The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Duo’s name, quirkiness inspired by dogs
Cloned canine’s howling adds to band’s live performance
NORFOLK — As the story goes, Mike Cobb’s and Matt Statler’s band, Sons of Astro, got its name from two cloned dogs.
Cobb and Statler, friends and neighbors in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, N.Y., had been playing for three years under their own names before an eventful show. They were performing their storytelling- and vocal-harmonies-based music in the style of Gram Parsons and The Byrds at a barbecue venue near the Gowanus Canal (a 1.8-mile-long body of water in Brooklyn running along the westernmost portion of Long Island).
A customer entered the venue with two wolf-like dogs. The dogs started howling along to the music they were playing. “We howled back, and got the audience to howl along as well,” Cobb said. After the show, Cobb was introduced by the man to the dogs, Retro and Cosmo, and learned the dogs were cloned fully from their father, Astro. Cobb and Statler thought the anecdote was the perfect subject for a song and their band’s name (both “Sons of Astro”).
“The twin clones captured the
imagination,” Cobb said. “I was into fun, real-life science fiction in life and in songs. It was such a strange experience to meet real clones.”
Christened by the encounter with the cloned dogs, the acoustic duo Sons of Astro has been playing several shows in the New York area lately. They have also played Infinity Hall in Norfolk, as well as Fuel Coffee Shop in Great Barrington, Mass. They will give a free concert at the Norfolk Library at 9 Greenwoods
Road E. on Aug. 4 from 3 to 4:30 p.m., and the rising band gave a recent interview. Cobb is the connection to Norfolk, having grown up in the town.
Statler, a professor of business ethics at New York University Stern School of Business who is traveling in Europe until late July, said, “We found each other as band mates because we are neighbors living on the same block in Brooklyn.” On the duo’s songwriting process, he said, “We start writing songs separately and finish collaboratively.”
The songwriting collaborations resulted in recording a direct-to-vinyl album
in June for the Leesta Vall Sound Recordings record label in Bushwick, Brooklyn. “I am in the process of digitizing the music,” Cobb said. “It’s lo-fi, but interesting.” He called the custom recording, with no overdubs, “an audio Polaroid.” He said, “It required a Zenlike concentration. Doing 15 songs was a big mental workout.”
As Sons of Astro plays what they call “cosmic Americana,” Cobb generally plays a Guild acoustic guitar, while Statler strums a Martin acoustic with electric capability. “We are enjoying the whole minimal, stripped-down concept,” Cobb said. “With two voices and two guitars, we play off of each other.”
Cobb and Statler both have multiple musical projects, so some of these songs on the set list they play together and some are played apart. Cobb performs solo material under his name; he has a rock band called Mike Cobb & The Crevulators. Statler performs also under the name Campbell’s Atlas (he said “Campbell’s Atlas” refers to the first geographic survey of the state of Missouri, as when I was a kid anytime a question arose anyone couldn’t answer, his grandmother would say, “Let’s look it up in Campbell’s Atlas”). Cobb and Statler perform together as Sons of Astro, and in a country rock (“hip-neck”) band called The Bootheel Boss Gobblers.
While in Germany, Statler said, “I have been collaborating with Mike on different projects for the last couple of years or so, and it’s been really great performing, playing each other’s original tunes, writing new songs together, and discovering how much overlap there is between our personal playlists.”
On his musical background, Statler said, “We both grew up lucky to have parents with great vinyl
collections, and we both went to college in great college towns with active music scenes. Since then we have both been listening to and playing a wide variety of genres and styles. Mostly I play the guitar, but I’ve done gigs on the ukulele and the mandolin, and I used to play bass in a Southern rock band.”
Cobb’s musical journey was a bit different. While in college, Cobb led the illfated rock group the Lincoln Brigade. The band was signed to the legendary Island records, home of Bob Marley, Tom Waits, U2 and Grace Jones. They opened for Oasis on their first U.S. tour. Cobb compared the band’s demise to that of the fictional Spinal Tap. Cobb said, “We spontaneously combusted,” and he used the time as an opportunity to travel throughout Europe. Thereafter, Cobb worked in live-event production for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Waldorf Astoria, Holly Morton Productions and others. His job has subsequently brought him into contact with such greats as Yo Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis and Aretha Franklin.
Today, Cobb focuses on his own music in the group. Some of Sons of Astro’s original songs include “I Played The Fool,” “In Your Mind,” and “Blue Skies.” Their performances include cover songs by the Byrds and Tom Petty. The band recently played at Pete’s Candy Store at Lorimer Street in New York.
Regarding the band’s songwriting process, Cobb said, “I generally start by strumming chords on guitar. Then I come up with a vocal melody, which tends to suggest certain vocal patterns and words, and then cobble together a complete song.” He said, “Rarely do I set out with a preconceived notion or concept. My lyrics tend to come from the feelings generated by the music I’m playing,
though that feeling might also come from observations about life, current events and relationships.”
Cobb talked about songwriting as a natural human function. “At its essence, I see songwriting as somewhat similar to breathing: I observe, absorb, process and release. I prefer writing on paper, but also use the iPhone for sketching out ideas, and garage band to more fully flesh out demos.”
Cobb is working on recording a full-length Crevulators album with his drummer Stan Mitchell. He plans to keep recording with Statler.
On his origins in music, Cobb said, “I was raised on my parents’ fantastic vinyl records from the ’60s and ’70s. Big records for me were, and still are: The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude,’ The Stones’ ‘Through The Past Darkly,’ Bob Dylan’s ‘Bringing It All Back Home,’ and Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Sounds of Silence.’ I still have all of these records and still listen to them regularly. Exploring what influenced these artists has been equally interesting, for example the country, blues, and early rock and roll that influenced the Stones.”
Cobb stressed that growing up in Connecticut’s Northwest Corner also influenced him musically. “I was raised on Connecticut’s classic rock radio format,” he said. “In the ’80s, I discovered punk rock, pop, rap and other musical styles, college-indie rock in the ’90s, jazz and other styles. Growing up in Norfolk, I was also exposed to fantastic classical music, thanks to the Yale Summer School of Music.”
Travel has figured widely into Cobb’s musical life: “I lived in Spain for five years, am married to a Spaniard and am fluent in Spanish, which helps me connect with many musical styles. I also traveled quite a bit throughout Europe and South East Asia and have always been interested in ‘world music.’ I try to keep an open mind to new sounds. Basically, if it’s interesting and speaks to my soul, I dig it.”
Regarding their roles in Sons of Astro, Cobb said, “Matt and I tend to write separately and bring new songs to each other. We’re neighbors who live three doors down from each other, and have been able to do this fairly easily and regularly, as in ‘Come on over, I’ve got a new song to show you.’ ”
The two frequent the Tuesday night open-mic at the Jalopy Theatre in Brooklyn. “It is a funky local venue great for testing out new material,” he said. “As we’ve played together more and developed this duo, we’ve been adding ideas to each other’s work.”
Cobb said Statler recently help rewrite the band’s unofficial theme song, “Sons of Astro,” which goes in part:
“Sons of Astro Singing clones by the old canal starting to wail and to howl singing to clones by the old canal you can wail and you can howl we got it all from our father dog Old Astro was his name …”
On meeting the cloned dogs that inspired his band’s name and song, Cobb said, “The whole experience was surreal and inspired me. In addition, when Tom Petty died, we did a tribute concert for him. Exploring his influences brought us back to the cosmic sounds and vocal harmonies of the Byrds, which is a big part of our dynamic.”