Interview Galactic Cowboys

I think it was around 1991 I was reading a review in Aardschok magazine..a review that seemed impossible to me: it was about a new band from Houston, Galactic Cowboys. According to the review they were a mixture of old school Metallica and the harmonies of The Beatles and CSNY. I remember vividly trying to imagine how that would sound, but I couldn't figure it out. So the next weekend I went to Utrecht to my favorite record store White Noise (r.i.p.) and listened with open jaws to their debut album. It was a mindblowing experience and their next album Space In Your Face even took their unique sound to an extreme. Major label Geffen didn't know what to do with them, but Metal Blade became their new home and GC continued to release great albums. At The End of The Day was their magnum opus on which all these elements came to an ultimate high but unfortunately they released their last album, Let It Go, in 2000.

In 2009 I tracked down bassplayer/vocalist Monty Colvin. My timing was perfect because they were just talking about playing some local reunion shows. As a prequel to a new follow up interview this is what we talked about in July 2009.

Can you describe the scene in Houston back in the day? It seemed there was something in the water over there. You had all these great bands like Galactic Cowboys, King's X and Atomic Opera who all, strange enough, had a great love for The Beatles in common.

I was a huge Beatles-fan. I remember very well that my brother came home with the Sgt. Peppers album. Also; my parents played a lot of gospel music. So I was a fan of vocal harmonies from a very early age. Then I discovered trash metal in the 80's and I thought it was awesome to try to mix all those influences. King's X were already friends of ours by then and they also loved The Beatles. But I wanted GC take it more into a trash direction.

You signed with major label Geffen. How do you look back on that period?

We were very excited when we signed the deal. They promised to make us the biggest band on the planet. We were quite naive and believed in the whole picture. In the end, they did very little for us and eventually we got stuck between Guns 'n Roses and the whole grunge movement.

When Machine Fish (1996) came out Wally Farkas became the new guitar player. In my opinion your sound became a lot more poppier, don't you think?

The songs were already written when Wally joined the band. Because of the lack of success we had strong doubts about the musical direction. After Machine Fish we started experimenting with different styles and yes, we became more poppy. Our drummer/producer Alan Doss wanted us to sound more mainstream, like Stone Temple Pilots. Besides that I think we all grew tired of the fact that we were still considered as only a simple metal band.

How do you look back on that musical era, say early 90's? In my opinion there were no musical boundaries anymore.

As far as the 90's goes; I was sick of that whole Seatlle thing going on. It seemed that the general thought was that everything had to be depressive, everything was so serious. Of course; great music was released but rock 'n roll is supposed to be fun, you know? Nowadays I'm not sure what alternative means anymore..but there are a lot of great bands out there.

I always had the feeling you guys quit to soon. At The End Of The Day was a great and complete album that sounded like a fresh start to a future with lots of possibilities.

I've put 10 years of my life in that band. We released 6 albums and it brought us nowhere. Also; I had the feeling that we were still seen as King's X little brother. When Let It Go came out we weren't really a band anymore..We went our seperate ways and in fact Let It Go were 3 solo albums under the Galactic Cowboys flag.

What was the reason the band split up?

We were simply frustrated. Tours got canceled, we got zero promotion for our albums and for me personally it was the time to do other stuff. I already had a lot of songs for a solo record and my heart wasn't in GC anymore. Only singer/guitarist Ben Huggins wanted to continue, but Alan was already out of the band. That was the end of it.

What are your memories of Holland? You played on Dynamo Open Air 1995?

That was a great period! The stage was huge and the crowd gigantic. I remember it was raining very hard that day but it suddenly stopped when we started our gig. I also remember the Stuck Mojo gig because I was watching in the pouring rain. I would love to play there again.

What are all the ex-members doing nowadays?

Alan is a producer. Wally has a cd mailorder company and Ben is a soundman and has his own band Gristle. I have my own band Crunchy and released 3 albums. Also I have a live radio podcast named Monty's Rockcast. In that show I talk about music, popculture and it's the best podcast ever hahaha! It's a great show for everybody who loves great music and wants to have a laugh!


Discografie Galactic Cowboys:
* Galactic Cowboys (1991)
* Space In Your Face (1993)
* Machine Fish (1996)
* Feel the Rage ep (1996)
* The Horse That Bud Bought (1997)
* At The End Of The Day (1998)
* Let It Go (2000)



Websites:
www.myspace.com/montycolvin
http://www.galacticcowboys.com/


*Galactic Cowboys reunited in 2010 for 4 reunion shows in the Houston area. How these shows went, how they seperated afterwards and what the current situation is I hope to inform you soon in a little follow up interview with Monty*