The Astronauts

The Astronauts

The Astronauts are a surf rock group from Boulder, United States, active from 1961 to 1968. The core line-up for most of their career is Bob Demmon, Jon “Stormy” Patterson, Rich Fifield, Dennis Lindsey and Jim Gallagher.

Formation and early history

The band develops out of The Stormtroupers, a group formed at Boulder High School in Boulder, Colorado in 1956 by Jon “Storm” Patterson on vocals and guitar, Robert Graham “Bob” Demmon on guitar, and Brad Leach on drums. In 1961 the group becomes The Astronauts, a name chosen to move away from the earlier one and to acknowledge local astronaut Scott Carpenter. At that point Patterson moves to bass, Jim Gallagher replaces Leach on drums, and Dick Sellars joins on guitar before later leaving for the US Navy. Dennis Lindsey then replaces Sellars, giving the group the line-up that becomes their best known.

Recording and chart success

The Astronauts build a strong local reputation, tour as far as Chicago and Dallas, and issue their first single, “Come Along Baby”, in 1962 on the small Palladium label. After a performance at the Tulagi night club attracts the attention of a record company executive, they sign to RCA Records. Their first RCA single, “Baja”, is an instrumental written by Lee Hazlewood for guitarist Al Casey. Released in early 1963, it becomes their biggest US hit, reaching number 94 on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week.

RCA follows this with a series of further singles in an attempt to repeat the chart success of surf-related acts such as the Beach Boys. The group is noted particularly for its instrumentals, which use heavy Fender reverb and two rhythm guitars, while its vocal recordings are less successful. Patterson and Fifield share lead vocals, and the band records material by Roger Christian, Gary Usher, Dick Dale and Henry Mancini. Fifield plays a Fender Jazzmaster on the sessions, with an early prototype reverb unit loaned to the group by Leo Fender.

Albums, television and film

Alongside singles and EPs, The Astronauts release four LPs over nine months from May 1963: Surfin' with The Astronauts, which reaches number 61 on the Billboard 200; Everything Is A-OK!, recorded live at Club Baja in Denver, Colorado; Competition Coupe; and The Astronauts Orbit Campus, recorded live in Boulder. They appear several times on the television show Hullabaloo.

The group also appears in more beach party films than any other surf band, including Surf Party, Wild on the Beach, Wild Wild Winter and Out of Sight. In Surf Party, their performance of “Firewater” and “Surf Party” is especially noted.

Japan and later years

By 1964, the band has a growing following in Japan, where it outsells the Beach Boys and tours with The Ventures. Five albums and three singles reach the top 10 there, and “Movin’”, retitled “Over The Sun”, reaches number one in Japan. In total, the band records nine albums.

Gallagher and Lindsey are drafted for the Vietnam War before the last album, Travelin' Men, in 1967, and are replaced by Mark Bretz and Rod Jenkins. Demmon also leaves and is replaced by Robert Carl McLerran. Fifield and Patterson end use of the Astronauts name after a tour of Asia in 1968.

After the Astronauts name

The same later line-up performs in the US as SunshineWard and releases a single, “Sally Go Around The Roses”, in 1967. Patterson then leaves music, while Fifield and McLerran form Hardwater with Tony Murillo and Peter M. Wyant. Hardwater release two singles and an album, also titled Hardwater, on Capitol Records in 1968, produced by David Axelrod.

Fifield also helps Axelrod and David Hassinger find new musicians for The Electric Prunes for the recording of Mass in F Minor. He contacts Richard Whetstone, John Herron and Mark Kincaid, who become one of the later line-ups of that group.

Reunions and deaths

The Astronauts reunite briefly for performances in Boulder, Colorado in 1974, 1988 and 1989. Dennis Lindsey dies in Boulder on 4 May 1992. Mark Bretz dies on 15 August 1999. Bob Demmon later works as a teacher in Coronado, California, and dies of cardiac arrest on 18 December 2010. Rich Fifield dies on 18 November 2021, and Jim Gallagher dies on 20 November 2021.