As <a www.theblackangels.com="" http:="" href="the Black Angels roll into town to play back-to-back sold-out shows this weekend, we hit up the quintet's vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Alex Mass with our Q questionnaire. The Black Angels with Suuns, Friday April 8, 10PM at Bowery Ballroom and Saturday April 9, 9PM at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Try Craigslist for tickets.
Name: Alex Maas
Age: 29
Lives in: Austin
Occupation: Music Therapist
What's on these days?
We're on tour on the East coast with a band called Suuns. At the same time we're putting together a psychedelic music festival called Austin Psych Fest at the end of April back in Texas. And we have a new release called Phosgene Nightmare, [a vinyl] 10" record that'll be available on National Record Store Day.
First real job?
Feeding goats, chickens and pigs at Maas Nursery.
First record you ever bought?
Abbey Road.
Where do you go to unplug?
A cave on the outskirts of Austin.
What time do you wake up?
Between 8AM and 3PM.
Top three songs in your iPod rotation?
"Venus and Furs" by the Velvet Underground, "Christiansands" by Tricky, "Taraan-Taraam" by Huun-Huur-Tu.
What do you splurge on?
Food.
To when do you point your time machine?
2033.
What's your drink?
Gin and tonic with fresh cucumber juice.
First childhood memory?
My mother and father smiling at me and showing me 100 percent unconditional love.
What’s your pre-show ritual?
[Playing the] taishogoto, small nap, throat singing in the hall.
Do you Google yourself?
Haha! Come on, I Google everything, just like you.
Most treasured possession?
Our minds and yours.
Fill in the blank: In a previous life, I was ______.
...a Mongolian sheep herder.
Your favorite thing about yourself?
My ability to dodge difficult questions.
What scares you?
Cancer and psychos.
Fill in the blank: I’ll know I’ve really made it when __________________.
...I have completely understood everything there is to know about the entire universe.
Tweet your obit (140 characters or less).
Star Gliese 581 Constellation Libra Right ascension (a) 15h 19m 26s Declination (d) -07° 43' 20? Apparent magnitude (mV) 10.55 Distance 20.3 ± 0.3 ly (6.2 ± 0.1 pc) Spectral type M3V Mass (m) 0.31 M? Radius (r) 0.29 R? Temperature (T) 3480 ± 48 K Metallicity [Fe/H] -0.33 ± 0.12 Age 7 - 11 Gyr
(Ed's note: This is the Wikipedia entry for Gliese 581, a star 20.5 light years away from Earth in whose orbit scientists have found the first supposedly habitable planet outside our solar system. So we think Maas is saying he'll have become a star so amazing, we'll all move to a planet in his orbit. But this is just our best guess.)
