CHRIS COLEPAUGH AND THE CREW

Chris Colepaugh is all about the melody. That’s not to say that this son of Southern blues doesn’t rock. Just listen to what happens when he unleashes his doubleneck Gibson on tunes such as “Some Things Never Change” on his latest album Missed a Page. Guitar riffs don’t get much thicker than this. But Colepaugh is more of the school of Stephen Stills restraint than Lynyrd Skynyrd abandon. Listen to how he holds back the instrumentation—just enough—on “Some Time Away.” The effects are enticing vocals that float on top of the musical stream, underscoring the strong yet dreamy message. As if that’s not enough variety, Colepaugh mixes it up a bit, adding steel guitar and slow burning percussion to the blues anthem “What You Need.” - Relix ( June 2011 Issue )

Fans of soulful southern rock should check out the new album from Chris Colepaugh and The Cosmic Crew, Missed a Page, which was released this past Tuesday. This is the eighth album for the band and they continue to produce masterful tracks that only seem to improve. Missed A Page is a smooth blend of classic rock and meaningful lyrics with a twist of southern twang that is only intensified by the use of the pedal steel guitar. This album is significant to Colepaugh because he produced it in a studio that he just finished building. When I asked him about the meaning of the name Missed A Page he responded “like in the song on the record, it refers to the things in life that we wished we had done. For instance…this record should have come out in like 2008, but instead I opted to take a position playing and touring Europe in Roch Voisine’s band…because of me doing this it delayed everything. If I hadn’t taken the gig I would not have known what I missed and would have thought about it my whole life. When it came time to chose a title for the album, it seemed to be the right choice from what I had been through the last couple of years.” The band strived to make every song flow together and succeeded in creating an album that keeps you continuously involved in the musical experience. - The Argosty

This Southern rock band is based out of Canada, but don’t let the location fool you. The bluesy/rock songs of their new CD, “Missed A Page,” are done with great harmonies in the vocals, coupled with a definite Southern style that has gained them dedicated fans throughout Canada and the US. - MusicReviewBlurbs.blogspot.com / IndieMusicReview.org

This Southern rock band is based out of Canada, but don’t let the location fool you. The bluesy/rock songs of their new CD, “Missed A Page,” are done with great harmonies in the vocals, coupled with a definite Southern style that has gained them dedicated fans throughout Canada and the US. - MusicReviewBlurbs.blogspot.com / IndieMusicReview.org – Review

Colepaugh first caught my ear at SXSW a few years back with an impressive blast of blues-influenced rock. If you like muscular guitars and melodic rock riffs, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better song, or heck, a better release, this year. - Twangville.com

The instant Chris Colepaugh saw Steve Stills play Sweet Judy Blue Eyes in the film Woodstock, he knew what he wanted to do with his life.
He wanted to be a guitarist like Steven Stills, who was still with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at the time.
In the era of guitar gods and showy axemen such as Jimmy Page and Hendrix, this admittedly, was an unusual aspiration but for Colepaugh, playing guitar isn’t about how fast you can play, but how beautiful the melody.
From that moment, Stills, and The Beatles’ George Harrison became his role models.
“I felt an immediate connection with the way he played,” Colepaugh says.
Colepaugh’s on the side of a highway, somewhere between New Brunswick and Quebec.
“He isn’t a wailer like Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page. He’s a great writer and arranger, he’d constantly come up with these gorgeous melodic lines. He’d rather play one sweet note than play 30 notes fast.”
The 36-year-old Colepaugh, who plays a double-necked Gibson, expects to get some of those heavenly musical comparisons with Missed a Page, his ninth album with bassist Lynn Daigle and drummer Shawn Sasyniuk of the Cosmic Crew, the band he’s been with since 1996.
“We’re a rambunctious bunch live, he laughs. “What started as a hip hop jam band is now comfortably Southern Rock. It’s fun music. We’ve built a pretty good reputation east of Quebec. Now, it’s time to create a profile further west. The Rainbow is a good room for us.”
What began as a beat-boxing jam band (ergo the Cosmic Crew, a name they can’t shake) has evolved into regular nominees at the East Coast Music Awards.
They recorded their first album, 1996’s Galaxy in just 10 hours, but they didn’t have a hit until Bookmark broke onto radio in 2001. However, a move to San Franciso in 2006 proved to be a turning point in Colepaugh’s career.
There, he wrote and recorded In Your Backyard on which he dropped the jam-band marathons for a lighter pop sound.
It was eventually nominated for two East Coast Music Awards, and led to a gig backing Roch Voisine on his European tour.
“Now that tour was a fun circus come to town, and if the band’s having fun, you know the audience is into it too.”
“I’m just looking for great melodies now,” he adds. “Over the years we’ve played with a number of different styles but I think that makes you a better rounded musician.”
denis.armstrong@sunmedia.ca - Ottawa Sun - ( Ottawa, ON) INTERVIEW

Vocalist/Guitarist and his Cosmic Crew deliver old-fashioned rock crossed with alt-country. Sounds like Gov’t Mule meets the Jayhawks. - Explore Music

“The record flows so fluently from one track to the next, it is the perfect remedy to tide you over.” - musicnerd.ca

I was blown away by the Canucks in Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew as the gravelly soul in Colepaugh's voice was at the helm of this band, which can lay down a wicked Southern-fried boogie with a kick in the ass. The dude has a cool beard too.

http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=8228&disp=all - Jambase.com

As I write this, the first snow of this winter is falling outside, which is kind of funny, because In Your Backyard, the latest disc from Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew, is a perfect summer album: think Dave Matthews Band’s groovy jams with an ample shot of classic rock and blues. It also happens to be one of the best East Coast albums of the year.

The lineup consists of Lynn Daigle on bass, Shawn Sasnyiuk on drums and – believe it or not – Chris Colepaugh on vocals and lead guitar. All three musicians are in top form, and the production is crisp and clear without being too busy, allowing the songs to shine. And what songs they are: soon-to-be-classic rock tunes with impossibly catchy riffs, soaring Stevie Ray Vaughan-like vocals and stellar work by Daigle and Sasnyiuk. It’s hard to pick a highlight when the album is so consistently good, despite the decent if unmemorable lyrics. Colepaugh and company avoid repetition by mixing up straight ahead rockers (“Caught Up to You”), lighter-waving ballads (“California Mountain”), fiery blues (“Runnin’ Out”), and twangy country (“Don’t Want You ‘Round No More”). The disc even closes with a great cover of Neil Young’s classic “After the Goldrush” that turns the original song’s sparse desperation into a cathartic anthem.

So, go pick up a copy of In Your Backyard, bundle up in your snowsuits and enjoy summer all over again, snow or no snow. And be sure to check out Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew when they hit George’s Roadhouse later this month.
- ARGOSY

Colepaugh Proves there's an audience for jam bands

While the jam band and progressive rock scenes in the States continue to thrive, thanks to a startling number of passionate and gifted acts, it’s been relatively tough sledding for those musical forms in this country.
However, the upward direction that Chris Colepaugh’s career has taken is a sure sign that rock music fuelled by instrumental intensity does have an audience in Canada – and a devoted one at that – if it is properly minded.
Heading into a Saturday night show a the Sidetrack Café, the Moncton, NB – based guitarist, singer and songwriter expects nothing less than the rabid reception he’s enjoyed in other parts of this country during his lengthy road trip.

“This is our ninth tour across Canada and we see the turnouts in every city and town we play picking up, “says Colepaugh whose bandmates , bassist Lynn Daigle and drummer Craig Watson, are the Cosmic Crew.

For some time now the adventurous musician who appreciates the ground tilled by The Grateful Dead and Phish has enjoyed pulling in to what he terms “cool hot spots” for the band.

Saskatoon, Fernie and Canmore are three of the places in the West where fans are familiar with the extended and trippy excursions this tight and telepathic trio use as a calling card.

“We’re known for putting on pretty intense shows. My philosophy is I want the performance to be a show. Some jam bands forget that element, “continues Colepaugh, who is starting to gain notoriety stateside, particularly along the eastern seaboard of that country, where the band recently toured with the North Mississippi All-stars.
Thanks to some connections via a friend working for Artimus Records, which distributes Tone Cool – home base for the All-stars – Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew were introduced to what he says was “a read made crowd for us.”
“One show was in front of a crowd of about 5,000 in Providence, RI and we kicked the living daylights out of them.”
That run has elicited interest from labels and distributors in the States and the band does have four complete recordings ready to move in that market. “I’m convinced live performances will be the focal point of the business again. This is old school style, just like what Genesis did long before the band had any hits,” insists the band leader who wrote the bulk of the material on the latest Cosmic Crew disc, Trip.
- Edmonton Journal : (Edmonton, Alberta - Canada )

This fantastic band is visiting Bishop’s this Saturday playing at the Bishop’s Pub, and it’s definitely a show you won’t want to miss. I’ve had the pleasure of catching the Cosmic Crew two or three times now and with each show I find myself more in tune with the band’s morphing style of music. The band consists of Chris Colepaugh on vocals and guitar, Lynn Daigle on bass, and I believe the new drummer’s name is Shawn Sasnyiuk. I don’t want to label the band to any particular style of music in fear of clouding your interpretation of their music, but I can vouch for their ability not only musically but as a live performance worth seeing.
This is a band that remains independent and has complete control over what they record and how they play. Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew have played from east to west not only in Canada but also in the U.S. ; they’ve played at university venues, clubs , and donated the money from selected performances to Goodwill. Chris talked a little about his show and the performance the band put son. “There’s an art to it, a band like Kiss put on a hell of a show. For me, it’s about the fans, not for the pay. If I reach one person with the vibe then forget about yesterday.”
- Campus ( Bishop's University - Lennoxville, Quebec - Canada )

Sydney, N.S. – Before the announcer even made it to the microphone to introduce the next band, the crowd started cheering. With unforgettable facial hair and platinum blond locks peeking from beneath his hat, the next performer was recognized instantly. “Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew!” shouted the East Coast Music Awards announcer over the deafening noise of people screaming.
It was the sort of welcome that bands dream of receiving and it was a night that this band is not likely to forget. On Saturday night, guitarist Chris Colepaugh, bassist Lynn Daigle and drummer Craig Watson played to a massive crowd pulsing inside the Victoria Park Armories, an old army drill hall here. It was their second performance at the ECMA event of the weekend. And it was the second time they brought the house down. “We just kicked into it, into automatic, “Ms. Daigle said. “We’re looking out in the audience and it was filling in, filling in and then the back was packed … Everyone was so excited and then, woooo, a standing ovation.”
- Telegraph Journal - Saint John, New Brunswick - Canada

If anyone’s been to a Phish show or a Grateful Dead concert, or seen Blues Traveller during the Roadside Attraction tour, you know the intense pleasure of hearing one of those psychedelic, bluesy, guitar-jamming wild bands live.

You know those jams that go on forever and just get better? ( I’m having visions of Trey Anastasio bouncing on a trampoline.)
Well, it sounds like Chris Colepaugh has that same addictive sound that music lovers will quit their jobs and load up their VW vans for, and spend days on the road just to trade stories with other fans and to be “present” at every show.

The gritty groovemasters from Moncton have yet to receive official accolades, a.k.a. music awards, but they do have a list of nominations under their belt, including one for Best Rock Band of the Year from this year’s East Coast Music Awards. We all know that great performers don’t need an award to validate their talent, but who cares when you’ve been asked to showcase at the legendary House Of Blues in Boston? And the sure have worn out their boots and guitar strings on the road playing clubs and festivals across Canada.
- Summit Up - Canmore, Alberta - Canada