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(Read the article -- then hear the music! Download "Black Eyed Pea," "Third Stone From The Sun," & "Villified" now!)

If anyone had told me at the beginning of my weekend in New Orleans that I'd end up interviewing two members of my favorite band in the world -- in a hot tub -- I would probably have inquired about their drug intake. But that's exactly what happened when I headed to The Big Easy to witness two historic Galactic shows, recorded at their home base of Tipitina's for a new live album. (Bank account be damned, there was no way that I was going to miss this event.) Anticipation for these shows was high, to say the least, and the band did not disappoint, from the intense opener of "Shibuya," to the six girl fist-fight right in front of the stage, to the blazing (and all-too-appropriate) "Sweet Leaf" at 4:20 a.m. After the show, somewhere in the beautiful party haze that is 5 a.m. in New Orleans, I approached saxophonist Ben Ellman and guitarist Jeff Raines to confirm the details of the interview I'd set up for MUSICBLITZ. Originally, we'd decided to hook up the evening of the second show -- but now they had other plans.

….and so it was that the very next day I found myself soaking my dance-sore muscles in the hot tub at guitarist Jeff Raines' new house. What's a girl to do?

For the uninitiated, Galactic -- comprised of Rich Vogel on B3 and keyboards, Stanton Moore on drums, bassist Robert Mercurio, saxophonist Ben Ellman, vocalist Theryl "The Houseman" DeClouet, and our host Mr. Jeff Raines -- is a band whose stated purpose is to drive their audiences into an all-night frenzy of dance and sweat. Their sound, which can be sampled on 1996's Coolin' Off, 1998's Crazyhorse Mongoose, and their most recent release, Late For the Future, is an amalgamation of New Orleans funk, Delta blues and acid jazz (with the occasional dash of Klezmer or tripped-out rock thrown in for good measure), all delivered with an intensity that could power the greater metropolitan area of New York. Make no mistake, funk aficionados -- Galactic can turn any venue into a sauna, any wallflower into a funky diva, and any concert into an experience you won't soon forget. Like any drug worth its salt, Galactic will get you hooked.

Y2K was a moveable feast for Galactic, a year that saw them taking the Far East and Europe by storm -- as well as tearing it up at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (with 6 shows in a one-week stretch). The beginning of 2001 finds the band headlining the nationwide Sno-Core spin-off tour, "The Icicle Ball," with supporting acts Les Claypool's Flying Frog Brigade, Lake Trout and Drums & Tuba. MUSICBLITZ caught up with Ellman and Raines -- in the aforementioned hot tub -- to find out just how they got so damn funky.

I know you guys have railed against being labeled a "Jamband" in the past, so I'd like to get your definition of the term.
Ben: I think it's more like a style of presenting yourself, maybe, musically, and also in a business sense.

Among fans, I'd say that a Jamband isn't necessarily a "hippie" band, but a band that focuses on improvisation, encourages taping & trading, and works the festival circuit with similar groups. The whole "hippie" tag is kind of a misnomer -- I mean, Soulive and Medeski Martin & Wood are the farthest thing from "hippies," but they're still referred to as Jambands.
Ben: That's basically what it is -- I mean, if you say maybe a band who has a lot of improvisation, there's a lot of bands that improvise that aren't labeled as Jambands. I mean, so, most jazz, by that definition then, would be labeled Jamband music. I mean, if you talk to most people who are in bands that are called a Jamband, not one of 'em -- or very few of 'em -- will say, "Yeah, we're a Jamband." So that says a lot in itself right there.

So that whole tour this past summer where you opened for Counting Crows & Live and those Ben Harper dates -- did you feel you had to do that to broaden your fan base? Do you resent that?
Ben: Not at all, not at all. We didn't have to do it, we wanted to do it. I mean, there are so many bands that would kill -- KILL -- to play in front of 10 to 20 thousand people, even as a support act; we were fortunate enough to be friends with some of these guys and they invited us, and there was really no reason to say no. It's exciting, winning people over, you know? I mean, God bless our fans, I love 'em so much, but we know that they come and they're ready to party -- but like, when you're playing in front of the Counting Crows crowd and they've never heard you, and they're really into like, sensitive lyrics and what have you … it's really fun then to see the reaction and to try to win the crowd over.

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