Photo by Lynn Colepaugh
Following a six-year span during which time he undertook an ambitious solo performance schedule, in addition to performing all over the globe as a part of Roch Voisine’s band, Riverview native Chris Colepaugh is coming back to what many folks might consider his first love: his band, The Cosmic Crew.
With a career that has spanned the last two decades and is still, by all accounts, going remarkably strong, Colepaugh never willfully put The Cosmic Crew on the back burner. It was more just a matter of life priorities shifting.
In addition to his globe-trotting with Voisine over the last six years, Colepaugh and his wife Lynn, who also serves as the Cosmic Crew’s dynamic bassist, welcomed a child into the world, which has, understandably, kept them close to home.
Speaking with Colepaugh in advance of his group’s show at Moncton’s Tide & Boar Ballroom this Saturday night, where they will celebrate the release of his group’s latest full-length effort, RnR, he admits the last six years have been a bit of a blur, but only in the very best of ways.
“I’m in a great place, where I have the opportunity to make music with others, which lends a different perspective to the music I make with the band,” Colepaugh says. “Those experiences have definitely enriched the music I have written in these last six years.”
Despite having mastered the guitar long ago, the significant time between his group’s studio efforts inadvertently helped Colepaugh realize that, for all the musical diversity offered on his previous albums, he had never made a straight-ahead rock album.
Let’s just say that Colepaugh and crew remedied that with RnR. Inspired by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and other power trios before him, Colepaugh kept the song arrangements on his latest album to just guitar, bass and drums. The approach serves to lend an even greater power to the nine tracks featured on the album.
“I’ve loved the eclectic nature of our previous albums and how they showcased an acoustic side of the band as well as a more rock-driven side. With this album though, I had a clear vision of what I wanted right from the outset, which was to make a straight-ahead rock and roll record.”
Colepaugh’s intuition seems to have served him well thus far. The album’s first single, “My World,” earned itself a spot in the Top 50 Campus Radio Singles Chart, garnering airplay from key radio outlets not only here in Atlantic Canada, but also throughout the remainder of Canada.
Colepaugh says what astonishes him even more than the warm reception that “My World” has been afforded thus far is the demographic that is tuning into the band, including some that he has discovered are hearing the band for the very first time.
“Considering we haven’t really been all that active in the last six years, we’ve noticed there is a whole new generation of people in their late teens or early 20’s that are coming out to our shows. For a while, it seemed as though rock and roll might have been in a bit of a slump, but there is a resurgence happening, and we are fortunate enough to be caught in that riptide.”
What: Chris Colepaugh & The Cosmic Crew CD Release for RnR
When: Saturday March 5, 9 p.m.
Where: Tide & Boar Ballroom, 700 Main St., Moncton
Tickets are $10 in advance, $13 at the door. Advance tickets are available online at tideandboar.com/music