SINCE TIME immemorial, humans have asked ‘Are we alone?’ and have looked to the heavens and beyond in search of an answer. Out there in the cosmos, other, very different, forms of life may live on yet undiscovered planets.
Perhaps one day, we may make contact with them - if so, Dublin band Le Galaxie will be the first in line to greet them and treat them to their high energy dance/prog/indie style of music.
Dublin’s Le Galaxie - Michael Pope (guitar/synth ), Anthony Hyland (guitar ), Alastair Higgins (drums ), and David McGloughlin (bass ) - play the Róisín Dubh New Year’s Eve bash with The Ghostwood Project, Disconnect 4, and headliners Fight Like Apes.
The adventure that would become Le Galaxie began in 2002 when the four men were part of indie rock band 66e. However when the singer decided to call it a day, messrs Pope, Hyland, Higgins, and McGloughlin were left wondering what to do.
“We were looking for another singer but we had all these embryonic ideas and we didn’t want to shoehorn ourselves into a 66e type sound anymore,” explains Michael over a Monday morning phonecall. “We just started playing what we wanted and we were surprised by the sound that came out - so we decided to go with this new band and start gigging it.”
What emerged was something, not just different from 66e, but worlds, indeed galaxies, apart from that band’s ultra serious indie. In its place was a mostly instrumental prog-rock/dance/electro/indie-rock of epic proportions, with an other worldly atmosphere - best heard on the band’s recent single ‘You Feel The Fire!’
In short, it’s the best trip into the cosmos you can have without contacting NASA or Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic! As such Le Galaxie was an appropriate name for the new venture.
Sci-fi
The band are all major science fiction fans (Michael’s currently reading Dan Simmons’ Hyperion ) so it is no wonder their post-66e creative liberation should be infused with themes of fantasy and outer space.
“We’re more interested in science fiction than the real world,” laughs Michael. “We’ve been watching sci-fi for years and it’s something we’re all passionate about. For my part I love films like Andromeda, 2001, Solaris, and Blade Runner.
I also like Star Trek - the kitsch early ones and new ones. I know the 1960s Star Trek is frowned upon but it was comfort TV with a simpler world view. They were morality plays. Sci-fi is what we love to read and watch and it’s certainly influenced our music and we get a real kick out of combining the two.”
Dr Who - or rather it’s celebrated original theme music from the 1960s episodes - was also an inspiration as 66e morphed into Le Galaxie. “If you listen to ‘Le Galaxie’ it’s a rip off of that menacing, throbbing sound,” says Michael. “It’s our tribute to Delia Derbyshire who created the theme music in the BBC Radiophonic workshop.”
To continue the sci-fi themes further we might say Le Galaxie’s “are dance music, Jim but not as we know it”. While it clearly bears the influence of techno and house and is intended to be danced to, there is no mistaking that Le Galaxie are four guys up on stage playing live - not DJs spinning decks or some guy fiddling with a laptop.
“I love dance music but I see that it can be sometimes all about the beats and melody-less,” says Michael. “There’s not much heart but we want the music to have heart. We very much want to make people dance but we didn’t want to get away from the live set-up of drums, bass, and guitars. We wanted to be a live band that plays dance music.”
Le Galaxie have played the Róisín Dubh numerous times this year and have shown - particularly at the Strange Brew 300th Night - that they are well capable of rocking an audience.
“In 66e we took ourselves very seriously and we were quite stern,” says Michael, “but we genuinely surprised ourselves by the way we are on-stage. We don’t hold back and it just comes out. It means that these days we are more dehydrated. We were playing in Whelan’s in Dublin recently and this guy came up with four glasses of water for us. We were going [imitates dry, croaking voice] ‘Thank you so much!’”
Into the cosmos
While Le Galaxie are building a reputation as a great live act, they are also earning critical praise for their music with State declaring it “wholesome and gorgeous”, and MTV.com declaring it “22nd century madness”. Even when Channel 6 glamourpuss Michelle Doherty said ‘They’re from Ireland, would you believe it!’ after playing one of their video’s on her Night Shift programme, the band took it as a compliment.
“We don’t want to sound like we are inherently from any place,” says Michael. “We want to sound like we’re from anywhere...or beyond, you know? ‘We’ve just received this recording by this band, we don’t know where it’s come from...’”
In other words, Le Galaxie would be thrilled if people thought they came from another solar system. With Le Galaxie all things lead back to the cosmos. Michael admits they would love if they could have been around in the 1970s and had their music featured on the famous Voyager golden LP - a vinyl album of sounds and images to display the diversity of life and culture on Earth - that was included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, and intended for use by any intelligent alien life form that may find it.
However performing a concert for the first aliens to land on earth will be just as good. The band believe there is life in other galaxies and are among those who feel that there may be form of aquatic life forms under the ice sheets of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
“We absolutely believe there is,” he says, before adding mischievously, “It may happen that one day they will conquer us and I for one will welcome that event. Le Galaxie will be the first to bow down before our new overlords. We will sit at their right hand and we will be able to play to them as in Close Encounters With The Third Kind.”
Doors are at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from the Róisín Dubh and Zhivago.
