The Astronauts - East Coker Hall - Yeovil - 29th December 1984

Another crisp mixing desk cassette tape of an Astronauts performance uploaded tonight. There will also be one more live performance uploaded tomorrow, and then back to some non-Astronauts stuff like some rare reggae or something. I was not at this gig, but the lovely Bob Butler, who sadly recently passed on, may he rest in peace, was. Or at least he should have been. He wrote the below. "It’s Weird, I was playing bass in two of the support bands at the time of this gig (Blind Dogs & Wreck of the Hessbruss – spelt wrong on the flyer BTW) but have no recollection of this gig at all. Maybe I wasn’t as good as I thought I was and the f*ckers all decided to do it without me!" There is a guest appearance on some yokel shouting into the mic at 19 minutes 30 seconds, and a few minutes later on at 23 minutes 50 seconds! Perhaps that was Bob! The Astronauts drummer Arup Ghosh, had a better memory though. He said. "One of the most amazing gigs we ever did was at East Coker village hall near Yeovil, which was a really big place in the middle of nowhere. When we got there to set up in the afternoon we thought it was going to be a waste of time. By the evening the place was rammed . You could see people coming across the fields from miles around. It was mad." The Astronauts bassist Adi Maddox, was also the bassist of Smash At The Blues, a band that also performed on the night. So Bob played bass in two bands, as did Adi. Track-listing below. It’s Incredible / Waiting / Typically English Day / Gothic Rooms / The Street / Death Of An Idealist / Getting Things Done / Books / Blood / In The Suburbs / Chances REST IN PEACE MARK WILKINS one of the loveliest men in Panshanger, an area of Welwyn Garden City who sadly passed away on 7th July 2022. The Astronauts, the band that Mark fronted for forty five years, were among my favourite bands throughout the eighties, and the songs that Mark wrote still continue to inspire me. In the eighties and early nineties, I visited Mark at his Panshanger flat many times. In the small confines of his bedroom/living space, happily listening to some of his scruffy dog-eared and scratchy old album collection, successfully turned me onto bands like Third World War, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, Soft Machine, King Crimson, Gong and Kevin Ayres (among others). I will also remember his skeletal round dial telephone with fondness. Thank you Mark for the time we spent together, and for your encyclopaedic knowledge of music and your musical taste, some of which filtered down to me. I was lucky to have witnessed Mark (with the varying line ups of The Astronauts) perform dozens upon dozens of times, in pubs, clubs, and festivals all around London and the southeast. Mark would always give 100% even to a half empty hall. The Astronauts were one quarter of my inspiration when in 1985 I visited All The Madmen Records based in one of the crumbling squatted houses along Brougham Road in Hackney. After that visit I started working there, volunteering, I just received travel costs, and some free records. Around the dawn of 1987 All The Madmen Records moved to another equally crumbling premises in Kings Cross. The Astronauts had three albums released on the All The Madmen record label. The Mob, Flowers In The Dustbin and Blyth Power were the other three quarters of my inspiration to get involved in one of my favourite record labels, kick-starting a three decade stint in the record industry. Mark was so gentle, sometimes fragile, enormously intelligent, sometimes mischievous, and he was easy to get along with. His passion for writing lyrics was immense, an obsession, and those lyrics (sometimes being carried around in a plastic bag among other flotsam and jetsam) were of an extremely high quality. Now Welwyn Garden City has lost a special, special man, a bright light among the greyness of the town. The world of music has also lost a one-of-a-kind lyricist and performer. May He Rest In Peace. There is a book available on Mark and his Astronauts entitled; Survivors: 45 Years of The Astronauts published as a paperback by Marcus Blakeston. The 466 page book took many years to complete and publish, and for Marcus, it was a labour of LOVE. Please support and buy this book if you possibly can. Thank you. Flyer and promotional photographs from my collection.

Added 12 Jun 2026