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Asylum Street Spankers (acoustic)

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Wild, crazy and funny as hell, Asylum Street Spankers got their start 17 years ago busking on the street that leads to the nuthouse outside of Austin. After taking their madcap, mostly acoustic madness around the country and even to Broadway, the band is embarking on the “Farewell Tour.” That’s right: A.S.S. are calling it quits.

What’s the story? “There’s not too much of a story,” says Christina Marrs, who, following the departure of co-founder Wammo, is the last original Spanker standing. “Financially it’s just been really really tough the last few years in this economy. It’s rough out there. Every year touring gets more expensive — gas is more expensive, hotels are more expensive — and we have a big band. Our income is not keeping pace with our overhead. Trying to wait out the economy is putting us in debt.”

Add in the decline in revenue from CD sales and you have a sad but all-too-familiar scenario. “The CD thing is big. It’s just an industry-wide shift in the way people listen to music,” said Marrs. “Our demographic is a bit older, people who tend to buy CDs, but we’ve noticed a huge loss in sales. A lot of bands are struggling with that. People don’t realize how much of your bread and butter retail sales are. When you’re looking at $100,000 a year less profit that you’re accustomed to, that’s a lot not to have anymore.”

She says show attendance has been steady — the Spankers have a loyal fan base — but that doesn’t make up for losses and higher costs. “For years and years this was a profitable enterprise, but we’re a small business and we just don’t have the safety net that would let us ride out the economic slump.”

Her back-up plan? She doesn’t really have one aside from staying closer to home. “This has left me pretty unqualified to do anything else,” she said. “I have no skills and no job history or references.” She does, however, play a mean saw.

On Monday she was taking care of last-minute details before heading west for Tucson where her seven-piece combo starts the 19-date “Spanks for the Memories Farewell Tour.” Personnel will include Marrs on vocals, guitars, banjo, ukulele, percussion and musical saw, guitarist/vocalist Nevada Newman (the group’s longest-serving non-founder), multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Charlie King, returning for his second stint as a Spanker, and “a youthful brigade of 20-something Spankers.” The band spanks Humboldt Brews next Wednesday, Jan. 26, then says goodbye to Arcata.

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