ASTR are a two person dance party that fuses together electro, pop, and soul into grinding, moody jams. They’ve amassed a reputation for sweaty, impassioned live sets, and with the success of their debut EP (Varsity) and the hype of a CMJ showcase under their belt, the duo are poised to bring their intense presence to bigger and bigger audiences this summer on The Crystal Arcade Tour, where they’ll play alongside funky, electro outfit the Knocks. At present, ASTR have just finished wrapping up a music video shoot for “Blue Hawaii,” and in their down time they were able to sit down with us for a quick talk about Drake, keeping healthy on the road, and their love of everything ’90s. Did I mention they were also awesome enough to sneak us some pics of that currently unreleased music video?
Your debut EP, Varsity, dropped this past January, and the closing track is a cover of Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home.” If Drake were to return the favor, what song of yours would you want him to tackle and why?
Part of me! If Drake put his own spin on it and made it his own, it would be ridiculous. Even getting him to feature on it would be major. Love you Drakey.
Tell us about tour. Any wild stories?
In Toronto we played two shows. The first one had 15 people which was rather tame. The second show was so wild and pact, people were gyrating and someone jumped on stage to dance with us. Props to that dude.
On Facebook, your bio mentions that spirituality and yoga were a couple of factors to how you two met. Is it hard finding time to unwind, reflect, and / or stay healthy on tour? What do you guys do when you need to decompress on the road?
It’s definitely hard to find your zen when you live nowhere and you are dealing with a lot of chaos. It makes it more pressing to find that time to unwind and stay healthy. We both eat really clean so we feel good and make time to down dog in hotel rooms.
What was the concept and creative development behind the music video “Blue Hawaii?”
The concept behind blue hawaii was to show our shades of quirk ;$
Miami vice surrealism and y2k low fi after effects. All around fun vibes.
What was it like filming the video?
Filming the video was a hoot. There were mad outfit changes and we just tried different things and got weird. Everyone involved was the homie so we all had a blast. It was like a two day party.
What was it like working with Andrea?
Andrea is by far our favorite stylist we have worked with and we probably wont be working with anyone else in the future 🙂 She matches our vibe really well so we are continuing to work with her on style for our tour.
How does your music relate to the style you represent on stage?
We’re from NYC and are heavily influenced by ’90s hip hop and house which is incorporated in both our style and sound.
Saw that you have a snapchat for the band. What’s the weirdest thing someone sent you?
A cat licking it’s ass and people wearing zebra masks. So far no dick pics thankfully.
