The Australian Independent Music homepage that Leaping Larry L should see most of (maybe!?).

'Asteroid B-612: September crush', 1997, Inpress Magazine
Pub rock captured with the appropriate level of murk, whcih probably more sense after a visit to one of the band's live shows. On record everything's in the right place but nothing particular excites, the band's obvious fondness for full-throttle blues-rock very much in evidence but somehow missing a decent tune amongst the guitar storm.

Peters, Glenn, 1997, 'Asteroid B-612: Not meant for this world', Inpress Magazine
"All the kids wanna do is scream and shout. They don't know what the fun is about. Shake out the blues, going to have my say. Going to find a way to kick them out today."
    Whaoah! This record will blow you away. Since the so called new punk revolution of Green Day and NoFx it has been rare to hear locally produced full tilt rock 'n'roll boogie. Asteroid B-612 dedicate the album to Roky Erikson and The Flamin' Groovies. Not since Bored's Feed The Dog has there been an Australian record like it. Rough and rocking just like their amazing live shows, Not Meant for This World is an essential local release.
    The awesome opening track, Destination Blues brings you back to those days of the big guitar riff, culminating in a screaming Splatterheads-like sax solo. This should become a party anthem in years.
    Title track, Not Meant for This World kicks out a raw power jam while in True Romance the midsong refrain brings us into bubble gum rock heaven. It only lasts a short while then back into some faster sounds with Emotional Tattoo. Thanks For Nuthin' takes us into Mr (Neil) Young's Zuma territory and Always Got Something to Lose comes out kicking, fighting and yelling out of the dirty rock'n'roll paper bag.
    Not Meant for This World is one noisy record made by guys who just love their rock. I have a feeling that they have huge record collections and the band is a chance to smash out the vinyl to anyone kind enough to listen. This LP is so beautifully recorded, I have not stopped listening to it since seeing them last week at the Punter's Club. What a show. What a record.

Tom, 1996, 'Asteroid' B-612', Form Guide, Issue 32, pp 14-15
Asteroid' B-612 come to you; courtesy of Au-Go-Go Records, via their chunky new EP (Teen Sublination Riffs) or one of their frequent visitations to this town. On the eve of their most recent Punters show, I caught up with Johnny Asteroid and quizzed him about the new record and amongst other things, the recent Radio Birdman reunion.
You have just recorded a new album?
Yeah we just did 12 songs for a new record that should come out at the end of the year. We actually recorded the sons a lot earlier than usual, because we knew, we would be quite busy during the middle part of the year and we had the songs ready, so we just did it ya know.
The songs on your last EP (Teen Sublination Riffs) seem a lot more tight, together, what do you think.
It was recorded a bit differently, to the way we usually record things, which may have made it tighter. I think also the songs are better, and we were more familiar with them, before we went into the studio; whereby with the second record we did, (Forced into a corner) 50-60% of the material was made up in the studio. It's strange though, for the last recording we just did, we went back to the way we usually record, totally live, with no overdubs.
The song (off the EP) 'You Know I'll Never be Good' popped up a couple of years ago on a split single with Brother Brick, under the title 'Crash Landing'. What's the story with that?
Well originally Stewart and Grant called it 'Crash Landing' for the single. Then I had the idea to re-record it for the EP basically... I love the song, but I thought it just went for too long, so when we re-recorded it the second time, I got to call it 'You know I'll never be good'.
And are Brother Brick still happening?
Stewart just does it when he has time, it's sort of something he can do outside this band. He still writes songs for Brother Brick and he can see which songs are suited for what band.
I noticed he actually wrote two songs off the last EP.
Yeah, Stewart writes great songs, he's got this real knack for harmony, that's there and doesn't become cliche pop, where as me, I get lost in traditional rock'n'roll, ya know, I can hear harmony, but I tend to shy a way from it a bit, because I don't like that pop essence. But it's great having Stewart in the band, it basically takes a lot off mine and Grant's shoulders. Ya know, if I could choose anyone else to play with, I'd choose him again. I don't think... I know I definitely wouldn't want to play with anyone else in Australia at the moment.
There wouldn't be a lot of other Sydney bands at the moment, that play in the same vein as you guys; would there?

Do you feel you're carrying a flag in Sydney for some sort of 'Detroit' sound?
nah, I'm sick of that sort of shit, if people can't see that this band is relevant to now, and the way I feel then... It's hard for me, when people say, you sound like the MC-5 or Birdman, it makes me cringe, I think like, I'm doing something that's real to me, it's relevant and the songs mean more to me than anything else; it's basically what keeps me going.
So the Birdman reunion didn't strike you as a big inspiration?
I'm not a real big fan of the band. I think, like, the New Christs are in a totally different street to Birdman. When you have people singing about 'Eskimo pies' and doing the 'move and change', it just becomes a bit too teenage and surf fashion. It just has to mean a bit more to me than that, a band like The Saints came from the gut, a bit more...
... And I always thought The Saints were a cut above Birdman lyrically.
Yeah, lyric wise definitely and also just the sheer grit and gutsy dirt level attitude in the music. Like the guys in Birdman were obviously really good musicians, where as the Saints weren't in the same league player wise, but they had that grit and passion and you can hear something in the lyrics that you can identify yourself with. I can't identify myself with probably anything that Birdman did lyrically. Also I saw Dead Moon recently and I thought to myself, this is real band and I can relate to this in a big way!
    It makes you feel like those times when you're sitting in the back of the van, what am I doing this for and everything is kickin' me in the fuckin' head; you remember why you're doing it.
 
Tom, 1996, 'Asteroid' B-612', Form Guide, May 1997, Issue 32, p 16
"Not Meant for This World" is the title of the new record for Sydney's purveyors of high decibel guitar workouts - Asteroid B-612 and they are back from a tour of America to flog the aforementioned LP and recently recruited "new" 2nd guitarist Ken 'Killer' Watt. I recently caught up with Johnny Spittles and Grant McIver for a chat about their American sojourn.
How did your tour go?
Good yeah, it was pretty daunting at times, but all round really good.
Where exactly did you go?
We started in Seattle and then played every major city down the West Coast, played in Tuscon and four shows in Texas and then went down through the South. It ended up being about 20 shows altogether, we also had to cancel a few shows in New York.
What was the response like to the shows?
Great, I found it more surprising than anything else.
What sorts of bands did you hook up with?
The Humpers, Sugar Shack, Gas Huffer, lots of different bands. The shows themselves weren't that big, we were basically playing with bands that were in the same league we are in. Playing local clubs, to their crowds. I don't think the tour was promoted as it should have been, there wasn't much attention to the fact that there was a band from Australia on the bill, especially on the West Coast.
You also went through a line-up change while overseas?
Yeah, we got rid of someone who was basically becoming a dead weight, not musically, cause he's a great guitarist, but he was basically becoming impossible to deal with. Some of his behaviour was the stuff of a five year old. So it was kind of nasty in the end, but I'm glad it ended up that way.
Was there a chance of band breaking up?
No. It was a great rock and roll band before he joined. Sure, added something, but there's two records before he joined. He played on the second, but I wrote all the songs. He's a great guitar player and musician and probably a good guy to have as a casual friend, but...
So your new guitarist, where's he from?
He's from Perth, from a band called Valvolux. He's a new energy. The last four shows we played were some of the best shows we've done this year. I guess you could say we are doing it for each other again.
And you have a whole new set of songs together?
Well, we're playing about four or five songs off the new record. This band has three albums out now, so we certainly have enough material to choose from. We are also playing some new songs that I wrote so there's no shortage of material.
Are there any prospects of going overseas again to promote the new record?
I guess so. The record comes out in America in June so there's a possibility... We really wanna try to get to Europe, the girls look nice there.
In America?
No, in Europe. They were o.k. in America, but we were playing pubs. It wasn't places where girls hung out, it was more where blokes hung out to watch rock and roll. So I think you have to go to Spain or somewhere like that.

McUtcheon, Andrew, 1996, 'Asteroid B-612', Beat Magazine
It's a pretty cool thing to say, "Rock n Roll is dead, Pop is King", but unfortunately there's little truth to the euphemism. Rock n Roll isn't dead at all, it just came back as a naked platinum blonde 60's playboy model wrapped in chains.
Such is the artwork on Asteroid B-612's diamond edged rock'n'roll opus EP titled Teen Sublimination Riffs. Created a cacophonic guitar growl and plying it with the groove based ethic of seminal MC5 sounds. Asteroid tap into that universal and completely tangible gritty pashion that belies all, no frills god-honest rock.
    "This music is here to stay" comments John, guitarist/vocalist "... I don't think it's ever gonna be pushed over by some crappy computerised stuff, there's always a need for it."
    Reminiscent of the Powder Monkeys, in their more stripped back, pure alcohol fuelled moments, I'm interested to know if there is some sense of comraderie between two bands, proudly carrying the flag for an unadulterated genre. "Definitely, at what these two bands do, they're probably the best in Australia... easily the best. That's a good thing, band's like us should stick together and sort of hold the flag up. We're both very good bands at what we do. I wouldn't say we're very similar to them specifically, sitting through a whole set of their music doesn't really give me the horn." (?)
    Listening carefully to the latest album, (which will be available within the month), it is strikingly obvious the MC5 and an album like Back in the USA, have had a profound influence on the band, although, listening beyond this, there are vaguely Patti-Smith elements which permeate the music at a deeper level. John explains that her influence on him personally is immense.
    "I've been in love with Patti Smith since I was 16. She has influenced me as influenced me as much as anyone ever will. She is really someone that I can believe in 100%. Her new album is the best thing I've heard in... years. I've been listening to her since I was 16, and I've had a crush on her since then as well. I'm into everything she does."
    "Although, when it comes to really deep musical conservations about what's around and what's fashionable, I'm not that knowledgeable. I neglect to pay attention to what's going on around me, y'know I only listen to and play what I'm interested in. People who say our style is too obvious to me. When I categorise things, which I try not to do, they fall on two sides of the coin. Fashionable or not fashionable. I'm doing something which is obviously not fashionable.
    "It basically comes down on choosing what you actually want to do, or doing something which will obviously enhance your profile in some way. The band that I play in, we play in, we play what we want play."
    But do Asteroid B- 612 subscribe to the cavalier altruism of Fred 'Sonic' Smith who truly believed that Rock'n'Roll can change the world?
    "I dunno about it changing the world, but it's changed my life, and that's all I tend to worry about. I tend to be a little bit narrow minded and worry about what I'm doing. I know that what I do is something that's very dear to me and it's definitely changed the way I look at things."

Tauschke, Steve, 1997, 'Asteroid B-612', Beat Magazine
Sydney's Asteroid B- 612 mess up the airwaves again with an unhinged new platter, "Not Meant for This World". Fresh from a recent US tour, guitarist John speaks with Steve Tauschke.
Beat: Tell us about the trip.
John: "We were meant to do about 28 shows in about 35 days. We started in Seattle and finished in Seattle and went all the way down the west coast and across the middle through Arizona, Texas, Memphis, Georgia and then up East coast through Richmond, Virginia and then Philadelphia and New York but we only got as far as Phili."
Beat: What, you ran out of gas?
John: "Well, someone ran out of gas, anyway. We ran out of high tension wire! Someone in the band became very impatient so we cut our losses there (in Philadelphia)."
Beat: You've had a lineup change then?
John: "Yep."
Beat: What happened exactly?
John: "We got rid of someone who wasn't in the band for the right reasons, basically. It's just a shame that it happened over there... some of the things he got up to like throwing drum kits down three flights of stairs cos he didn't want to carry them, missing a plane to America on purpose cos he didn't think we were paying him enough attention, things like that. I could talk to you for hours about it but I guess it's all just the politics of being in a band and having to have a relationship with people who are inside that band... that relationship didn't work out but it was good while it lasted... I mean (the US tour) was something we really to do. The band has been playing around Australia for five years and we really needed to do it for ourselves."
Beat: The tension on tour, what sort of live shows did that create?
John: "It set up some indifferent shows and I guess in the majority of them there was a fair bit of tension which didn't help at times because when you've just done thirteen gigs straight and you need something to give you a lift and there are only four out of the five people interacting on stage I guess that let the show down a bit... but I'm proud of the fact that we got all but three shows done."
Beat: What about some high point of the trip?
John: "Just playing a lot. I really like to play and that's good for me cos if I'm playing I'm not doing anything. So I really dug pIaying a lot in a lot of different places, meeting different people and playing to different people. I just dug hanging out with Bullet, Scott, Ben and Pete our sound guy and another friend of ours Cosmo. San Francisco I thought I was a really beautiful place and I thought Houston was really great. We just met a lot of really nice people who treated us really well."
Beat: Did you pretty much toured the States on the strength of your back catalogue?
John: "Yep!"
Beat: Someone from a small label invited you over?
John: "Yeah, Jack from (Canadian label) Lance Rock Records."
Beat: Did you play in Vancouver?
John: "No, we didn't play in Canada. We just started in Seattle with a band called Gas Huffer."
Beat: What did you make of them?
John: "Not my cuppa tea but obviously they're pretty good at what they do. Some of their songs were OK but it's not really my bag of fish... Gas Huffer were originally going to be out here as our tour support for all our shows but they pulled out just a day or day so ago."
Beat: How come?
John: "I dunno (sarcastically) cos three months isn't long enough to get your work VISA together, you'd have to ask them, it's been locked in since December and they've had since then to organise their shit."
Beat: What other bands did you get to tour with? How about Sugar Shack?
John: "We played with Sugar Shack in Houston. Great band! We played with a lot of local bands along the way, a band called the Dragons who were pretty neat, kind of a cross between the Heartbreakers and Joan Jett which was good fun, nothing too serious. The Sons of Hercules we played with in San Antonio, I think they're a really good band. We played with the Humpers... and I got to meet Roy Loney, the singer from the original lineup of the Flamin' Groovies."
Beat: What did you make of the US in general?
John: "We did over 20,000 k's and I thought it was just a fuckin' big place with really crappy food. I had good fun, did a lot of driving and saw a lot of things.I went to Graceland which was fuckin' unreal and cried at the King's grave."
Beat: What about this new record, what sort of feedback have you had?
John: "There was one guy in San Francisco who said it was the best rock'n'roll record he'd heard in twenty years which blew ME away. (Pause) It's a pretty raw sounding record, pretty live sounding. I'm not sure what sort of reactions we've got. We'll just have to wait and see... I mean the songs we wrote for this record, we kind of had a feeling that they needed to be recorded that way, where we could jam on a song and see what happens, a lot of the songs had that vein about them... I'm really too close to the songs to say whether it sounds good but I know it sounds wild and raw and sort of ungaged."

McPhee, Natalie, 1997, 'Asteroid B-612: Rocket to the Moon', Inpress Magazine
Asteroid B-612 are on the loose again. After recently completing their new album, Not Meant for This World, they're on their way down to Melbourne to play a few shows before jetsetting to America. A self-produced album that more than captures the power of a live performance by this band, it's bound to grab you by the ears and give you a good shaking from beginning to end. John Spittles, guitarist with the band, believes that Not Meant for This World really captures the live feel of the band that people rave about.
    John explains: "I think that this one (album) sounds more like the band at the moment, more than any other recording we have done. The other recordings didn't really capture what the sounded like at that moment. They were good records, but I think this one really captures it, it is really wild sounding. I was a little bit worried about it, because it is hard to listen to the whole record in one go, because it is so raw sounding."
    Recorded and mixed in six days at Paradise Studios in Sydney, John lived and breathed Asteroid B-612 during this time. Although their past records had been produced with the help of other people, John decided that he could no longer deal with the concessions that need to be made when dealing with a hired producer, so himself and Stuart (aka Leadfinger) guitarist with the band, decided to take control. John explains.
    "We did it because I am arrogant, narrow-minded and no one can tell me what to do... I am a charming person, I just don't take a backwards step that's all. I spoke to a few people and there were different people that wanted to do some production for us, but in the end, it's like 'Hey, if I don't like what you're doing I'm not really going to say yes to it.' So I don't think there is really any use of having someone there if you are not going to end up liking what they are doing."
    Not Meant for This World is a title that evokes feelings of loneliness and isolation. Something that John believes different members of the band have felt at some time, as they continue to do their own thing regardless of current popular opinion. John describes how he feels.
    "Stuart named the record, but I think it is something that we both feel. I have kind of felt like that since I was fifteen. I don't know, I kind of feel alienated a lot because I don't like what's supposedly cool, or what's trendy. There is very little that I do like and I kind of feel sorry for myself at times, I feel like an outsider type, so I suppose I do feel like I'm not meant for this world, if that's what this world contains.".
    John also believes that he often found relief and answers in other band's music when he was younger. "I heard different things like the first and second Saints records," John continues, "and I related to it and I think a lot of people did. Like the feelings of being alone and feeling sorry for yourself. Basically music is the Blues, that's what it is for me in different shapes and forms, that is what it always comes back to and it is just how I can get my kicks and push my troubles away."
    This type of raw honestly is something that comes across when listening to Asteroid B-612; songs full of pathos, anger and energetic emotions that are often looked over by other bands because it seems too confronting and at times, listener unfriendly. Yet John maintains that the expression of emotions in Asteroid B-612 is something of a cathartic experience.
    "I just write what I feel and that is what I play, so to do it any other way would be lying, so I can't do it like that. There is a song on our last EP that I just refuse to play anymore. I wrote that song about a girl years ago, and I won't play it anymore because it just cuts. It is too much and I guess there are songs on each recording that I don't feel comfortable playing anymore because I'm trying to get over that emotion of that feeling and I don't want it to be layed on top of me again. I guess there will be things on this record too that I wrote, that I can handle playing now because they are still relevant to me and I don't mind that that feeling is still there, but some time in the future, I might not want to think about that anymore. I might be trying to be a little bit more positive so I won't play it, and that's basically how the band works, working on the five emotions that are in the band as a unit. We play what we feel, bad some nights, great other nights, incredible some nights, but it can be bad and that's what honestly is all about. If we are not into it on the night, then that is how it will sound.
    "I think," John concludes, "the band is more like a living organ so to speak, than just some manufactured piece of crap which a lot of bands are. This band has blood pumping through it when it is alive and playing and stuff like that. We are not living no lie or anything like that, we play honestly how we feel, and whether you like it or not it is the real thing."

Tauschke, Steve, 1997, 'Asteroid B-612', Beat Magazine
Sydney's rock 'n'roll stayers Asteroid B-612 are back for more, this time sporting a new single "September Crush". Guitarist John Spittles chats with Steve Tauschke.
Beat: Aside from organising this single, what else have you guys been doing?
John: "Gee, it's been a pretty interesting sort of year. We've been doing alright, we've been busy, not playing as much as we usually would but just writing and getting our shit together basically."
Beat: That included a tour of US right?
John: "We did that tour last year, from October to December... we got rid of someone in America and parted ways with someone in Australia as well."
Beat: Why did your singer choose to leave recently?
John: "Mid-life crisis! (laughs) maybe, I dunno. He's a good friend of mine. He just didn't know what he wanted to do anymore-type thing and I think he just realised that he needed to hang out by himself for a while. I mean I couldn't tell you why. You'd have to ask him."
Beat: I believe your brother is doing the singing these days.
John: "My brother, yeah, that's right."
Beat: Did he offer his services or did you sort of draft him on board?
John: "Well, I'd played in bands with him before when he needed someone to help out on guitar and stuff so I guess it was time to return the favour. He's played in cover bands and stuff like that."
Beat: With the new lineup you must be ready to do another album?
John: "We're getting ready to record a new record in the first or second week of January... as I said, it's been a pretty interesting year for me. I've written 17 new songs and still counting in the last four months. I've had a lot of different things and people come and go in the last year so I've had plenty to vent about... we're actually playing three or four times a week until the end of the year but we've got one weekend off so I think we'll probably go in and demo most of the songs then."
Beat: Is there a working title for it?
John: "I had about three working titles for album. One when I was feeling sorry for myself, called "When all else fails". Another "Easy the Hard way", which is actually one of the song titles and it sums up some of the emotions on the record."
Beat: How have you found writing on your own?
John: "We'll, I pretty much wrote the whole first record and the second record. The third record was pretty much a mixed bag. So it's got back to how things were before. I've been doing it pretty much since this band started. That's what I do."
Beat: Last time we spoke you said that you basically live to play?
John: "Yeah, it's what I do. I'm not working at the moment which makes money pretty tough. I just needed to sit down for six months and concentrate on what I love doing and this is what I love to do. And I don't want anything else to be in the way."
Beat: Were you ever tempted to throw it all in after so many disruptions?
John: "Well, like I said I write most of the songs so it's like, dare I say it's my baby and it's aIways has been. I've just got too many emotions tied up in this band to sort of throw it away just because someone makes a prick out of themselves or someone decides they're having mid-life crisis and doesn't know what they want to do anymore. I've got too much heart and soul invested in the band to just chuck it away. So, it's easy for me to hang onto it. I guess it's like some sort of love affair that I don't want to let go of. "
 

Trethewie, David, 1999, 'Asteroid B-612', Beat Magazine
Asteroid B-612 have been pumping out Detroit Rock transmissions from Sydney for seven years now and speaking to guitarist/songwriter John Spittles it seems that the band reached a fork in the road a short ago. The first hint of a change was in the lineup, once a fve-piece with two guitars, they're now a four piece with one guitar. The second indication of a change is the sound of their new EP, Different licks for Different chicks (which is tastefully adorned with '60s Playboy style shots). It features a cover of Died Pretty's 'Mirror Blues' which freeforms into Pere Ubu's 'Final Solution'. The track meanders through Fred Sonic Smith mock-orientalism to avant-rock feedback squalls which become more and more frenzied. Asteroid B-612 seem to be releasing the frustrations which Spittles talks about in this iterview. A new Asteroid album which may or may not be called Readin' between the lines will be out soon.
How are Asteroid B-612's overseas connections working for you now?
We've got a guy working for us in America at the moment who's a very high profile guy and he's with us not because he's going to make any money out of the band but because her likes the band, he loves the band. He approached me about it and said 'Can you guys afford to pay me?' and we said 'Well, what do you get? and he goes 'My rate is $195 American an hour... ' He works with hiphop acts and R&B acts. He sat me down and said 'This stuff makes me money, it's not necessarily what I like. It's a business but I want to work with you because I love the band.' I said 'We have got no money so if you want try and get us a good deal overseas then we're going to have to cut you into the deal when you get it.' It just works that way. If you don't love playing music, don't grow old and don't play rock 'n'roll music all your life. You become very cynical and sick of the way the whole thing works. I understand the way these things happen - it's about money - and I understand that kids are programmed to listen to some absolutely ridiculous garbage that's played on radio. It's because they don't know any different. It's not hard to understand why people play the crap to begin with when they're handing money over.
What sort of American contacts are available for a band such as yourselves?
It just seems of the cuff and from the hip, like Americans at the moment, although there's all that stuff that's huge and on the mainstream charts, that there's a whole underground thing about signing rock'n'roll bands, bands that I won't even name. There's bands that are being offered money now, American ones that I've seen from just being over there. They're crap any Australian band that's worth it's weight would wipe the floor with them.
Have your finished recording the new Asteroid B-612 album?
Yeah, it just needs to be mastered and I just have to choose which one or two the songs I'm going to leave off it. Kent (Steedman) did a bit of work on some songs, changing the arrangements and had some ideas for some different guitar parts so that was good but what I concentrated on for this record was writing good songs. It wasn't so much that I could play guitar OK and I'm not going to come up with a half decent riff and play a guitar solo and make it sound like an OK rock'n'roll song, I actually wanted to write a bunch of decent songs that didn't rely on great guitar playing. That was one of the reasons why I didn't want two guitars in the band anymore.
Why did you change that? Did you need to strip the sound down a bit more?
I just got sick of writing songs for two guitars. Asteroid B-612 was this thing I started seven years ago now and it's done that two guitar thing. Without sounding like a dickhead or whatever, we did it and we did it good and it's done now and I needed to progress. There's no way I could have changed with two guitars. It wasn't going to work anymore.
You've covered Pere Ubu's 'Final Solution' which has a reputation of being an art rock song, as part of a jam. Was that part of this new direction?
It's part of being able to go into a studio and see what happens and not having any formula. If you listen to that song... we rehearsed it once and just went in and recorded it. I guess that's why it's got a bit of edge to it because none of that stuff in the middle of it, where it freeforms a bit, none of that was rehearsed and it's just like eye-contact and stuff like that. That's why I love playing live with one guitar now because it's not regimental - we can do what we want and come back. It's easier to do stuff like that now.

Warhurst, Myfanwy, 1996, 'Asteroid B-612: all hail rock'n'roll', Inpress magazine
Asteroid B-612 took their name from a children's story called the Little Prince, where a young boy lived alone on a planet called - you guessed it - Asteroid B-612. But that's as far as the similarities to the book get, because if the name Asteroid B-612 was at all indicative of what this band are all about, then the story would not be one of a little prince, but rather, a steady onslaught of rock and roll and even a bit more rock and roll. Hailing from Sydney, Asteroid B-612 have been around for quite a few years and have made many regular appearnces in Melbourne. After releasing two albums with the now defunct Destroyer Records, Asteroid B-612 have signed with Au-Go-Go Records and have just released a new EP Teen Sublimination Riffs. I spoke to Grant McIver (sic), lead singer of Asteroid B-612, about the new EPand most importantly, what exciting things are in store for the band.

The EP Teen Sublimination Riffs, is very much a guitar album and one that cements Asteroid B-612 position as not only passionate players but big fans of rock and roll. From the first track with its Chuck Berry/Keith Richards guitar feel, you cannot ignore that these guys have stuck with their particular style with a vengeance and are in the process of building on the strong foundations of their previous two albums. I asked Grant if he was happy with the EP.
    "Yeah, it's pretty much what we're on about at the moment. It's very much what it is, but it's also different from the last record. It's in the same vein, it's the same music, but people who have heard the last record will realise that this is a different sound again. But, it's still Asteroid and we haven't gone for a new style."
    According to Grant, the style of Asteroid B-612 is readily translated to the recording process, with the band preferring, to record the EP as live as possible.
    "The EP took two and a half days to record. That's the way we've always done it. The first record was done in a day and the second was done in two, so it's just getting in there to play it and not change too much of it. We want the live sound. It's not going to be perfect live sound, but that's the way we want it and that's the way we'll always do it. We're happy with that method and it seems to have worked so far."
    With many fans throughout Australia, Asteroid B-612's approach seems to be on the right track. Having also released a single on the Canadian label Lance Rock Records, Grant hopes that there are even bigger things in the wings for Asteroid B-612.
    "We met the guy in charge of Lance Rock Records when he was in Australia working at Au-Go-Go. I actually bought some records off him in the shop, and he was into the same style of music that we were, so we ended up having a chat and we told him to come down and check him out. So he saw us, and said 'Great, do you want to put a single out?' And, of course we said 'Yes Please', so we've got a single coming out in Canada mid-year and hopefully we'll be going over there in September which is fantastic."
    So with a potential trip to Canada in the near future, Asteroid B-612 are now embarking on a tour to promote the new EP and to work on some new material for their up and coming album.
    "We'll probably have an album hopefully around June. We've got about eight new songs, which we'll be playing in our live shows and seeing how they work. We'll get them down and start recording in about a month or two.
    The interview came to a point where the inevitable question of influences arose and rather than being met with an answer that consisted of reeling off a long list, Grant's response was not met with the seriousness that I had expected. With laughter, it was more a case of too much to choose from.
    "It's one of those questions that you could go on about forever, but I don't really know - rock and roll bands I suppose, and each other. We all feed off each other, we like the same sort of music - especially vintage rock and roll."
    So if you think you're in for a rock and roll band that take themselves and their forebearers too seriously, don't. It seems to be merely admiration that inspires the material of Asteroid B-612 and with any luck, Grant promises the appearance of a special guest for their Melbourne shows.
    "We've got a special friend coming down with us from the United States of America. I can't say who, but just come and see the man do his work. He's no-one really special, but's he special in our books."