Written by: Jenifer Ruano
Formed in their native Orange County, California just three years ago, Cosmonauts have quickly generated a lot of buzz and have already accomplished what most budding bands would dream of. They’ve had the pleasure of sharing bills with influential psych bands like The Warlocks, The Black Angels, and The Growlers and this spring, Cosmonauts will be embarking on their own headlining European tour! As an enthusiastic fan and supporter, I got the opportunity to sit with Alex Ebraham, Derek Cowart, and James Sanderson of Cosmonauts for a chat inside the warm Harvard & Stone, just before their Burger Records gig on an unusually frigid night in Los Angeles.
So, tell me how Cosmonauts formed.
Alex Ebraham: Well Derek and I met years ago working at a Hollywood Video together. *laughs*
Derek Cowart: Actually it was three years ago when we were at a house party and started playing around with music there.
Alex: Yeah, it was mainly just messing around with acoustic stuff. We had been playing music on our own before that. I was living in Placentia at the time and you don’t find a lot of people out there who want to play rock and roll. So it just kind of came together.
Derek: Our friend Kyle played drums so we were kind of a three-piece and we knew we wanted a bass player so we found James.
Alex: Our first show was on Halloween in 2009 with James.
Derek: Yeah he dressed up like an alien grandma.
Your sound has been described as “garage-punk” and “surf-psychedelia.” Where would you say you take your inspiration from, especially early on?
Derek: When we first started playing together I think we were both excited that we both listened to a lot of Spacemen 3 and Brian Jonestown Massacre at the time. So a lot of our influence came from that.
Alex: It’s one of the reasons why Derek and I started talking because he did a cover of a Spacemen 3 song at that party, and I thought that was cool because not a lot of people knew that kind of music at the time.
Your first album, Cosmonauts came out in 2010 on cassette from Burger Records. How did the connection happen with Burger Records and getting that first album out?
Alex: The first album came together because Burger Records put us on a tour and we really didn’t have anything in terms of an album. So it was recorded really quickly. It came out on vinyl a couple of years later through Permanent Records.
Derek: And our friend Cameron from Audacity, a band from Fullerton, had bragged about us to Burger Records and we ended up playing their New Year’s Eve show. After that I guess they were into it.
Explain the difference in sound between your first self-titled album and your latest full-length release, “If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die,” which came out April 2012.
Alex: Well the first one was recorded in like 2 ½ hours in our friend’s living room. We added one more day of vocal overdubs and edits and that’s it. With the latest one we had more time to figure it all out.
Derek: We had the opportunity to spend more time on it and it was also recorded on better equipment. Ultimately it’s just a difference in the kind of equipment we had at the time and the production of it.
So let’s talk about the music climate here in L.A which can be a rough road for some bands. But you guys have stayed consistently busy and visible out here which ultimately gives you some staying power. What do you think has helped you?
Alex: Just trying to release a lot of good music.
Derek: Yeah, we always want to have good releases coming out and the labels help us with that too. Also collaborating with other bands on bills and stuff has helped keep us visible. But it’s just important to stay really active.
On the same note, many bands are sort of on their own when promoting their music. Gone are the days when a record label really gave you some leverage. It’s good you have Burger Records to help you play some good gigs but how are you guys working the promotional angle for your band?
Derek: Since we started it’s just been growing and growing. We also use social media to help us out with promoting our music and ultimately there is some word-of-mouth too. But Burger has helped a lot and they have a good presence at festivals like SXSW. All that helps spread the word.
Speaking of, what’s the word on playing Austin Psych Fest this year? I know you played last year…
Alex: Yeah we are going to be playing the pre-party on the Thursday before the festival starts. We’ll be there for that, this year. And that will kick off the first leg of our national tour this spring.
Very cool and you guys are also beginning a European tour soon right?
Derek: Yeah, we will be going to Europe, beginning in February, for a couple of months. That’s pretty wild.
And what else do you have coming up?
Alex: We’re playing The Echo as part of the residency with Lovely Bad Things on February 5th. We’re looking forward to that.
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