The Catastrophist track from the We Could Be Astronauts album.

The Catastrophist

Lost At Sea (A Misanthropic Lullaby) track from the We Could Be Astronauts album

Lost At Sea (A Misanthropic Lullaby)

Look Frank, It's A Toaster! track from We Could Be Astronauts album

Look Frank, It's A Toaster!

The Volunteer track from the We Could Be Astronauts album.

The Volunteer

Astronaut Blues/Stop Including Me track from We Could Be Astronauts album.

Astronaut Blues/Stop Including Me

Loose Lips track from the We Could Be Astronauts album.

Loose Lips

Demo of Wretched Corpse Pinata. Taken from our coming second album.

We Could Be Astronauts - Wretched Corpse Pinata

Formed in late 2009 from the ashes of two popular bands: 'Hijak Oscar' (famous for their appearance on T4's MobileAct Unsigned) and 'Idle Jack & The Big Sleep' (previously signed to an independent) the founding members (Robert Loxley Hughes, Dave Hartley and Mark Meilack) wanted to continue the momentum and nurture the creative spark they'd enjoyed when previously playing together.

By early 2010 they had been joined by ex Idle Jack drummer Simon Himsworth (this time on guitar) and Paul Heaney.

Songs came thick and fast with a united decision to work only on material the band as a whole felt strongly about; it's clear to hear from the earliest demos (with songs still in their infancy) that 'We Could Be Astronauts' would never be a band making records full of album fillers.

After months of writing and developing the sound they headed to the stage. Their first show a festival appearance at Galtres. 'We Could Be Astronauts' soon developed a respected name for themselves as a great live band with shows being packed full of energy and sound comparisons to rock legends of the past.

In early 2011 Mark decided to leave the band leaving the door wide open for Stuart Fletcher (ex: Seahorses, Happy Mondays, Yards, St Etienne)

With the final line-up complete and the band still rooting their feet into the local music scene things began to take off. Work began on the debut album, they got booked for the main stage of Galtres and to support Shed Seven in front of a packed crowd of over 2000 people at the O2 Academy in Sheffield.

Work began to promote the band on a wider scale and the band's songs were picked up by local radio stations including the BBC. This was to get the band their first big break as they were booked to play T in the Park 2012 and Cambridge Rock Festival.

The band took full advantage of this opportunity and booked a feature on BBC Look North to advertise their slot at the massive 85,000 capacity festival and their success at reaching the final of Surface Festival out of the 11,000 bands that had applied.

Since T in The Park 'We Could Be Astronauts' have enjoyed radio play on BBC Radio One, a TV appearance of their TITP slot on BBC Three (red button) and increased radio play in their home town and surrounding areas.

After a crowd funding Indiegogo campaign, which saw the band raise over $2500, rough recordings were mixed and produced by Fraser Smith before being sent over to the US for mastering and production.

On 12th October 2012, at a local launch party, the debut, self titled album was released both in hard copy and worldwide digital download.

Copies of the debut have already winged their way to the producers of several eminent radio stations across the country, including BBC6 Music, Kerrang! Radio and BBC Radio 1.

The band had a succesful 2013 promotional UK tour for the album visiting many venues around the country, including O2 venues via Jar Music, after successfully impressing them at a support show for Benny Marchant in the O2 Sheffield. The 2013 touring ended with a visit to Galtres festival which saw them play 2 sets over the weekend (one acoustic and one electric), both to full tents.

Along with touring the UK, the bands first European tour was a smash and will be bigger and better in 2014.

'We Could Be Astronauts' have a strong musical ethos; they believe in the traditional way of making music from the grass roots up and intend to start this way and carry this tradition through their careers together. At the same time, this band is under no illusion the recording industry is a very different animal to what it used to be. They are taking a thoroughly modern and forward thinking approach in the vital journey of self-promotion required to find global fans of their music. These are no wallflowers and intend to do all they can to get their music heard but also in order to meet the demands of today's industry. 

Taking inspiration from their heroes and mashing it with current sounds, the result is thunderous, all-out rock! 'We Could Be Astronauts' are face up, at the front of the pack in a new wave of bands who lead the charge in an industry plagued by manufactured artists.

wecouldbeastronauts