Kill Geeksville

Man... or Astro-Man? Meet Teenage Caveman, commonly referred to as the Kill Geeksville record, was a split 7" EP by Man or Astro-man? and Teenage Cavemen (billed as both Teenage Caveman and Teenage Cavemen on the release). It was put out by Worry Bird Records (WOE-22) in 1994. MOAM? contributed two songs: "Bombora" (an original Surfaris cover) and "Surf Terror." The two songs were recorded at Zero Return studios by James Marrer (credited on the sleeve as Jim Morer). Teenage Cavemen also did two songs: "Phantom Stranger of your Heart" and "Sidekick." The cover was printed on glossy cardstock that was folded in half. There was no printing on the inside cover. The record was only pressed on opaque black vinyl.

Here is a scan of the record:


This was the first split single that MOAM? did. Many more would follow. This one featured a lesser known southern band that, because of some shared membership, is often referred to as an Astroman side-project. I'm not sure if we can really call the Teenage Cavemen a side-project, since they seem to have risen from the same Auburn, Alabama music scene at around the same time. There was some band member crossover, though. It is a little tough to pin down who was who since the members of both bands used assumed names. I know for certain that original Astroman Birdstuff (Brian Teasley) was also the drummer for the Teenage Cavemen. Bill Bradley, who played briefly in MOAM? as Mr. Neutron (most notably at Garageshock '94) was also a member, as was his eventual Astroman replacement Captain Zeno (Jason Russell). Russell was also the founder of the Homo Habilis record label, and would later play with the Quadrajets. Rounding out the Cavemen were fellow Quadrajet Rob Hauck, and a guy named Hardy Gilbert (the only one not in either MOAM? or the Quadrajets).

Here is a photo of Mr. Neutron (Bill Bradley) performing with MOAM? at 1994's Garageshock:

Of course, this rundown of Teenage Cavemen members only accounts for five of the six players listed on the back of the split single. I'm not sure who the other member was, though I've long heard that Dr. Deleto (Jeff Goodwin) was also involved. As contributor Abraham Lincoln III points out, it is interesting to think of Teenage Caveman as a training ground for several generations of Man or Astro-Man? members and as a sort of precursor to the Quadrajets. Teenage Cavemen released at least one other record, a single on Homo Habilis records called Spirit of Wildwood. Interestingly enough, there are only five band members shown on that single's front cover illustration. Here is a scan of that single:

Mission into CHAOS!

Mission into CHAOS! was a Man or Astro-man? 7" released on One Louder Records (LOUD1) in 1993. The sleeve was made from glossy cardstock that was machine-folded and glued, leaving only one edge open. With some copies there was an double-sided Astro-Man fan club insert.

Here is a copy of the insert:


It was pressed exclusively on thick, opaque black vinyl (3000). The back cover mentions that the songs were meant to be a soundtrack to a lost spy film of the same title. A reward was offered to anyone who could find a complete, intact print of the film. The film didn't actually exist, but that didn't stop several fans from submitting their own versions. The "winner" of the find the film contest was a guy named Jason Hill. He was listed on the inside sleeve of the follow up single Return to Chaos.

Here is the vinyl record:



Samples used at the beginning of "Madness in the Streets" and "Point Blank" were taken from a G.I. Joe book and record story put out by Peter Pan Records in the 1980s. Here is what the cover looked like:
 

And below is the audio from YouTube. The "Madness in the Streets" clip starts at 4:45 and the clip used for "Point Blank" starts at about 5:14. Many thanks to Brandonio Granger for pointing this out to me!

Captain Holojoy's Space Diner

Captain Holojoy's Space Diner was a Man or Astro-man? 7" EP released on Lucky Records in 1993 (LKY 009). The cover was made from thin, glossy paper and had printing both inside and out. The record came on opaque pink vinyl (200) and black vinyl (800). There were also three possible inserts. The first was a large, card stock square with a photo of a band member (Dr. Deleto?) on one side and (mostly) fictitious song lyrics on the other. The other two were postcards. One was a picture showing the Astromen eating in a diner (from Lucky Records) and the other was an Estrus Records promotion card for the forthcoming LP Destroy All Astro-Men!.

Here is a scan of the inside cover:



From what I can tell, all of the copies came with the larger insert. Most early copies also came with one of the two postcards. Some copies, especially the black vinyl copies, were missing the postcard alltogether. It seems to me like the copies sold in the UK tended to favor the Estrus postcard more than the Lucky one. Here is a scan of both sides of the big insert and the Lucky card:


And here's a shot of the Estrus promo card:


And of course, side A and side B of the records:



Notice that the center label indicates that the records spin at 45 rpm. This was wrong. They were mastered at 33 1/3 rpm. This was correct on the back cover. To make sure people knew the speed, which can be tricky when dealing with instrumental music, later copies had the following sticker affixed to the front cover:

Amazing Thrills! in 3-Dimension

Amazing Thrills! in 3-Dimension was a Man... or Astro-man? promo 7" EP. It was released on Estrus Records (as ESP7) in 1993. The cover was printed in black and white on a thin paper sleeve that was machine folded and glued together. It only featured art work on the front side. It was only available on translucent black vinyl.

The count on this one is a bit tricky. According to the Estrus website, 200 copies were given away with their debut album, Is It ... Man or Astroman?, when it was ordered directly from the record label. 200 additional copies were given to the band for distribution--putting the total count of the pressing at 400. Here's a cobbled together screencap, in case the link stops working:

Some discographies, including the one at the old MOAM? website, put the number at 1000. The picture becomes even less clear when you consider the numbers listed on this sell sheet:


The sheet above was sent to record stores in the US and Europe to drum up sales for the first LP. The idea was that stores could order a bunch of the promo singles to sell at record release parties for the full-length. The sheet puts the retail sales numbers at 400 and the total pressing at 800. Since this was a document that predated the manufacture of the promo single, it would have been possible for Estrus to go with a larger or smaller number, depending on what the actual pre-order totals ended up being. Whatever the case, this one is devilishly difficult to track down.

Side A featured “Out Of Limits” and “Radio Promo.” Side B featured “MST 3000 Love Theme” and “Reverb 1000 (Live).” This is the first time Man or Astro-man's cover of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 theme song was released. It was later re-released on Destroy All Astromen!.

Here is a scan of the vinyl record:



The picture sleeve cover was designed by Stuart Ellis (A.K.A. "The Lounge Lizard"). Inspiration for the cover art looks to be taken from the 1953 sci-fi film It Came From Outer Space. The film was based on a Ray Bradbury story that told of a bizarre and very advanced race of one-eyed, amorphous creatures who could assume the form of any human in order to facilitate the uninterrupted repair of their ship. The aliens were not here to seize the planet or to enslave the human race, nor to destroy earth in order to be the ultimate life form in the universe. They just wanted to fix their space ship and leave--not unlike the "actual" Man or Astro-Man? origin story. Here is an image of the movie poster:



As you can see the four people and the mysterious eye are both taken from the poster. The EP's title is also pulled from here, as is the hybrid road/space ship condensation trail. The film was directed by Jack Arnold and starred Richard Carlson. The pair would also collaborate on 1954's The Creature from the Black Lagoon.


Thanks to Benjamin Brinkman for pointing me to the art source, and to Mike Noon for sending in a scan of the Estrus sell sheet.

Man or Astroman? vs. Europa

Man or Astroman? vs. Europa, Four Weak-kneed Space Geeks Take On An Entire Continent! was a 7" EP whose release coincided with the band's first European tour. It was released on Homo Habilis Records (HH 706). The Invasion of the Astro-Men European Tour lasted from December 14, 1993 until January 11, 1994. The picture sleeve is printed on thick, blue card stock and is folded in such a way that the actual record is halfway visible from the back side. The record was only available on black vinyl (500 copies).

Here is a scan of the record:

Supersonic Toothbrush Helmet

Supersonic Toothbrush Helmet was a Man... or Astro-man? 7" EP released on Lance Rock Records in 1993 (LRR 008). It was distributed by Get Hip Records, a fact that occasionally will cause an online seller to suggest that Get Hip put this one out.

The first pressing was available on clear reddish-orange vinyl (200) and on black vinyl (900). The inside cover of the picture sleeve featured a black and white photo of an Astro Burger restaurant. There was also a second pressing on black vinyl (1500). With the final 1000 or so of this later pressing, the inside of the picture sleeve was left blank.

Here is the inside cover:



Here are the two variations of vinyl:

Possession by Remote Control

Possession by Remote Control was the debut release from Man... or Astro-man?. It was released by Homo Habilis Records (HH 701) in 1992. Homo Habilis was run by Jason Russell, a musician who would later join the band as Captain Zeno and would also play for the Teenage Cavemen and the Quadrajets. The picture sleeve cover is a single sheet of heavy stock paper folded in half. It was designed by by Graham Sanford. The MOAM? logo used on the label, and the Homo Habilis logo (and the postcard and the Insect Siren ad you'll see below) were designed by Stuart Ellis (A.K.A. "The Lounge Lizard"). The cover is silk screened on every surface. Here is what the inside cover looks like when it is fully opened:


The general consensus is that 800 of these were pressed on clear blue vinyl. Here is a scan of the record:


That was the only color commercially available, but there were a handful also made on a mottled, slightly purple-colored vinyl--the result of the pressing plant doing a run of marroonish vinyl records just prior to stamping out these. It is said that 6 of these were made, with a slightly different cover. Brad Lynham, who at one point ran a website that inspired this blog, was kind enough to lend me a few scans that he was able to procure. Here is a scan of the ultra-rare purple-ish record:


And here is a scan of the alternate cover that was made to house the six copies pressed on purple:


Notice that there isn't much of a difference between this alt-cover and the real thing. The only change I can spot is the omission of the record name across the bottom.

The alien-holding-a-guitar graphic on the front cover was a cleverly shopped image of a space man taken from the lobby card for a 1957 sci-fi film called Invasion of the Saucer-Men. In the original image the alien was holding some sort of a space tool. Here is a picture of the lobby card for comparison:


A recent message from Birdstuff gives us some context for the live band photo on the back cover. He wrote:

"That back cover photo is from Sluggos in Pensacola on a bill we played with the Woggles. I think it was the night Coco met Suzanne Somers of Three's Company fame. Also, I know Adios Jonny Bravo was part the first ever session that was intended for the first album which we had intended to put out ourselves before Estrus called--that stuff is on that cassette tape you sometimes see floating around. It has some older versions of the songs, but I don't know which are old and which appear in the first record. The debut album was going to be called Supersonic Toothbrush Helmet which was the name of the 2nd single. Coco used to have a space helmet with a giant toothbrush that spun around on it and I think that is where the name comes from. That said, Is it...Man or Astro-Man? was a much better and more iconic title for the first record and I'm glad we changed the name to that."

There were also several possible inserts for this one. Not every record got an insert, some only got one and others were stuffed full. One was an ad for the Estrus Records crust club--most likely inserted with the copies sold after the band signed to Estrus. Another was an ad for Homo Habilis Records. The HHR ad heavily promoted a single by the band Insect Syren, and also made reference to a MOAM?/Woggles split record that never actually happened. Here is a scan of these two inserts:

Design by Stuart Ellis (A.K.A. "The Lounge Lizard")

There were also some copies distributed with multiple copies of this rather garish bumper sticker (is that comic sans?!):


And finally, as this was a single that Estrus started to distribute as they were pimping the first MOAM? LP, here is an Estrus postcard announcing the first full-length:

Design by Stuart Ellis (A.K.A. "The Lounge Lizard")

Now, I don't think any copies of the 7" came with all of the inserts mentioned above. Depending on when and where you got your copy, the inserts varied. My copy didn't have any--and this was completely normal. I think . . .

This was the world's introduction to the original four Astro-Men: Birdstuff, Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard, Dr. Delete and his Invisible Vaportron, and Starcrunch. This recording also featured the organ stylings of the mysterious Grand Master Useless on one track.

The title is explained on the back cover, which reads:

"Transmissions are coming through! TV's are everywhere. You're supposed to watch them. You must watch them. Spewing their enchanting radiation on our children, there's no turning back. They're here to stay for the glazed eyes of generations to come. But their influence extends beyond the family room. They're affecting our young people in all ways. As seen here on this record, Man or Astro-Man? are captive slaves to the idiot tube. Completely enraptured by the uncompromising rays, they have become mindless teens playing the music that the cable god orders them to. And now with the channel changer, sometimes called a flipper or zapper, all hope is lost for the boys. Possession by Remote Control is the music of zombies controlled by distant and unknown broadcasting centers. In no case has anyone ever spent such a gross waste of time on a device such as television. But just wait until they get a satellite dish!"

Thanks to Brad Lynham and Benjamin Brinkman for contributing to this post.