Astronomy Club’s progression to a new era

Local Bowling Green band, Astronomy Club, is recording a new album to come out within the coming year.

Lead guitarist Anthony Joiner, Rhythm Guitarist Armand Viteskic, Keyboardist JB Carter, Bass player Justin Hull and Drummer Titus Smith make up the band. 

Specializing in psychedelic rock and influenced by alternative bands such as Brian Jonestown Massacre, Deerhunter and CAN, the band has been developing its sound since its formation in 2015. 

“We all enjoy the same genres of music and come from similar musical backgrounds too, which makes our sonic synthesis all the more enjoyable,” Viteskic said. 

They’ve played shows at local clubs around town regularly as well as shows in other states and have made quite a name for themselves in Bowling Green while collaborating on shows with other local and regional acts like The Daddy Sisters, Jive Talk and Feelrs.  

Their inspiration comes from the late founding member of the band itself, Carter said. 

Astronomy Club was originally formed by Dylan Thomas Graves in 2015

under the name Living Room Gypsies while he was in high school. Carter said that Graves knew the other members of Astronomy Club from band class, school and church and asked if they wanted to join their band. 

“They just kind of messed around and played 70s metal, like Black Sabbath-style kind of stuff. That was whenever Dylan was probably 16 so, you know, everyone's growing up and their music tastes and preferences of styles and how they play are evolving. So he wanted to move into playing in a folk band. I think that was a pretty short-lived idea. And then it got to be where he wanted to play more indie, kind of psych music. Like dreams, psychedelia, pop kind of stuff,” Carter said.

After the group graduated from high school, they started in the workforce while still playing music. They released their first album entitled “Technicolor Room” in 2016.

Carter befriended Graves and the group while he was attending Western Kentucky University in 2018. They asked him to play keys and the group began playing house shows. 

Carter recalled Astronomy Club playing his first set of shows at the “Ass House” (referring to the first syllable in Astronomy Club) on Kentucky Street. 

The band performed around Bowling Green until Graves passed away in 2019. 

“Right after Dylan passed away, we did not do anything other than just be there for each other and be friends for the better part of that year. Because it was, you know, very hard, obviously at the time, and we were just probably in shock for months,” Carter said.

The band had many conversations about how to continue their music after Graves’ passing. 

“It was kind of an anxious time because we were just deciding, directionally, what we wanted to do,” said Carter. “We never wanted to do anything that we thought that he wouldn't want.”

About a year later, Astronomy Club returned to the Bowling Green music scene with a comeback show at The A-Frame performing with local band Girl Tones and Nashville band The Bad Hats. “A test show” is how Carter said they viewed it at first. But it clicked for them.

“It was a f*cking awesome show. We felt his presence. Dylan, you had to know him like, he was just so unique. I've never met anyone else like him. So, for us to be on stage playing in like we just felt his presence there straight up and it was just such a big surprise,” Carter said.

This show began momentum for the band again, Carter said. They released their single “Cowboy’s Cry” in May 2020 with Dylan’s photo on the cover. A year later they teased the album with the second single, “Just Fine,” in November 2021.

Since the pandemic, the band has been working on their second album. Most recently working on the recording process at Thunder Sound Recording Studio in Franklin, Ky., and a week-long retreat at a cabin near Nolin Lake.

After a few more single releases, Carter said the band expects to release the album in early 2023 with a “to be determined” title.

The band is always working with Graves in mind, Carter said. “The whole point of it is to continue the legacy of Dylan. The art is all about Dylan and us inviting him. Like every performance, song, anything. It's for his family and for people to just know him. It'll always be.”

Armand Viteskic one of the singers and guitarists of Astronomy Club sings with the band at a show at Donna’s Bar on Nov. 15, 2022.