RoR- So, what do you think about this
whole Clinton thing, with the Starr Report?
MC - I think that the whole situation is a disgrace, and that he should
step down. That's me, though.
RoR - I kinda like how he tried to play the
"I have a private life too" angle. It just seems a little different, you
know. I don't agree with the railroading he's getting, but the whole thing
is just ridiculous.
MC - Yeah, like, no kidding, that's like, a public office that we're
all paying for pal. I think that you (the people) should stick to your
business? I mean, I understand, the guy's human, and people make mistakes,
but, at the same time, he's the president of the United States!
RoR - It's a little different.
MC - Yeah, it's a "little" different.
RoR - So, I guess I wanted to prepare for this
a little bit, so I went back and listened to all the old GC stuff again,
and there's a real big division for me after the first two albums. I wondered
how you felt when you look back in history, I mean, the first two albums
are on Geffen, when Geffen was trying to make it big. They had you guys,
probably the best artists on there, and they didn't know what to do with
you.
MC - [Laughing] Right.
RoR - So how do you see this, do you see it
as two different bands, or more as a natural progression?
MC - Well, yeah, it seems a little more gradual to me because it's been
over the course of almost ten years. Yeah, you know, music was different
ten years ago when we started, it was an eighties metal kinda thing, and
we were even different during that period. But, still, there was a lot
of different things going on back there. There were bands back there that
were really big that people don't want to know ANYTHING about now! [laughs].
So, it's amazing to me that we sustained, hung in there, progressed through
it all and haven't just disappeared. To me, yeah, we've just kinda evolved,
taken the sound different places but yet we've still remained kinda the
essence of what we were which has always just been a hard rock melodic
"rock" band. You know, we've always sung things that were more on the pop
kind of melody thing, we've always had harmonies, and we've always kinda
had an edgy guitar sound. Those elements are still there, so to me it still
remains what we were, but we have evolved and tried different things, tried
to keep it fresh.
RoR - Also, maybe some of the subject matter
changed a lot, like, the youthful outer space themes moved aside for an
angrier, cynical side. Maybe it's Obvious...
MC - You mean in the later albums?
RoR - Well, especially with Machine Fish. I
kinda followed it on the internet, it was like you guys kinda got turned
around. Then, you came out with a really personal album, Alan's (Doss,
drummer) producing, it's your artwork on there, and then, instead of being
about third person stuff it's more about what you guys were feeling at
the time.
MC - Yeah, exactly man, you nailed it. I think that a lot of the stuff
that we went through during the Geffen years, and the management that we
had, and all that stuff through that period. We just got so screwed around
so much, just really taken advantage of. A lot of that stuff is reactions
to all of that, and that's probably why Machine Fish is a harder album,
and had a lot more aggression to it. Yeah, so, you're right, [laughs].
RoR - I wondered if also if some of the "Astronaut
on Earth" theming was a metaphor for alienation or feeling displaced from
society, or just feeling different in general. I like the end of "Where
are you Now" when you go back and call your old high school classmates.
MC - Yeah, I think you're right, I think a lot of that stuff, I mean
even the name itself Galactic Cowboys was just an expression of doing something
that we felt was different, off the wall, progressive, or whatever, you
know. I don't know, those early years were just real free for us, we were
having a blast, we didn't care what anybody thought. We just we basically
being as crazy and experimental with the music as we wanted to. We just
had fun, and I think along the way we emotionally got torn down a lot from
all of it, and a lot of the music since then has been a product of our
survival [laughs] of the whole music scene, record companies, lawyers,
and all the crap that goes into the whole "business" and fighting through
that. That's kinda what the Machine Fish suite on this album is all about.
Kind of a history of what we've been through, things like that.
RoR - It feels like you guys have always been
progressive, and different than anything else, but it wasn't forced. I
Especially see it on the new album, because you just naturally went against
the grain. You got signed to Metal Blade a few years ago, and came out
with a real heavy album, but now, Metal Blade's recently signed a lot of
black metal, and you guys came out with an album that's more reminiscent
of The Beatles, with a lot of melody.
MC - Yeah, you know, I guess we'll see how that plays with the rest
of the bands that they sell [laughing], butI think, once again, we just
write according to how we're feeling and what we want to do. Because I
don't think that we really feel a part of any group, and there's times
when we kinda wish we were, it'd be a lot easier to sell us, and to tour
with people, that kinda stuff. But it's kind of a hard sell when you not
a part of a specific...
RoR - Package...
MC - Genre, yeah, package, a neat little easy to swallow pill.
RoR - So, I guess corpsepaint would be out
of the question, huh?
MC - [laughing] Yeah...
RoR - You might have lucked out, because if
there was like one other band that I could compare you guys to, it would
be King's X.
MC - Yeah, and consequently we've always been mentioned in the same
breath, and we toured a lot with them...
RoR - And you're touring with them again...
MC - Yeah, and we're doing it again. We are friends with them, and we
get along well, and just musically it just seems to be a nice match. Their
fans like us and vice-versa.
RoR - I guess for inspiration it would be nice
to get out there with some other people doing different things.
MC - Oh yeah, I mean, that's the thing, we would love to do some other
kinds of tours too. Expose ourselves to other audiences, but it's hard
to do. It's hard to find.
RoR - Do you think it's the industry's fault,
I mean, you go into any store, and you see maybe ten new bands, and they
all sound say, like what they're calling retro metal now. Or ten new bands
that are all cookie cutter black metal. Do you think that there are really
that many bands that start right away, or that the companies just start
signing what they think is hot?
MC - Yeah, I think that they've got to, I've gotten pretty cynical on
the whole thing but it seems like they see that something selling, and
they immediately run out and try and find something that sounds just like,
and there's lots of people that are MORE than willing to sound just like
someone else. That's an easy ticket for a lot of bands.
RoR - They'll go a one record deal and then
get dropped when it's not hot anymore.
MC - Yeah, that's the whole shame though, I see so many of these bands,
they get their 15 minutes and then it's over, forever, you know?
RoR - But, so you think they're really suprised
when that happens?
MC - I don't know man, I even think about a lot of those 80's metal
bands that so there were so many of back then. I think about some of those
bands, and they're gone, and they were big for like one album, and then
they didn't have a career anymore. I kinda in some ways feel sorry for
them, but it's also like, if you were more creative, maybe you could stick
around.
RoR - Well, I hope that there are enough people
that can appreciate the creativity and break out from the norm to keep
you guys in business, which is unfortunately what has to happen.
MC - Yeah, I'm hoping, and we're always hoping that we can broaden the
audience more with each album. You know you're always one song away from
bigger popularity, so... If we ever could get some radio play that would
help. I guess you keep hoping to broaden your audience.
RoR - Well, there's something extra there,
because there are certain bands, and you guys are one of them, that when
you put on one of there albums, you're brought back to "that" time when
you got the album. Not many bands do that, but each GC album has a certain
time significance to me.
MC - I know, some of my favorite bands put out what I feel is the best
stuff out there, and then they break up, and they can't do it anymore,
because they don't get heard, they don't get pushed by their label. There's
a lot of bands out there that have done a lot of creative stuff that just
doesn't make it because it's not the same old thing.
RoR - Have you heard the band Voivod at all?
MC - Yeah!
RoR - That's another band I think of in this
regard.
MC - Yeah, I've always really dug them.
RoR - Every album is completely different.
MC - It really is.
RoR - They've just never seemed to find what
marketers would call their "target" audience.
MC - Yeah, I don't know, sometimes they kinda stretch the envelope,
they've pushed the boundaries of creativity sometimes.
RoR - A little too out for people, maybe?
MC - Yeah, but I think that's great.
RoR - I gotten pretty cynical too, Iguess.
I can't listen to the radio anymore, because it reminds me of the 80's
when it was all top 40, but now it's it's the alternative 20.
MC - Right [laughs]
RoR - To me, there's no difference. But when
you try to explain this to people that ARE halfway intelligent, they still
can't accept it. Here in Hawaii there's only about 3 stations, and they
keep changing formats to please an audience. There are a couple of independents,
but you have to tune in after midnight to hear anything... Essentially,
what you are listening to is dictated by some central office somewhere
based on what people think should sell. That's what made me wonder about
Geffen, since I believe they owned MTV at the time that Nirvana came out,
and that was just SO pushed.
MC - Yeah, I know they were close there. It's hard man, I truly believe
labels, radio, they can make whoever they want, big. So if you've got the
money, if you've got the push... I don't have any problem believing that
if the money was there, and they decided that the Galactic Cowboys were
going to be huge, they could probably make them that way. Just by doing
it. If you tell people enough that "this is cool", after a while they'll
believe it [laughs]. It's kinda sad, it seems like the suits always end
up taking over and ruining it, no matter what it is. Whether it's movies
or TV.
RoR - Yeah, it's like I was floored that they
started selling Starbucks in the supermarket, and I remember telling someone
and they were like, "Isn't that a good thing?". No, it's not. I don't know
if it's always been this way, but it seems that when something gets popular,
and people can profit off of it, they exploit it. It's like economic vampirism.
MC - That's the thing with music too, it's not enough anymore to have
a really cool band, that may sell 60 to 100 thousand albums, it's like,
if they're not "huge", then they're not worth keeping around.
RoR - Do you think some of it is the venues?
Because it seems as though a lot of local mid-sized places are closing
down. Is that just because they're just booking major acts? It feels like
either you fill a stadium or you play a bar.
MC - Yeah, there's no room for the little anymore, everybody wants the
biggest thing. It's even that way in movies, everything is a big explosion.
Everything is a big adventure-thriller, Armageddon... Those movies are
OK, but how about the little comedies, the small movies? I know they're
out there, but it just seems like it's more and more dominated by the SAME
THING.
RoR - How many different movies do we need
to see with the same story?
MC - Yeah, how many times can you blow up a building or a car? But it's
gonna happen every movie because everybody's got surround sound now. [laughs]
RoR - Yeah, god forbid you get to think in
a movie.
MC - Right! Me, I just like to go laugh once in a while. I think they
see that the big bucks are in big explosions, and that's what you're gonna
get.
RoR - It's like a fear of taking chances. They
know what they have to make. Somebody is always afraid that they'll lose
their job if they sign this band or OK this movie and they don't make 150%
profit. So, they just go with something they know is safe.
MC - I know man, it just gets frustrating, I mean, for everybody. I
just think people are getting bored with music.
RoR - One of the cool things was that I liked
that you started putting your artwork on the albums. To me that was another
personal factor to the band.
MC - Alright! Of course, I totally enjoy doing that. It's been a really
cool thing, I've got the degree from college to paint and stuff. Everyone's
always going, you need to have a show, and with the CDs and everything
you feel like hey, I've got the biggest gallery in the world. So, a lot
of people get to see it, it's been a lot of fun.
RoR - Machine Fish was the first one that you
did the cover for. Was that a coincidence that is was also the first one
on Metal Blade, or was there maybe more artistic freedom?
MC - Yeah, it kinda was a little more freedom. Because at Geffen they
were always wanting to figure out how to sell us, which was fine, but it
was like: "You need to look like this more" or "No, that wouldn't be good".
Because I really cool painting for Space in Your Face, and I'm fine with
the cover that we picked for it, but I did painting of the four of us,
and I thought that it would have been a really cool thing to have on the
album. The guy at the time at the label (Geffen) was a little afraid that
we would come off like comic book characters, or that it wouldn't be quite
the right image. So I was like whatever. But once we left Geffen we had
more freedom. I take stuff into Brian (Slagel, founder of Metal Blade Records)
and he's like "yeah, cool". So it's been fun in that way, a lot more freedom.
RoR - So, are you guys getting psyched up to
tour again?
MC - Yeah, I've been working out, trying to get in shape. Ready to exert
some energy. Yeah, we're looking forward to it. Hope people get there early
and check us out.
RoR - So I guess there's no chance of a Hawaii
tour in the future?
MC - Yeah, I don't know man, we've never played there, never even been
to Hawaii. Sure like to though. Wish you could get up to one of these shows.
That'd be awesome man. If you do, make sure you say hi, because we're not
rock stars or nothing, we hang out, walk around.
RoR - Alright then, any last requests???
MC - Well thanks so much Evan, I appreciate the intereview. It's been
fun, it's just been like chattin' with somebody, maybe you'll get to catch
us on this tour!
Check out the Galactic Cowboys at: http://www.galacticcowboys.com
