Sky’s the limit

Eleven years ago, if you were cruising the streets of New Orleans, you probably happened upon the corner of Camp and Valance. The place was Benny’s Bar, and the headlining band, whose name was synonymous with Incomprehensibly Large Condom, sent Big Easy jams throughout the Milky Way.

A couple of years later that band dropped the “Prophylactic” from its name, blew up and toured the world four times.

Now simply Galactic, the band is set to release its seventh album next spring, and will throw down its New Orleans-infused funk with some of the best-known MCs in hip-hop, including Lyrics Born, Gift of Gab of Blackalicious, Lateef the Truth Seeker and Lady Bug of Digable Planets.

“The theme for the album is the corner, any corner the artist wants to write about,” said Galactic bassist Robert Mercurio. “This will bring cohesiveness to the album’s songs but allow the writer freedom with the lyrics. I don’t rap, but if I did, my corner would be Camp and Valance.”

In late 2004, Galactic parted ways with vocalist Theryl “Housman” DeClouet, causing them to revisit their roots as an instrumental band, hence the MCs. Mercurio said much of the new album is being formed around Stanton Moore’s drums. Moore lays down a beat, then Mercurio will loop it in the studio and “listen maybe 10 or 30 minutes” before complementing it with a melting bassline. With the rhythm set, guitarist Jeff Raines, Rich Vogel on a Hammond B3 organ and sax player Brian Ellman will funk out the rest.

“Before we had our own studio, we used to write a bunch of our stuff by improv,” Mercurio said. “We record all our live shows, and we’ll listen to them and try to incorporate some of the things we improv’d on stage into songs. The music constantly feeds on itself.”

Galactic has been through a lot musically—and the members have also witnessed the healing effects music has on the city of New Orleans.

“After the hurricane there has been a new appreciation for what we had and still have in the music of this city,” he said. “It’s the power of this city’s indigenous sound.”

Mercurio and Galactic were touring in Seattle when the levees broke. While their homes were not flooded, they felt like they had lost their town.

In the wake of Katrina, the band played several relief shows, including From the Big Apple to the Big Easy, which raised more than $50 million for Katrina victims. They also played shows at one of their favorite venues, Tipitina’s in New Orleans, for the Tipitina’s Foundation, set up do give money to musicians who were affected by the hurricane.

“It’s the most healthy music environment I’ve been in,” said Mercurio of New Orleans. “Everyone is about the music and learning how to play and trying to get better.”

It was the music of New Orleans that brought Mercurio and Raines from Washington D.C. in the early ‘90s.

“Growing up in D.C., I was into the whole punk scene,” Mercurio said. “Bands like Minor Threat, Fugazi, Government Issue—all that shit.”

Then came time for college, and Mercurio and Raines wanted an education that went beyond school. Mercurio went to Tulane University and Raines to Loyola, but they learned more from the New Orleans music scene and venues like Benny’s Bar. Funk replaced punk.

Now, years later, Galactic has toured the United States, Europe and Japan, and has surrounded itself with some of the biggest names in the biz.

“It’s pretty cool we can work with all different types of bands,” Mercurio said. “We loved working with Jurassic 5, and one week Scratch from The Roots toured with us; he does some amazing beat-boxing that just adds an incredible element to the experience.”