Utter Trash--Black NASA

Cosmic Conspiracy

An interview with Chris Kosnik of Black NASA (and Atomic Bitchwax)

By Bob Ignizio

For the past 11 years, Bass player/vocalist Chris Kosnik has played in the band Atomic Bitchwax, a band that also includes Monster Magnet six-stringer Ed Mundell. But the Bitchwax often experiences downtime while Ed records and tours with Monster Magnet. Rather than sit idle, about 3 ½ years ago Chris got together with guitarist Duane Hutter and drummer Corey Stubblefield to form the band Black NASA.

While both of Chris’ bands share an affinity for seventies riff rock, Black NASA tends to focus more on hooks and catchy songwriting than the more jam oriented Atomic Bitchwax. Black NASA’s debut self-titled album was released by Tee Pee Records in 2002, and was followed by the aptly titled ‘Deuce’, released by Meteor City Records this past April.

Utter Trash: So where does the name Black NASA come from?
Chris Kosnik: It was a conspiracy theory I heard that we never went to the moon, and it was all done on a stage. The narrator referred to NASA as “Black NASA”. I thought it was a pretty cool name at the time, so it kind of stuck.

UT: Do you believe that theory?
CK: It’s a hard call. Think about all the money they spent on it back then. You’d like to think that they did get there, but then you ask yourself why we haven’t been back in the last 30 years. Maybe it’s because we can’t do it. (laughs)

UT: And that’s been going along at the same time as Atomic Bitchwax?
CK: Bitchwax has been going on for almost 11 years now. Ed, the Bitchwax guitar player, is also the guitar player in Monster Magnet. He’d take off on these long tours, so I just got together with some other guys locally a couple years back and started another group.

UT: So why is New Jersey is such a hotbed for seventies influenced bands?
CK: I don’t know if it’s entirely New Jersey, but definitely the town I live in. There’s definitely a lot of bands. Magnet is the biggest one, and there’s bands like Solace, and Shovelhead, and Solarized, and Halfway to Gone. There’s quite a few of ‘em around here. We all know each other too. We’ve all played in each other’s band at one time or another.

UT: So it’s a pretty supportive scene?
CK: I don’t see any kind of competition around here. Everybody supports everybody. We all go to see each other’s bands. It’s hard to get discouraged because everybody’s so into it.

UT: Obviously the title ‘Deuce’ refers to this being your second album. Was that also chosen because of the Kiss song?
CK: I love that song, and I’d like to tell you yeah. But it’s just because it was the second record. With Bitchwax, we did a self titled album, and the second one was II. We were kind of following the whole Zeppelin I, II, III thing. For Black NASA, I was like, let’s call it ‘Deuce’. I wish there was a more interesting story, but… (laughs)

UT: Black NASA gets lumped in with the stoner rock bands to some degree, but you’re sound is really more of a melodic seventies hard rock thing, isn’t it?
CK: That’s a big part of it. There’s so many bands that are thrown in to the stoner rock genre that cover a large area. It’s not just slow, sludgy, Kyuss kind of riffs. It can be anything with a riff in it, I guess. It’s just rock. I don’t know why anybody calls it stoner rock. It kind of puts it down, in a way. I guess the record industry needed a name. They couldn’t call it grunge, they couldn’t call it metal.

UT: How much touring have you done with Black NASA?
CK: We did a European tour last fall, and then we did a small US tour in June and July of last summer. We just got back from a tour in Europe a couple weeks ago, actually. Then we’ve got a tour coming up in September for the states.

UT: Where do you get the best response, outside of your hometown?
CK: Europe. They’re not as segregated as they are here. Here, you have guys that go to clubs, or guys who go to rock shows. In Europe, they’re the same. One person can do both, and be just as happy. They just want to have a good time, whether it’s at a rock show or a dance club. It kind of opens up the audience a lot more.

UT: Does it bother you that it’s harder for a band to get on MTV or the radio these days?
CK: I would like to see the music get out in every possible medium it can. But it’s actually a better time now than ever. With the internet, you have so many more possibilities to promote your band. Think about being Aerosmith in the seventies, and there was no internet. Just getting the word out, you’d have to buy newspaper space or magazine space, or put flyers on people’s cars. You can let people know about your band a lot faster than you used to be able to.

UT: So would you describe Black NASA as being “your” band, or is it an even collaboration?
CK: It’s a group collaboration. A lot of people seem to think that, just because I played in Bitchwax, it must be my side project. That’s really unfair to say, because Duane and Corey put just as much time into the band as I do. One of the reasons people might think that, too, is that I’m the singer. But we all share in it. It’s no one’s band.

UT: Do you handle the majority of the writing?
CK: Yeah, I guess I could say that. What I’ll do is 4-track a song at home, and I’ll bring it to practice, give those guys CDs of it, and they’ll listen to it and play their own interpretation of it. I don’t ever tell them what leads to play or what fills to play.

UT: Any favorite songs on the new album?
CK: “Thanks Anyway” came out a lot better than I thought it was gonna’. I had another guitar player, from this band Shovelhead, who came in and played this really great lead on it, and it made the whole song. There’s another song, called “Kamikaze”, which just has a really good hook, I think. It’s funny how a song starts as just a riff or something like that, and then 6 months later it’s all arranged. There’s leads, and back-up vocals, and harmonies, and all this other stuff going on. It’s just funny how something like that grows from something as simple as sitting around and noodling on your guitar.

UT: Other than music, what sort of things inspire your music?
CK: I’m one of those guys who will be humming a riff under my breath when I’m at work, thinking about getting home and recording it. I don’t necessarily know that I get it from being in any particular situation or place. But as far as lyrics go, I think it’s best to write what you know about. Almost every single song, it’s pretty general, the girl who dumped you kind of things. Not really sad songs. Just good, upbeat, girl-hating songs (laughs). So some guy that just got dumped by his chick, he can put on the record and there’s something there for him to empathize with. That would have to be it, really. If you pick a topic that you don’t know about, or you’re going to tell a story about something that you had nothing to do with, that ends up sounding kind of hollow and shallow.

UT: So are your girl problems behind you now?
CK: They’re behind me, and it’s kind of funny because I’m running out of stuff to write about. My current girlfriend asked me why I don’t write any happy songs. I was like, no one wants to hear that. (laughs). Who knows, maybe I’ll write a Christmas album when I’m an old man.

UT: So what are your goals as a musician?
CK: As long as I can keep busy between both bands…you have to tour, that’s the key to the whole thing. You can put out records every year, but if you don’t tour, they’re not gonna sell, and the label’s going to drop you. So you really have to stay on the road as much as you can. You don’t necessarily have to be on MTV or in magazines or on the radio to make a living at this. You can make a pretty decent living if you put in the time and do it with your head screwed on. I’m happy with the way things are. I’d like things to get bigger, but I’m not going to die if it doesn’t happen. Things are good.

Black NASA plays on the Stoner Hands of Doom 6 festival at The Nyabinghi in Youngstown on September 5^th, 2004.