GALACTIC COWBOYS: Video for "Zombies."
December 14, 2017
Galactic Cowboy's have unveiled their awesome Horror directed music video for Zombies, taken from their brand new album Long Way Back To The Moon which out now via Cool Green Recordings/Mascot Label Group.
Speaking about the video, which the band worked with classic Horror directors Jeremy Sumrall and John Hale, singer Ben Huggins explains "We teamed up with horror aficionado/movie directors Jeremy Sumrall and John Hale on this one. I think we successfully captured the essence of this band: heavy riffs, vocal harmonies, steeped in our own sense of humor. It's just another - boy meets girl - boy fights zombie - girl fights zombie - the world ends, love story. Classic. Everyone can relate."
Galactic Cowboys has always been a musical enigma. Hailing from Houston, Texas, the band combined melodic thrash, progressive metal, and Beatlesque harmonies into a genre of its own creation. Blending these considerable musical chops with a quirky sense of humor, the band quickly distinguished itself from anyone else in the world, garnering fans amongst some of music's biggest stars. Their first time around, though, they were the right band at exactly the wrong time. On this outing, they shoot for the moon again, and celebrate the journey back.
A year after forming, at the dawn of the 1990s, Galactic Cowboys was signed by the David Geffen Company as their Next Big Thing, for an unprecedented advance. Geffen already had the Current Big Thing: Guns n' Roses. But sensing the end of that juggernaut (correctly), Geffen held off on unleashing the Cowboys until sales of Use Your Illusion set had tapered off, and groomed the Cowboys for mega stardom.
Quickly becoming regular fixtures on MTV, including two videos in rotation, everything was going according to plan. But culturally, Generation X was coming of age, and with it, a whole new musical culture. Sensing this change, David Geffen sought out an equivalent to the Cowboys in this new genre, to be the vanguard there. That band was Nirvana.
Geffen released Nevermind alongside the Cowboy's debut release, and let fate determine which way music would develop in the 1990s. From its place at the cutting edge of a nationwide cultural transformation, grunge ended the reign of metal, the world's biggest band, and-before they had even really started-Galactic Cowboys.
Undaunted, the Cowboys released a string of highly acclaimed albums. The Cowboys' most notable fan-base became other musicians-an exclusive club that included other 1990s musical misanthropes such as Jellyfish, King's X, and Kevin Gilbert. Reflecting both the musicality and diversity of the band, Galactic Cowboys toured primarily with two music legends, Anthrax and Dream Theater, reflecting the Cowboy's versatility.
"The Galactic Cowboys were (and still are) one of my favorite bands to emerge from the 90's. Great songwriting, killer players and euphoric harmonies. They were always criminally underrated and overlooked, which led to their premature demise in 2000. My last 17 years have had a hole in my musical palate without them and I couldn't be happier at the announcement of their return! Welcome back boys...I missed you!" - Mike Portnoy
One of the fans made along the way was executive producer Bill Evans, responsible for bringing together the prog-rock supergroup, Flying Colors. "Everyone has a favorite band they hope will one day reunite. For me, and so many other fans, it was Galactic Cowboys. Mascot's Jim Pitulski was on the same page, so I called Monty, asking if the Cowboys would consider reuniting." Evans initially met Colvin through mutual friend Kerry Livgren (KANSAS), another big fan of the Cowboys. Pitulski had known them from when he managed Dream Theater.
"We said we'd only come back if the world needed us. When Mascot sent out the distress call we knew it was time to return. Get ready world. Here come Galactic Cowboys!" - Ben C Huggins (Lead Vocals)
The reformed Cowboys consist of all the original members: lead vocalist Ben Huggins, drummer/vocalist Alan Doss, guitarist/vocalist Dane Sonnier, and vocalist/bassist Monty Colvin. They descended upon Doss' studio in Houston, Texas, through early 2016 to write and record.
"Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to 1993. The vacuum tubes warmed up and once again, Galactic Cowboys were off on a new mission. There's nothing like coming home." - Alan Doss (Drums, Vocals)
The 11 new tracks (and two bonus tracks) included on the resulting Long Way Back to The Moon harken back to the Cowboys' iconic songs, but are infused with a contemporary hard rock sound. In the tradition of Alan Parsons Project, Steven Wilson, and Periphery, the album is completely organic: engineered, produced, mixed, and mastered by the band-even all the artwork. One trapping of contemporary production set aside by the band was an over-reliance on studio trickery - no ProTool-ing, drum triggers, or even vocal tuning. Just real music by real musicians.
The album's sound is alternately heavy, whimsical, charging, and crunching, combining inescapable atmosphere with the drive of a band on a mission. Old fans will feel at home, but hard rock fans who have never heard Galactic Cowboys before will also be instantly hooked. As with all Galactic Cowboys albums, the songs are emotional in topic, and often including a large dose of ironic humor. Each song is performed, sung, and written with intense passion.
"It was an absolute pleasure getting back together with the guys to record this album. I think we've all grown as musicians and as people since we first got together in '89, and I think our fans will really love this new stuff." - Monty Colvin (Bass, Vocals)
The tongue-in-cheek song "Zombies" is a tongue-in-cheek study on finding love on the last day of human existence, blended with social commentary regarding modern society's obsession with its electronic screens. Timely topics continue with "Next Joke": from kids sports in which everyone gets a trophy, to Disney telling kids to wish upon a star and all their dreams will come true, our unrealistic expectations have set us all up for failure: The Joke is on us. "Internal Masquerade", the album's first single, examines the turmoil endemic to the human experience and the difficulties in keeping self-generated darkness at bay, themes revisited in darker "Blood In My Eyes".
A special treat for fans both old and new is "In The Clouds", the album's leadoff track and also the first Galactic Cowboys song ever written. Penned in 1989 by Doss and Colvin after the demise of their previous outfit, The Awful Truth, the song explores leaving the banal confines of this world behind and ascending to a higher plane of existence. It's also the song Huggins sang to earn his spot in the band!
"We can't wait for everyone to hear this, and it's great to be back. Back from the Ranch on Mars and onward to the moon." - Dane Sonnier (Guitar, Vocals)
The album is available on CD, 2LP vinyl, and all digital formats. Pre-sales begin September 25, 2017 from Mascot Label Group, and t-shirt bundles with CD + Vinyl packages are available. All the artwork is from original oil paintings by GC's Monty Colvin, in his unique style. Visit webshop here: https://smarturl.it/GC-MLG
The Cowboys will be playing the first show from Long Way on December 1, 2017. In the spirit of the album, it's the first venue they ever played: Fitzgerald's in Houston TX, USA.
Long Way back to the Moon bursts with the freshness of the first GC album, sharing the explosion of energy and creativity that only results from almost 20 years of pent-up musical passion and inspiration finally being released. It's not their first rodeo, and a long way from the Cowboys' first journey. And on this outing, their timing couldn't be more perfect.
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