cause I have seen other videos with him on bass. I have never forgotten this show. The band not the fashion.
I’m pretty sure the member who wasn’t there, Stormy Patterson was in the service at the time which was why he wasn’t at the show and why there are other videos of Bob on bass. Stormy is on all of the studio recordings though as he was able to record with the band still while he was in the service
@@evanholly3649 Could be the service thing. I’ve seen many many groups in my life and really listen to the bands and not just the headliner. The Beatles I think were good but couldn’t hear them over the screaming. I had corporate tickets at Merryweather Post in the 80’s and 90’s and saw a boatload of groups that I would never pay to see. To that end the Little River Band is crazy good. The Beach Boys were horrible because Dennis Wilson could not keep meter let alone stay put on the drums and I paid extra to see them. And the most bizarre was the Captain and Tennille. I would never pay to see them but OMG, what a pleasant surprise as they were so good. I’ll stop now.
I grew up in Colorado Springs in the mid-60s. Often drove to Denver, Builder, Ft Collins to see bands. Tulagi was best. Thanks for some great memories!
I am amazed that the first album they made was so damn good! Some of the songs on there such as Miserlou and Pipeline are the "ne plus ultra" of that genre. I'm just amazed at how fast a person can play the lead guitar - flying fingers! To my mind, there are really the progenitors of surf music. Remember, this was back in the mid to late 60s. Amazing.
By far, my favorite Astronaut. He was the youngest of the group, not even 20 when they cut their debut record, Surfin' with, in just two days in May of 1963.
The COMPETITION COUPE album is Boss ! Every track is a classic. Great production makes you wonder if Gary Usher was not involved. Sounds exactly like his style.
Go...Go...Go!!! is their best LP, for my money. Only album by the Astronauts where most of the music on it was penned by the band members. Wish they'd made more efforts like it.
Doug Hayes, an instructor I had at Red Rocks Community College (Lakewood, Colorado), and I got to talking one day about music and he told me about being friends with Bob Demmon, hanging out with the band, and going to Tulagi. Doug was in his mid-teens at that time and playing drums. Talking about the band really brightened his day. Tulagi is no longer extant.
I moved from Southern California to Boulder CO in 1970 and I ended up meeting Rich Fifield. He mentioned he was in the Astronauts band and that the band were never actually surfers. I thought it was funny realizing that all of us surfers in SoCal were doing the surfer stomp to music by the Astronauts who weren't even really surfers -- but regardless it was still good tunes.
This story should have closed with a mention of and footage from their induction into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame with a concert/ceremony at the Boulder Theatre in Boulder in September of 2012.
The Astronauts get a cool shout from Drifting Sand in their new release Best Summer Ever ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hjiYtU7MXVk.html
