Art & Life with Joe Astle

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Astle.

Joe, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I was born in the desert of San Bernardino California in 1990. I am the second oldest of 6 siblings. My parents have always played music and there were always old instruments and Beatles CDs lying all over the house. Me and my older brother Jethro made a band called Mind Exploders when we were in High School and we both began taking turns recording music on an old 8 track recorder that used ZIP disks!

I left that band after we did one crappy gig at Chain Reaction in 2004 and I began recording solo. I was heavily influenced after watching the Beatles Anthology DVDs and the documentary about Daniel Johnston called “The Devil and Daniel Johnston” to record everything myself and not worry about all the annoyances and limitations that come from being in a band. I am extremely uncomfortable working on a song with someone else.

I eventually finished recording the first Boa Constrictors album in 2008 or 09 and since then I have recorded 3 more albums and a bunch of other recordings and have played countless shows with anyone who will play in the Boa live band (usually my brother Jethro or James will support me) at bars in Long Beach and LA for the past decade.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I record music and I draw. Most of my music is love songs. When I first began seriously working on my Boa Constrictors stuff I was in the middle of a crisis. I had one year before I was going to serve a full-time mission for the Mormon church, I wanted to make something that I was truly proud of before I turned 19 and was shipped away. I was too afraid back then to say what I really wanted, which was to quit church and party with girls so I decided I could express myself with my music at least once and then go away and come home all holy.

Well, after 10 days on the mission I was sent home because they said I was mentally unstable. I returned home ashamed and I didn’t want to be around people anymore. I eventually decided that God or whatever wanted me to work on my music and not worry about preaching about stuff I didn’t even know or care about. With my music, I just want to create a feeling in the listener that everything will work out. Even if you are a loser or an idiot as long as you love each other and are brave you can help somebody else who is not enjoying themselves on this earth.

Artists rarely, if ever pursue art for the money. Nonetheless, we all have bills and responsibilities and many aspiring artists are discouraged from pursuing art due to financial reasons. Any advice or thoughts you’d like to share with prospective artists?
I have always had a job. My advice is to find a job that is as easy as possible and that allows you to have nights free. I like working at schools because you get summer off, you get to help kids during the day, and then you can party every night. I am pretty lucky in that I live in my parent’s garage, so I don’t really have many expenses other than buying stupid impulse buys.

The thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter the conditions you lived after you die. All that will be remembered is your art and what you leave behind. So just live very dirty and cheap and do what you know you are supposed to do.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My music is available on Spotify and apple music and all of those sites. But if you want all of my music you have to go to my Bandcamp. I have also made a lot of music videos and other junk on YouTube.

Contact Info:

• Website: boaconstrictors.bandcamp.com
• Email: rabbitfighter9@gmail.com
• Instagram: @boaconstrictors.usa
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boaconstrictorsUSA
• Twitter: @boaconstrictors
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/tigerlaser

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