There is a certain immeasurable level of devotion and passion
that artists dedicate to their respective crafts. They sacrifice, work
menial jobs, and arrange questionable housing arrangements with far too
many roommates. In turn, their sacrifices result in improved artistic
output and an opportunity to focus on their skills and improve in their
respective field. All of that is well and good, but there needs to be a
tipping point at which logic, livability, and pride trump
creativity.
That point is when you move back into your parents’ house.
“If I am going to tour how I want to tour, I can’t have a house of
my own.” That was the rationale for the fringe emcee Astronautalis (his
parents/roommates call him Andy Bothwell), who dropped everything and
moved from Texas to his parents’ home in Jacksonville, Florida. “I got
rid of everything I owned. If it didn’t fit in my Volkswagen, I didn’t
keep it. I’ve been to New York before on tour, so I decided I’d rather
be broke living out of my parents’ house and touring 10 months out of
the year, than broke in New York and only touring for three weeks a
year.” His plan paid off, and after years under their roof
Astronautalis just recently packed up his room, bid adieu to his folks,
and moved out—again—this time to Seattle.
The dilemma of Astronautalis rests on the axis of hiphop’s
evolution. Here is a hiphop kid that has held his own at the Scribble
Jam, but is currently working on full-length number three alongside
members of Midlake, the Paper Chase, and the very un-hiphop Polyphonic
Spree. His music is not quite hiphop. It’s certainly not rock. It’s not
even the soundtrack to Judgment Night. Instead, Astronautalis is
proof of the power that the long arm of hiphop wields, an influence
that stretches from far into its urban roots to deep within the sleepy
cul-de-sacs of suburbia. Except with Astronautalis, it never really
took hold like it should. He borrows the flow and the ability to
freestyle with the best of them—he closes every show with an
excellent freestyle in which the material is assembled from suggestions
from the crowd—while never letting go of his indie-rock past.
While his style of introspective spoken/rapped lyrics resides with
one foot in the unpredictable nature of urban hiphop, and the other in
the sleepy boredom of indie rock, Astronautalis tours like a DIY punk
rocker. One of the few hiphop acts to brave the mall-punk masses of the
Warped Tour, Astronautalis treats his time spent on the highway as more
of a road trip, and less of an exercise in stress.
“Touring is the best instant gratification you are going to get from
your music. You’re out in front of people, and even if you are stuck in
the worst rape dungeon of a venue and there are just eight kids there,
that’s what it’s all about.” He adds, “We have a blast, but it’s
probably because we do it like total dirtballs. I see people who stay
in hotels every night, but you’re so separate from the entire process.
You sit in the green room, play, and then go back to the hotel. No
wonder you get pissed at your bands and at touring, it’s because you
don’t do anything.”