VOB: For those out there that don't know.
Let's first find out when VOICE OF THE ROCKETMAN
In the 90's there was a force in the Christian Punk Scene known as Blaster the Rocketman, in 2000 they disbanded, only to get together for scattered reunions. Luke Bones has been able to catch hold of the front man, Otto NoBot. The following is the first half of a two part interview.
VOB: For those out there that don't know.
Let's first find out when
Blaster the Rocket Man was formed, how many years did it go for, and how many
lineups have there been?
Otto:We first formed Blaster in early 1993. We went through a number of line-ups that had varying degrees of activity each year till we officially broke up in the late spring of 2000. Then, in the spring of 2002 we reformed with one-time member Jason Allender (bass) and some new guys to play a handful of shows before my family and I moved to Scotland. It was this last line-up that played the two Blaster sets at Cornerstone '04.
All in all there were probably some nine different line-ups. The main ones were Otto/Dave/Chris/Mike ('94 to '98), Otto/Dave/Mike/Jason ('98), Otto/Dave/Elijah [alias 'Oxford Don']/Erich [front man of the Calicoes] ('99-'00). Then came this later formation, sans the mighty Heater Hands (my brother Dave) who has for sometime been a Squad 5-0 guy (drums). Blaster from 2002 has been Otto/Brett/Jason/Patrick/Rusty (later, brother Ty) with Dustin playing bass at C-stone for most of each set and Jason filling out the rest.
VOB: What inspired you to make the type of music that Blaster is? I
understand that some of the songs come from books and movies, could you
maybe list a few?
Otto: Forgive me for clarifying-but we kind of have two different questions here, one about music and one about lyrics. The two do indeed fuse, but inspirations for each were rather different.
The music was initially fairly straight ahead in inspiration-The Misfits, The Dickies, The Ramones, The Lifesavors, Nobody Special, Scaterd Few, Fluffy, Breakfast With Amy, The Violent Femmes, and Nirvana all come to mind. Mixed into it all was Class of '76 punk with early '80's punk and New Wave with early '90's 'Noise Rock' (as I called Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, etc.-to distinguish it from whatever 'grunge' was supposed to be). I was also quite into 'oldies' from the '50's and '60's, e.g. Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Three Dog Night, The Kinks, The Turtles, Herman's Hermits, The Animals, The Association, Paul Revere and the Raiders, etc. All this was essentially what went into the Disasteroid sound and developed from there.
Now, what you may notice is that there is a certain humour and bizarreness and odd imagination running through most of these bands (excluding the 'oldies' perhaps, but not necessarily). Their lyrics sometimes contained rather simplistic sci-fi/horror themes, but always something 'silly' or outright 'stupid' or ironically clever in some fashion, even if crudely. So this was the initial inspiration for the type of lyrics I wrote.
But as you say, there were the books and films. Most of these influences had been building from childhood onward. As soon as I decided I wanted to write in a 'sci-fi/horror' vein I found my head chock full of imagery and ideas. I think Disasteroid and Succulent Space Food For Teething Vampires were mostly just a mish-mash of stock B-movie and classics themes-e.g. Godzilla, werewolves, vampires, robots, time travel, Star Wars, X-Men, Voltron, etc. etc.
I suppose the uniqueness of the lyrics even on these albums was that such motifs were metaphorically meta-morphed into expressions of truth-claims about Jesus Christ and Christian spirituality and social commentary based on a Christian worldview. Perhaps also the way I threw all this together in a stew of my own weird and frantic imagination, even with some descriptive detail (shape-shifting, bloodsucking, android emotions, what have you), contributed to making the lyrics something not done before in punk bands. I don't know. That's really up to others to pass a verdict on. Anyway, the only real book influence I can recall from this period is on 'Time Machine'. Chris Dickens wrote the first verse and chorus. I wrote the second verse and ending based largely on imagery from C. S. Lewis's The Great Divorce and his unfinished story 'The Dark Tower' both of which vividly deal with trans-dimensional modes of being and movement-related especially to time, space, and eternity.
There were moments when afterward I felt that I had 'stood outside' my body and watched God say something through me.
In the years between S.S.F.F.T.V. and The Monster Who Ate Jesus I became quite a 'science fiction' enthusiast (as opposed to 'sci-fi') and more of a reader in general than I already had been. I wanted to do more storytelling and more descriptive imagery, though still in the 'B-Movie poster' format. So on that album C. S. Lewis's 'Space Trilogy' loomed large on the lyrical landscape. 'Ransom vs. the Unman' is drawn from Lewis's Perelandra (though beginning with a quote from Out of the Silent Planet and ending with a quote from That Hideous Strength). 'March of the Macrobes' is from That Hideous Strength, though the ending is mostly drawn from Francis Schaeffer's The God Who Is There. 'Tundra Time on Thulcandra' mixes imagery and themes from all three books of the Space Trilogy with my own vague scenario of futuristic 'laser cannon' warfare taking place in blizzard conditions (?!). And 'Venus at St. Anne's' is a chapter title in That Hideous Strength, describing something of an ascension scene.
John Milton's poetry became a passion of mine at this time too and so you see him quoted now and again-in the liner note intro to 'Lovebot's Revenge' and in the lyrics to 'Baby Unvamp (Is Making a Comeback)'. Also, Mary Shelley's excellent novel Frankenstein influenced 'Frankenstein's Monster Wants a Wife', though I take the tale somewhat into the film direction by allowing the Bride to actually be constructed. But the imagery of the doctor tearing apart the 'work in progress' is from the book. The rest of the songs are essentially from my own head, though 'my own head' is its own monstrous patchwork of many images and ideas that I've amalgamated and assimilated over the years. People have always asked me over the years 'how' or 'why' I wrote the way I wrote. I never could do anything but hint at the process by which the lyrics took shape. I guess it's just the way I think!
VOB: What are some of the most memorable moments performing with
Blaster? Any people you remember? Any experiences that caused you to have
revelation of some sort?
Otto: Hmm... The early days before and around Disasteroid and S.S.F.F.T.V. were quite wild
stage performance-wise. I used to make it a point at every show to stick something edible in my
mouth (dog biscuits, donuts, candy, etc.) and spew it onto the crowd. There were crazy outfits
and always something pulled over my head, be it pantyhose or monster masks, or putting lipstick
on my lips and then smearing the whole stick all over my face (subsequently going to work with
a red-tinged face for a week). Heater Hands seemed to always being toppling himself or his
drum kit or both on my
hunched down and
screaming form at the end of
a set. The guys in the main,
early line-up were really
funny fellas. We had a crazy
time. Touring with the
Huntingtons for a few weeks
was pretty fun. Playing at
Cornerstone was always so
amazing; it felt like this
huge, raucous family thing.
'Preaching the Gospel'
(telling the audience what I
believe about Jesus) could be
quite amazing sometimes.
There were moments when afterward I felt that I had 'stood outside' my body and watched God
say something through me. I don't mean in a literally 'out-of-body experience' way, but just that
God seemed so in control and that He Himself inspired the 'message' and blessed it powerfully.
There was a time when over half the audience quickly exited as I began talking about Jesus, so I
followed them outside and preached to them on the street in front of the venue! (That was in
Florida, I think.) There were a number of times that we were shouted at and 'cussed out'. These
usually ended up being pretty good moments of communication because the crowd was getting
riled up and taking it all seriously, even in their mocking way. We'd have some good
conversations afterwards too sometimes. I think they usually respected us, all said and done.
There was the time we played and I preached at a basement show in Albuquerque, New Mexico
and the crowd shouted us down, pulled the plug, and we were told to 'get the f*** out'. It turned
out the three girls who lived in that house were practicing witches. We packed out our
equipment to the soundtrack of some blasphemous songs about 'Jesus in my pubic hairs' or
something. There were some good conversations out on the sidewalk after that. That was on our
last tour in spring, 2000. We all agreed that was one of our favourite shows! That tour also saw
some of our best live performances, I think. Seattle, Washington was a great set
(notwithstanding half-naked ladies dancing on stage during the next band's set). The last show of
the tour in Texas was A-maz-ing! The crowd was just this seething, undulating monster that by
the end of the set had literally lifted us up on its massive form and danced about! There were
plenty of people and experiences that were great, but too many to remember. It was good
sometimes, and hard sometimes, and seemed to be blessed most of the time. I thank God for it.
VOB: Do you plan to perform with Blaster in the future, or is this a wait and see deal?
Otto:It's a wait and see deal. I'd love to do it again, but with more practice and thought put into it than at Cornerstone '04.
VOB: What recordings of Blaster are available? Where can we get them?
Otto: Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. Boot to Head records always seem to have something. I think The Monster Who Ate Jesus is finally becoming rather rare as Jackson/Rubio records' initial printing is being bought up. I had to buy my own box of 30 cds from Blastbeats! I believe Facedown records now advertises it for sale on their website. I think it's just that album and Boot to Head's The Anatomy of a Monster! that are available. The Anatomy is a double CD with Disasteroid, S.S.F.F.T.V., a pretty crappy live show from 2002, and some video clips on it. It's only $10 or something.
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I have found that Ebay is very good for finding some Blaster stuff. I got hold of the SSFTV and Disasteroid cds. You can also find Monster for a low price.
Keep your eyes posted for the next edition of The Dark Alcove as we continue this in depth interview.