Raygun Cowboys add horns to rockabilly

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What do you do when you play a genre that hasn’t really changed in 60 years? You add a horn section and evolve.The Raygun Cowboys play Lethbridge this week. Photo by  RJB Photo
 That’s what Edmonton’s Raygun Cowboys  have done, and you’ll get to see it at the Slice, May 14 when they will be playing with Smokestack Jacks and Kory Istace vs the Time Pirates.


“We started out about 10 years ago as a straight ahead three piece rockabilly trio, but we were listening to a lot of Misfits and horror punk like that so it seeped in,” related guitarist Jon Christopherson.


 A few years ago they had a jam session with another Edmonton band called the Mad Bomber Society and liked how having horns in the band added to the sound.

So they added that band’s trumpet player Mike Johnson and trombone player Nathan Conelly, who officially joined in 2007.

“It’s been really good. It definitely gives us a different sound. People call us a ska band because of the horns, but we’re not. We’re still a punk and rockabilly band,” guitarist/ vocalist Jon Christopherson said.


“I always liked old ’50s rockabilly like Elvis and Gene Vincent. It’s very hard to add a new twist to a style of music that has been set for 60 years.


“ People seem to like it. There are always a couple who don’t really get it, but we toured Europe for three weeks and most of them got it. So it’s a pretty exciting show,” he said adding he is looking forward to the band’s Lethbridge debut.
“We’ve played all over Alberta, but we’ve never made it down to Lethbridge. We’ve been working on it for a couple years, but the schedules never worked,” he observed.


 They will be playing a mix of music from the two albums they have released as well  as some new music from a CD they plan to record in September for a Fall release.


“It will be a mixture of early stuff and new stuff— a mix of all of that,” he said.
Tickets are $10 in advance, or $15 at the door for the show that is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 10 May 2011 11:07 )