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Galactic makes a cosmic shift
By PHILIP BOOTH, Times Staff Writer Galactic, a popular New Orleans jazz-funk outfit heard on last year's Live From Bonnaroo CD compilation and DVD, emerged in the mid 1990s as specialists in the kind of groove music inspired by the Meters. James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone were in the mix, too. And now for something completely different: Galactic, as suggested by the band's cover of Black Sabbath's Sweet Leaf and other experimental touches on 2001's We Love 'Em Tonight, recorded live at Tipitina's in New Orleans, is going for something edgier. "It's more electronic, hip-hop, heavy," says bassist Robert Mercurio, midway through lunch with friends at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen in the French Quarter. "It has gone away from being so solo-oriented to more just groove-oriented and textural. It's not as peak-and-valley. ... "It's going away from that jazz-funk kind of thing and moving into a heavier groove kind of thing. When we first started out, we were so heavily influenced by the New Orleans thing and the Meters. It's taken us a few years to let our roots come through." Mercurio, tenor and baritone saxophonist and harmonica player Ben Ellman, keyboardist Rich Vogel, guitarist Jeff Raines, drummer Stanton Moore and singer Theryl "The Houseman" deClouet have been working on new tracks at their studio, in New Orleans' warehouse district, while they hunt for a new record label. Since the release of We Love 'Em Tonight, Galactic has stayed busy with road shows in the United States and Europe and last summer's Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. It has played New Year's Eve at the venerable Warfield Theater in San Francisco for three years running. Galactic has steadily drifted toward jam-band audiences, or vice versa. Band members also have worked on a variety of side projects and recordings: deClouet released The Houseman Cometh! with several bandmates, and Moore's Flyin' the Coop featured several well-known friends, including bassist Chris Wood of Medeski Martin & Wood, saxophonists Karl Denson and Skerik, and Quintology guitarist Brian Seeger. Moore also plays in Garage a Trois with Skerik and guitarist Charlie Hunter. Ellman co-founded the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars and plays in the Quartet with Vogel and New Orleans luminaries Seeger and Johnny Vidacovich (Astral Project) on drums. Mercurio and Moore have provided musical support for bluesy singer-songwriter Eric Lindell, and Raines and his wife have been busy with a new baby. Galactic isn't exactly bemoaning its between-labels status, Mercurio said. "We're in a good position, because when we first got signed (to Fog City, for 1996's Coolin' Off), we were a lot smaller and a lot unwiser," he said. "Now we know what we would really want out of a record deal. It's like starting over." * * * PREVIEW: Galactic, January 29, 8 p.m. (doors open at 7), Jannus Landing, 16 Second St. N., St. Petersburg. $20. (727) 896-1244.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the wire |
