Rising Stars: Meet Astro James

Hi Astro, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Although I have been fascinated with music as a form of art from a young age, I never truly felt inspired to create something truly original and music stayed mostly as a hobby growing up. In 2019 I moved to Denton, being surrounded by the thriving local house show scene I saw an opportunity to be a part of a true musical community. I began playing with a Grateful Dead cover band which later morphed into my band “The Orange Sunshine Band”. In Denton I also met my songwriting parter Savion Perry. One late night in Denton we wrote our first song together, “Paper Soldier” and have been collaborating ever since. We bonded over our mutual love of New Orleans, its culture and musical history. Sav is a brilliant lyricist, and inspired me to begin writing lyrics on my own as well. The first song I ever wrote on my own was “I Just Wanna Believe In Love Again”. One person who pushed me to do something with these songs more than anyone is my great friend Griffin Holtby. He encouraged me, told me what I was doing was special, and pushed me to give a career in music a shot. When the pandemic hit the world slowed down, I saw this as an opportunity to record an album. So, I took the musical arrangements I had created, brought together my favorite Denton musicians and in two days recorded my debut 7 song album. On the evening of its release I was given the opportunity to live stream a performance of the entire album from Kermit’s Treme Mother In Law Lounge on North Claiborne Ave in New Orleans. Jazz legend Kermit Ruffins himself joined me to perform, it was truly a magical moment. I realized I could touch people with these songs, I could bring joy to people through them. Music is what helps me get through every day in life, sometimes my favorite moments are when I’m alone listening to the artists who inspire me (Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, Robert Johnson, Tom Waits, Dr. John, Lightnin’ Hopkins, etc.) Since the release of the album, I’ve written dozens of songs I hope to release to the world very soon. I hope I can continue creating music that people can connect with and feel good listening to. Currently I’m playing many socially distanced shows around my hometown Dallas, Texas both solo and with The Orange Sunshine Band. We performed last weekend at Deep Ellum Art Co. and I regularly sing at the Free Man Cajun Cafe on Tuesday nights. The music scene in Dallas through the pandemic is exploding with beautiful music from so many talented artists. I would confidently say the music scene in Dallas is stronger than it’s ever been. I am just grateful to be a part of it.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Most of the debut record was written while I was deeply depressed, insecure and not happy with where I was in life. I decided to go to college at UNT for graphic design, giving up music for a more practical occupation. That wasn’t me and it is not what I was meant to do in life. I’ve struggled with owning who I am and being myself when the world we live in pushes us to conform instead of being ourselves. In this day and age, social media can take a toll on our mental health. I found social media made me insecure, there’s always someone else better looking or that seems to have a more put together life. I struggled to find my identity and songwriting helped me find who I truly am. It helped me realize everything I’ll ever need is already inside of me. We all have that love in our hearts, we just have to own our quirky selves and spread that love with our gifts.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I think I’m known for being pretty quirky. My songs can be a bit rough around the edges when it comes to the production, I’m not much of a perfectionist when it comes to those things. I think if you have a good melody, chord progression and honest lyrics everything else will fall into place. I like to stay loose with the instrumentation, experiment and improvise all live performances and even studio sessions. When you like the song guide you, rather than you guiding the song you get a more unique final product. Sounding like everyone else is never the goal, sounding unique is. I hope people would say my music is unique and sounds like nothing else they have heard before.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was a pretty odd kid, while all the other kids were playing sports or thinking about what they would be when they grew up I was a lot more interested in art, and what artists had to say that could impact my life. The first record I ever bought was Kanye West “The College Dropout”. I was in elementary school and my older brother Kohl took me to the store to get it. Hip Hop was the genre that initially got me into music. Although I’ve veered away from that greatly in my musical style, I think it’ll always remain a part of who I am. I’ve always been concerned with things that are weird. Halloween is my favorite holiday, it’s a day where we all get to be a little weird. Weird is more fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: astrojames.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astrojamesmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ThWRc33-jcxTM4QbyylwQ?view_as=subscriber
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5iAYgPuprWtISlHT2GrAq5?si=vZemWB9ATv-gaMwPB2Rn-w

Image Credits
Photos by: Chloe Gonzalez & Andrew Sherman