Oakland band Astronauts, etc. plays Strummer’s on its first tour

For years, Anthony Ferraro made bedroom music under the moniker Astronauts, etc.

It was music from the bedroom, not for it.

The former classical pianist recorded his breakout EP in 2012, in a makeshift studio where there was enough space for his drums or room to sleep, but not really room for both.

For his first full-length album, Ferraro traded the bedroom for a space at Tiny Telephone, the ulta-hip San Francisco studio that has recorded bands like Deerhoof, Death Cab for Cutie, Sleater-Kinney and The Mountain Goats. “Mind Out Wandering, ” will be released Sept. 18 on Hit City USA. It is available for pre-sale now.

“I got kind of lonely,” says Ferraro, who tapped a group of trained jazz musicians to record the album and serve as his live band. Astronauts, etc. is out road testing the new material, with a tour that stops Wednesday, July 8, at Strummer’s.

Ferraro wrote and recorded demo versions of the album’s 10 songs. The players reinterpreted the parts at their discretion, he says. Then, the songs were recorded live with all the members of the band in one room, directly to tape. Compared to digital hard drives, tape is a limited resource. It degrades over time and over multiple takes, Ferraro says. So by its nature, the recording process gave a sense of immediacy to the music.

“It’s more of a record, to be played live,” Ferraro says. “I’m not trying to do as many tricks with the production.”

The band has played a few shows in the Bay Area, where Ferraro lives, but this is its first official tour. It is preparation for a longer road trip in September where the band opens for Chaz Bundick’s electro- indie band Toro Y Moi.

Ferraro also plays in Bundick’s touring band, which was at Visalia’s Cellar Door in March.

The pair’s creative friendship (and Bundick’s influences) opened Ferraro to the possibilities of what Astronauts, etc. could become. It also gave him some practical experience in the business of being a band on tour.

“It’s been an inspiration,” Ferraro says. “And instructive.”

This story was originally published July 3, 2015 at 3:32 AM with the headline "Oakland band Astronauts, etc. plays Strummer’s on its first tour."