Currently on tour opening for King's X, Galactic Cowboys prove worthy of special recognition and their own review. Both bands currently hail from Houston, Texas, and some of the members from each band have known each other for years. Contrary to reputation, a careful listen dismisses the notion that the two bands sound overly alike, beyond a shared desire to mix hard rock with poppier styles, harmonies, and a love of The Beatles. Galactic Cowboys are their own band, and just plain play a lot louder than their counterparts. Not loud enough to make your ears bleed, but enough to cause the unprepared some minor discomfort.
Their self-mocking sense of humor is always in evidence whether it's in their song lyrics or on-stage banter. Monty Colvin, the bass player, was simply out-of-control, running all over the set, smiling at / mugging to the audience, and displaying uncommon versatility on the bass. Although he deserves singular credit as the man most worth watching on the stage, the entire band was possessed of great stage energy and playful showmanship, including Ben Huggin's mischievous tongue-in-cheek imitations of other rockers. New drummer Erick Tatuaka is no slouch and fits the band's sound gracefully. Wally Farkas coached great licks from his guitar. The sound was impeccable once the mix improved.
Gratefully, they were able to play for about an hour and offered great standbys as well as highlights from the brand new album, At the End of the Day. Given the limited time they were afforded, they truly made the most of it, and surprised the audience with some favorites from older albums, like "Where Are You Now?," complete with Colvin's conversation on the telephone with an old schoolmate. The intense energy of the clever abortion song, "If I Were a Killer," brought down the house. The playful "Pump Up the Space Suit" seemed even shorter live than the album version, but delighted the fans.
The songs from the new album translate excellently live, especially "Ants" and "Ranch on Mars 2 - Set Me Free." The latter is from the "Machine Fish Suite," which could well be done in its entirety had they the time. The bits they did choose were well selected and extremely well played. They actually make dissing corporate greed sound, well, profitable. Possibly the highlight of the show, however, was the inspired playing of "9th of June" which dramatically recounts the tale of a false prophet's misguided predictions. Titi Ala'Ilimi offers more below.
By Steven Stuart Baldwin (10/31/98)
With a new CD to push, and a new drummer on the skins, the Galactic Cowboys rode into town. At high noon in the night sky, they came out with guitars blazing, and when the dust settled, not a foe was left standing. Though they came in as second billing to Kings X, it was impossible to give them the standard dismissal opening bands so often receive. This was show enough to stand on its own.
At the top of the set the mix was sadly deficient in vocals, so the crunchy instrumental framework, though delightful in itself, seemed like it had arrived stag at the Senior Prom. By the fifth song, however, the wonderful harmonies were coming through clearly, making the Galactic Cowboy formula complete. It's hard to conceive of a more complete package than these guys present: intelligent and poetic lyrics, magnificently blended voices, hard rocking music to get your body and head moving, and a pervasive spirit of fun.
The show encompassed diverse material from each of their five albums. From the irresistibly adrenalized "Pump up the Space Suit" to the Beatlesy "Ants", from the head-banging sing-along hit "If I Were a Killer" to the Moby-esque "At the End of the Day", the posse was quite in effect.
And all too soon, it was over. The townspeople cheered, and the Cowboys rode on...
Titi Ala'ilima (10/31/98)
Set list: (Approx. 1 hour):
