Galactic Cowboys - “Kaptain Krude”
According to former Galactic Cowboys bassist Monty Colvin, “Kaptain Krude” was written while the band was waiting for Geffen to release their debut self-titled album. The band had completed work on the disc and was ready to put it out, but the record company didn’t want to pull the trigger on it until after it had released the Guns N’ Roses “Use Your Illusion” albums. This waiting game gave Galactic Cowboys time to work on new material and actually add this song to Galactic Cowboys.
The track is about a ship captain “sailing on the ocean stewed” and serves as Monty’s commentary on the Exxon Valdez oil spill fiasco. It also gives a glimpse into the band’s quirky sense of humor. The noisy intro is Monty playing around with an EBow on a super-distorted bass, and if I’m not mistaken, the opening riff is also bass and not guitar. Monty says Doug Pinnick from King’s X often told him that “Kaptain Krude” is a song he wishes he had written. That’s pretty high praise as far as I’m concerned.
Enjoy!
Just shufflin’ my way through Friday with IckMusic’s Friday Five.
Crunchy - “Jerk Store” (All Day Sucker, 2001)
Fun power pop from the debut album of Monty Colvin’s first post-Galactic Cowboys project. Low, distorted bass, catchy chorus, great harmony vocals, and it’s based on a George Costanza joke. Nice.Rush - “The Weapon” (Signals, 1982)
Well it looks like Rush is here to stay for my Friday Fives, and you know what? I’m OK with that. I’ve really grown to love Signals over the years despite it being instrumental in ushering in Rush’s more-synths-less-guitar period. “The Weapon” is one of the high points on the album.I Mother Earth - “Hello Dave!”/”Like a Girl” (Scenery and Fish, 1996)
I’m cheating again. “Hello Dave!” is the 48-second nonsensical album opener from I Mother Earth’s second release, so I included the track that follows it as well. I Mother Earth can be an acquired taste at times, and “Like a Girl” is no exception. It continues the heavily percussion-based funky grooves found on their excellent debut Dig, but they dropped some of the Latin flair and jam-band attitude and added a more post-grunge alternative feel. Unfortunately, vocalist Edwin left the group after this album, and I Mother Earth seemed to continue to struggle to find its sound, changing styles from album to album. Their releases can sometimes be fairly hard to come by at a good price in decent condition, making it difficult to check this band out if you’ve never heard them before.Galactic Cowboys - “The Buzz (coughing)” (The Horse That Bud Bought, 1997)
“The Buzz” contains none of the progressive leanings or quirky sense of humor present in other Galactic Cowboys tunes. Short and sweet (clocking in at only 1:26), this is straight-ahead, heavy, aggressive metal.Geoff Tate - “Every Move We Make” (Geoff Tate, 2002)
What’s the deal with iTunes shuffle?! How does it repeatedly decide to pick songs from the same albums week after week? Anyway, here’s a low-key, laid-back, soft-groove tune from the Queensrÿche frontman’s solo disc, although I think it’s a better song than last week’s pick by iTunes.
The Awful Truth - “Higher”
The Awful Truth was a Houston-based band that future (now former) Galactic Cowboys bassist Monty Colvin and drummer Alan Doss formed with guitarist/vocalist David von Ohlerking in the late 1980s. The trio had played together as the backing band for CCM artist Morgan Cryar—who, interestingly enough had also previously employed the members of what would become King’s X as his touring band—and after performing together as a side-gig in their spare time, decided to form a group after Cryar let them all go. The Awful Truth’s sound was a combination of von Ohlerking’s love of moody, gloomy music like The Cure, Colvin’s metal and thrash leanings, and Doss’ affection for The Beatles and vocal harmonies. Unfortunately, each artist’s musical tastes also reflected his moods and personality, and while these differences fostered creativity, they also led to friction and tension within the band.
The trio hooked up with manager Sam Taylor, who pushed the band to add to the stable of material von Ohlerking had already written. “Higher” was the first song Colvin, who was formerly a guitarist, composed on a newly-purchased 8-string metal-necked Kramer bass, which was instrumental in helping him further develop a sound and technique that had its beginnings in Cryar’s band. That bass’ brittle high-end, combined with distortion from a guitar amplifier head and double-tracked with a conventional 4-string bass, formed what would become his signature sound and is featured prominently in this track.
I would be remiss if I didn’t at least finish the story of The Awful Truth’s short one-year history for you. The band worked their tails off playing the Houston circuit (often only to Taylor, their wives, and the club’s bartender); they recorded two sets of demos that were shopped to several labels, most notably Megaforce, Metal Blade, and Arista, all of which eventually passed on signing the band; and finally, due to tensions within the band and between von Ohlerking and Taylor especially, they lost Taylor as their manager and broke up. Colvin and Doss had already decided to form another band upon leaving The Awful Truth, which would eventually become Galactic Cowboys. Surprisingly, Metal Blade approached the newly-split-up trio and offered to master the demos and release them as the one and only album from The Awful Truth. According to Colvin, the record deal was for a $10,000 lump sum, which, after paying for lawyers, mastering, and other record company fees, allowed Colvin and Doss each to pocket $500.
Given that it is essentially a compilation of a couple of sets of demos—albeit well-produced demos—that were recorded at different stages of the band’s evolution, I think The Awful Truth is a fairly solid album and serves as a precursor of musical elements Colvin and Doss would revisit on the Galactic Cowboys debut just a couple of years later.
Enjoy!
Kansas City’s KCTV5 stopped by Freak Boy Studios to talk to former Galactic Cowboy Monty Colvin about how he got into music, his days with Galactic Cowboys, how Nirvana came along and changed all the rules, and what he’s up to these days.
Monty revealed in the most recent episode of his Monty’s Rockcast podcast that the Nirvana part of the discussion was actually a last-minute question at the end of the interview. It’s unfortunate that it’s what they decided to focus on.
Enjoy!
STOP THE PRESSES! ALL HANDS ON DECK! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!
Bassist extraordinaire Monty Colvin of The Awful Truth, Galactic Cowboys, and Crunchy fame has shaved his beard! Again, Monty Colvin has shaved his beard. I know, I know. It’s hard to believe, but you can witness the atrocity here. But we must warn you, what you are about to see contains content of a graphic nature, so you may want to make sure there are no children in the room.
We now return to your regularly scheduled program already in progress.
That’s how Monty Colvin introduced “The Machine Fish Suite” on his podcast while presenting a track-by-track dissection of the 1998 Galactic Cowboys release At the End of the Day. It’s a brutally honest and self-explanatory assessment of how he views his band’s experiences with the music industry.
This seven-track mini rock opera is nestled in the middle of the album, and it takes the listener on a trip through the range of emotions the Cowboys felt as they progressed through their career — the excitement (and naiveté) of a young band signing its first record deal and the trust it placed in its management and in the record company; the realization of the hypocrisy and manipulation that permeates “the biz” and having to deal with charming, yet revolting, individuals; and the feeling of being run through the bowels of the corporate machine only to exit the other end cheated, pissed-off, ripped-off, and discarded. The story ends with an examination of the band’s broken dreams and emotional scars, as well as a sense of trying to determine how much of the responsibility for it lay with the band for believing the lies and making bad decisions.
Monty’s modus operandi is to convey these feelings with humor, wit, catchy choruses, and vocal harmonies, but there’s no doubt that the Galactic Cowboys’ wounds run deep—especially for Monty, who has been the most vocal about the situation.
“The Machine Fish Suite” contains some of my favorite work from Monty (“Mr. Magnet,” “Never Understand,” and “Ranch on Mars, Pt. 2 (Set Me Free)”). I love how “Puppet Show” flows into “Mr. Magnet,” and Wally Farkas’ solo on “Ranch on Mars” is some of his best work in my opinion.
Give it a listen, and if you like what you hear, by all means, purchase the album at iTunes or Amazon.com.
The Machine Fish Suite: a. Where Do I Sign?
Looks like now the Beatles weren’t so bad
Mr. Manson makes the Four look Fab
I mentioned a song by Monty Colvin a few days back, and I’ve talked about Galactic Cowboys as well, so I thought I would begin to post some of Monty’s work (with his blessing, of course) with Galactic Cowboys as well as with his solo project Crunchy.
First, a bit of history. Monty Colvin was born in … wait … erm, not that much history.
Monty formed Galactic Cowboys with drummer Alan Doss when they left The Awful Truth in 1989. They joined up with vocalist Ben Huggins and guitarist Dane Sonnier and released their self-titled debut in 1991. Filled to the brim with Beatles-esque harmonies, heavy, thrashy guitar riffing, and distorted 12- and 8-string bass (courtesy of Monty), and armed with a quirky sense of humor, the Cowboys’ sound may have proved a little much for the average music buyer to handle. And remember way back when how I said Geffen began bumping the release date of the first album to accommodate GNR’s Use Your Illusion? Unfortunately, this was a sign of things to come.
Fast forward 5 albums, an EP, a guitarist, and another record label later — and more disregard by the established music industry — Galactic Cowboys began to see the writing on the wall. Alan Doss had left the band (the band had toured with a replacement drummer), and Monty had moved to Kansas City and had begun to work on demos for a solo project. Amid mounting frustration with the music industry and with each other, the remaining members decided to put out one final album, and much of Monty’s demo work saw its way onto the final release.
One of these is a song called “Disney’s Spinnin’.” It is a commentary on how things have changed over the years, and it harkens back to a simpler, more innocent time when even The Beatles were considered “evil rock and roll.” In the song, Walt Disney is used more as a metaphor for purity and morality in general rather than being a specific reference to him, and it implies that Disney would spin in his grave if he could see how things have progressed.
Give it a listen.
Galactic Cowboys - “Disney’s Spinnin’”
Let It Go seems an apt title for a band’s final release, but if you’re not quite ready to let go, I’ll be bringing you more Galactic Cowboys and Monty Colvin in the days to come. In the meantime, you can check out Let It Go at either Amazon.com or iTunes.
