From Black Flag to Bad Brains, Saccharine Trust to Die Kreuzen, the best hardcore has always had a good dose of oddness about it. Nasa Space Universe have an element of bonkers about them. Since 2006, the Santa Ana punks have built a reputation for producing chaotic and fast hardcore with a strong weird/odd bent.Taking incomprehensible and wacko lyrics that blended science fiction and back-seat-tour-van observations on life, the four-piece play a nonsensical but raging style of punk. Their live shows are more akin to European soccer matches with flares and a whole lot of ruckus.But after ten-years the bruises were aking longer to heal so the four piece are calling it a day, their swan song 70 AD released this week on Feel It records. Stream it below and read a short interview with the band.Noisey: 70 AD was a banner year. India saw the end of the Hellenistic dynasties and members of the Oneida Community believed this was the year Jesus Christ returned.
Hermes: 70 AD in this sense is a reference to the exegesis of Philip K Dick. He had these intense religious "flashbacks", where he lived out an entire lifetime in Rome during the times of Christ. PKD's work has been one of our most recurring themes since the beginning.Ten years is a long time for a punk band. What were the secrets to your longevity?
Paul: Long periods of glacial inactivity. Stretching. Hydration.
Hermes: I think we all just felt it was something we always had to do. During our time as a band we never took breaks. I don't think we ever went longer than a month without playing a show. I think it came down to if we weren't doing it, we were in our eyes fucking up and watching the world go by without us.Within the band exists four very different people with very distinct and unstable personalities, but this is how we stabilized ourselves. Everybody either secretly or openly drove each other crazy, but in a way that was unconditional. I identified myself as "drummer of NASA" before anything else (red headed freak, piss boy, peasant). I took great pride in what we did, and needless to say I am sad to see it end.What were the highlights over those ten years?
Paul: New Orleans.John: Playing with Cider at Now That's Class. Blacking out on Xanax with the Coltranes inside a White Castle in St. Louis. Staying high on LSD for over 24hrs in Portland on our first tour. Eating at a Whataburger in Florida while this wild guido guy threatened to kill everyone inside. Wall Street shows with Gay Kiss in Phoenix. The Wizard's Den show. Ted Falconi telling me he loved my guitar playing. Doing yard work and blowing up gopher holes in exchange for studio time with Bill Bartel and Victor. That one time our van broke down in rural Missouri on July 4th so we drank 64 beers and bullied Alan till he puked. One incident when we played in Boyle Heights and a photographer watching us hated us so much he deleted all his photos, called us assholes and walked out saying something about how he's quitting punk. When Hot Rod Todd told us we'll never be allowed to play Long Beach or LA ever again.For a relatively obscure punk band you have quite a detailed Wikipeida profile. Who is responsible for that?
Hermes: Our former manager Alan. He always carried around a briefcase, what was inside I'm not sure. He claimed this manager thing to be a "performance art" piece and actually got college credit for a class for going on tour with us. We had to break things off because we caught him doing some shady dealings with a promoter in Wasau, Wisconsin. We cannot verify the actual amount but we feel he has embezzled hundreds of thousands from the band over the years. He is sort of the Saul Goodman of punk.Your last show looked like a European soccer match. Was this typical?
Paul: Violence was a thing at our shows early on, then it slacked off as people stopped caring, then it returned with a vengeance (fireworks).Hermes: Sometimes I couldn't breathe for days after a show because I had inhaled so much sulfur from all the fireworks. There was a lot of friendly violence. Our singer had a pretty bad bone break doing some Iggy Pop shit on a crowd railing in Phoenix. He sliced his head open and had to get stitches another time. On the topic of Phoenix, I once opened a set playing drums with roman candles and unsuspectingly singed some guys hair, all while some kid marched in a circle with a fucking homemade torch. Later that show people just started throwing trashcans and shit everywhere. They literally ran to the dumpsters out front to pull out anything they could throw (They found a broken door).Of course some shows were scarcely attended as well, partially because we almost never said no to a show. We played anywhere: backyards, boats, boxing gyms. under freeways, and even played on a couple real stages every once in a while.“Meth Western/Salt of Another Earth” I take it this a drug reference. Is there much meth in Santa Ana? This guy seems to suggest that there is a bit around.
Hermes: Some of us may not have had very similar experiences to that one at that same zoo! To be honest, so many of our song titles are just nonsense that makes us laugh Often it can be completely dissociative from the song itself. When I thought of Meth Western I originally thought of it as a genre of western films, like a spaghetti western but sweatier. We tended to take a few more song titles seriously for 70 AD. "Salt of Another Earth" is actually relevant to the subject of the song.Meth is Santa Ana. Although I didn't partake in the same way as others, it was all around me. All of my best friends growing up were speed freaks, and for better or for worse, you can't help but be influenced by them. At its best you are reaping their psychobabble creativity and at its worse you’re getting your shit stolen.John: Whoah, I drank Budweiser and did meth at that same zoo when I was a freshmen in high school. We pulled up out front and our friend leaned out the passenger window and shouted, "Party at the zoo!!" to a bunch of first graders. There used to be tons of strong meth everywhere there; I haven't lived in Santa Ana for a few years and haven't been around any of that stuff in ten years but I guess it's still a thing.Nasa Space Universe's '70 AD' 12" is available now through Feel It!
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Hermes: 70 AD in this sense is a reference to the exegesis of Philip K Dick. He had these intense religious "flashbacks", where he lived out an entire lifetime in Rome during the times of Christ. PKD's work has been one of our most recurring themes since the beginning.Ten years is a long time for a punk band. What were the secrets to your longevity?
Paul: Long periods of glacial inactivity. Stretching. Hydration.
Hermes: I think we all just felt it was something we always had to do. During our time as a band we never took breaks. I don't think we ever went longer than a month without playing a show. I think it came down to if we weren't doing it, we were in our eyes fucking up and watching the world go by without us.Within the band exists four very different people with very distinct and unstable personalities, but this is how we stabilized ourselves. Everybody either secretly or openly drove each other crazy, but in a way that was unconditional. I identified myself as "drummer of NASA" before anything else (red headed freak, piss boy, peasant). I took great pride in what we did, and needless to say I am sad to see it end.
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Paul: New Orleans.John: Playing with Cider at Now That's Class. Blacking out on Xanax with the Coltranes inside a White Castle in St. Louis. Staying high on LSD for over 24hrs in Portland on our first tour. Eating at a Whataburger in Florida while this wild guido guy threatened to kill everyone inside. Wall Street shows with Gay Kiss in Phoenix. The Wizard's Den show. Ted Falconi telling me he loved my guitar playing. Doing yard work and blowing up gopher holes in exchange for studio time with Bill Bartel and Victor. That one time our van broke down in rural Missouri on July 4th so we drank 64 beers and bullied Alan till he puked. One incident when we played in Boyle Heights and a photographer watching us hated us so much he deleted all his photos, called us assholes and walked out saying something about how he's quitting punk. When Hot Rod Todd told us we'll never be allowed to play Long Beach or LA ever again.For a relatively obscure punk band you have quite a detailed Wikipeida profile. Who is responsible for that?
Hermes: Our former manager Alan. He always carried around a briefcase, what was inside I'm not sure. He claimed this manager thing to be a "performance art" piece and actually got college credit for a class for going on tour with us. We had to break things off because we caught him doing some shady dealings with a promoter in Wasau, Wisconsin. We cannot verify the actual amount but we feel he has embezzled hundreds of thousands from the band over the years. He is sort of the Saul Goodman of punk.
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Paul: Violence was a thing at our shows early on, then it slacked off as people stopped caring, then it returned with a vengeance (fireworks).Hermes: Sometimes I couldn't breathe for days after a show because I had inhaled so much sulfur from all the fireworks. There was a lot of friendly violence. Our singer had a pretty bad bone break doing some Iggy Pop shit on a crowd railing in Phoenix. He sliced his head open and had to get stitches another time. On the topic of Phoenix, I once opened a set playing drums with roman candles and unsuspectingly singed some guys hair, all while some kid marched in a circle with a fucking homemade torch. Later that show people just started throwing trashcans and shit everywhere. They literally ran to the dumpsters out front to pull out anything they could throw (They found a broken door).Of course some shows were scarcely attended as well, partially because we almost never said no to a show. We played anywhere: backyards, boats, boxing gyms. under freeways, and even played on a couple real stages every once in a while.“Meth Western/Salt of Another Earth” I take it this a drug reference. Is there much meth in Santa Ana? This guy seems to suggest that there is a bit around.
Hermes: Some of us may not have had very similar experiences to that one at that same zoo! To be honest, so many of our song titles are just nonsense that makes us laugh Often it can be completely dissociative from the song itself. When I thought of Meth Western I originally thought of it as a genre of western films, like a spaghetti western but sweatier. We tended to take a few more song titles seriously for 70 AD. "Salt of Another Earth" is actually relevant to the subject of the song.Meth is Santa Ana. Although I didn't partake in the same way as others, it was all around me. All of my best friends growing up were speed freaks, and for better or for worse, you can't help but be influenced by them. At its best you are reaping their psychobabble creativity and at its worse you’re getting your shit stolen.John: Whoah, I drank Budweiser and did meth at that same zoo when I was a freshmen in high school. We pulled up out front and our friend leaned out the passenger window and shouted, "Party at the zoo!!" to a bunch of first graders. There used to be tons of strong meth everywhere there; I haven't lived in Santa Ana for a few years and haven't been around any of that stuff in ten years but I guess it's still a thing.Nasa Space Universe's '70 AD' 12" is available now through Feel It!