{"id":793884,"date":"2019-03-14T20:49:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T02:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/ready-for-liftoff-galactic-lands-in-frisco-for-two-nights\/"},"modified":"2019-03-15T10:30:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T16:30:43","slug":"ready-for-liftoff-galactic-lands-in-frisco-for-two-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/ready-for-liftoff-galactic-lands-in-frisco-for-two-nights\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready for liftoff: Galactic lands in Frisco for two nights"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ben Ellman, Robert Mercurio, Stanton Moore, Jeff Raines, and Rich Vogel of Galactic, with Erica Falls. The group will be playing for two nights in Frisco at 10 Mile Music Hall.<\/strong>
Courtesy Melissa Stewart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hot off the release of their 10th album, \u201cAlready Ready Already,\u201d New Orleans-based funk band Galactic is coming to town. The rhythm-heavy group known for blending blues, jazz, hip-hop, rock and electronic sounds will perform in Frisco on Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n

Keyboardist Richard Vogel, whose parents met in Colorado, is an avid hiker and glad to have the extra time to stretch his legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you only have a day (to ski), I\u2019m not going to go through the whole routine. \u2026 It\u2019s too much. Really I just need to walk off the bus and get away,\u201d he said, explaining why he prefers hiking while on tour.<\/p>\n

When not walking on a mountain trail, he and the rest of Galactic can be found in the Crescent city recording or sharing the stage with legends such as Macy Gray, Mavis Staples, The Roots, Boots Riley and others, including having performed with B.B. King.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember one evening in Boston we went out and hung out with (King) in the back lounge where he was kind of just holding court with his laptop just spinning tracks, listening to music,\u201d Vogel said. \u201cThose are the things you\u2019ll never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vogel attributes those partnerships as a factor in the band\u2019s longevity. Formed in 1994, they recorded their first album in \u201995 and hit the road in \u201996. Bass player Robert Mercurio and guitarist Jeff Raines founded the group when they moved to New Orleans from Maryland for college. Always ones to play in neighborhood garage bands, they quickly tapped into the local scene and found drummer Stanton Moore and Vogel, in part due to their connections to Loyola University. Vogel would frequently go to their house parties, since they lived in the same part of uptown New Orleans, and was invited into the band along with saxophonist Ben Ellman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had this old, crappy rehearsal space in a fire hazard of a warehouse and then that was it,\u201d Vogel said. \u201cWe recognized right away that we were a rhythm section \u2014 keyboard, bass, drums, guitar. That\u2019s the Meter\u2019s instrumentation. And Booker T. & the M.G.\u2019s. And James Brown\u2019s rhythm section.\u201d<\/p>\n

The musical allure of The Big Easy is what drew the Omaha, Nebraska-native to the city when Vogel was a senior in high school visiting with a friend during Jazz Fest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just such an interesting and intriguing idea,\u201d said Vogel. \u201cI didn\u2019t know of anyone else going to New Orleans. When you\u2019re in high school the top students you know are trying to go to East Coast schools or whatever. And other people are going to Midwestern schools. \u2026 I left that trip not knowing where I was going to go to school, but knowing it was going to be in New Orleans.\u201d<\/p>\n

One would think such a place swimming in soundscapes would make it difficult for a new band, but, though they may not have thought it at the time, Vogel believes the city was a great boost.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was so much to go around, to check out, to be inspired from. But it was also relatively easy to get a gig somewhere once we had something together because there was music being played every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t hurt that New Orleans was cheap to live in back then, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat also helped us get by and not really get real jobs. I worked at like a coffee shop and rug store delivering rugs and things like that. Rob was waiting tables, but we were all living in these somewhat decrepit, but beautiful, big uptown houses that would now cost a lot and we were paying nothing. It gave us time and place to practice our craft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vogel\u2019s passion for music came from his family. Because he was so infatuated with his mother\u2019s stereo system \u2014 which he would use to play his father\u2019s New Orleans jazz records or his older brother\u2019s copy of Led Zeppelin\u2019s \u201cIV\u201d \u2014 she got him started on piano lessons when he was young.<\/p>\n

It soon lead to Vogel listening to \u201970s-era Mile Davis, Herbie Hancock, Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Smith and other jazz-funk musicians play the organ and clavinet \u2014 a keyboard-like instrument \u2014 in interesting ways as their basement became a jam room for him and other high school students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what really cemented it. These are like the greatest musicians I\u2019ve heard. \u2026 Then I came down to New Orleans and it was The Meters at Tipitina\u2019s. So then I got this whole sort of New Orleans education at the clubs. \u2026 That\u2019s what pulled the four of us together and later Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Galactic learned to jam together via The Meter\u2019s influential instrumental album \u201cLook-Ka Py Py.\u201d The band still considers themselves to be \u201can overgrown rhythm section,\u201d but that doesn\u2019t stop guest vocalists appearing on tracks or on tour.<\/p>\n

For their latest album, released three years after collaborating with Staples, Galactic chose a different path with New Orleans singer and YouTube star Princess Shaw on \u201cGoing Straight Crazy\u201d and cabaret rapper Boyfriend on \u201cDance At My Funeral.\u201d Yet when it comes to touring, one artist, Erica Falls, has the honor of being the vocalist for all songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to find someone special who can represent a lot of this different stuff, whether it\u2019s a female singer, male singer, the original singer. It takes a singer of a pretty high caliber to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galactic fans will be pleased to know that they won\u2019t have to wait three years for their next album. The recording session for \u201cAlready Ready Already\u201d was so fruitful that the band has enough material for another LP that may drop later in 2019. Though details still have to be finalized, an unheard instrumental track has already been appearing during live performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it takes a while to feel like you really have some good, new material because you want to present,\u201d Vogel said. \u201cBut we seem to be in a good space with it now. It will not be three years until the next Galactic record. I can safely say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t make it this weekend, take comfort in knowing that it won\u2019t be long until fresh Galactic tunes grace your ears.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hot off the release of their 10th album, \u201cAlready Ready Already,\u201d New Orleans-based funk band Galactic is coming to town. The rhythm-heavy group known for blending blues, jazz, hip-hop, rock and electronic sounds will perform in Frisco on Friday and Saturday. Keyboardist Richard Vogel, whose parents met in Colorado, is an avid hiker and glad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-793884","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 22:37:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}