Live at the Baked Potato

Biography

Cosmosquad - Live at the Baked Potato It was in 1997 when three hotshot upstarts with something to prove accidentally crossed paths at a Phoenix, Arizona rehearsal studio and had an instant musical connection. Guitarist Jeff Kollman, drummer Shane Gaalaas and bassist Barry Sparks combined their musical prowess with their love for all things rock into a three-piece instrumental juggernaut that they decided to call COSMOSQUAD. The rest, as they say, is history. Well, not exactly. History, appare...

Cosmosquad - Live at the Baked Potato It was in 1997 when three hotshot upstarts with something to prove accidentally crossed paths at a Phoenix, Arizona rehearsal studio and had an instant musical connection. Guitarist Jeff Kollman, drummer Shane Gaalaas and bassist Barry Sparks combined their musical prowess with their love for all things rock into a three-piece instrumental juggernaut that they decided to call COSMOSQUAD. The rest, as they say, is history. Well, not exactly. History, apparently, is still being written. After their initial jams, Cosmosquad reconvened in a downtown Los Angeles studio to record the songs they had worked on back in Phoenix. They decided to have no limits on what they played. If they wanted to throw a Latin groove in after a bluesy verse, then so be it. Whatever served the music and the song was their mantra. After only a week, the boys had completed most of what would be coming their first CD. The self-titled Cosmosquad was released in the US on Kollman's own Marmaduke Records in the waning moments of '97 and in Japan on Big M.F. in early 1998. The band found that they had a built-in fan base of both people who loved sophisticated instrumental rock music and fans of the various "famous" artists each member had previously toured with (which reads like a "who's who" of classic rock). Alas, the members of Cosmosquad spent the rest of 98 touring with the aforementioned various "famous" artists. Cosmosquad reconnected in 1999 to record Jeff Kollman's solo CD, Shedding Skin. Shane played drums on the entire effort, and Barry split bass duties with other bassists in Jeff's now growing circle of LA session cats. The music on Shedding Skin was a continuation of the kind of music released on Cosmosquad, so much so that Cosmosquad would continue to play songs from this CD as part of their live set for years to come. Jeff took the music from Cosmosquad and Shedding Skin on the road, as he did solo performances and clinics throughout Europe and Southeast Asia. By the beginning of 2000, Jeff and Shane were excited to finally go out and do gigs as Cosmosquad. Unfortunately, Barry was committed to be touring with other artists for most of the year. It was at this point that bassist Christopher Maloney was brought in to fill in for Barry on live Cosmosquad gigs. Christopher had attended Musicians Institute with Shane nearly seven years early, and Jeff, Shane and Christopher had been playing in a few different LA bands since 1997. Reinvigorated, Cosmosquad played throughout Los Angeles for the rest of the year, experimenting with songs choices and arrangements of material that had never been performed in public before. In early 2001, Christopher handed the bass chair back to Barry as the group hit the studio to work on their next CD. The band wanted to continue with the musical direction set forth with their first recording, but they also wanted to develop new elements as well. They invited guest artists to record with them, experimented with different sound textures and incorporated drum loops in order to expand the music they were writing. The result was Squadrophenia, which was greeted with public and critical acclaim. Largely unknown to the band, their first CD created a cult following of music lovers, and the fans were chomping at the bit to get any new material the band would release. Cosmosquad's stature also grew from Squadrophenia being released not only in the US and Japan, but throughout Europe as well. They celebrated the release of the new CD with several shows throughout southern California and various dates on the east coast. One LA date in particular was recorded for an upcoming live CD that they band would release after they were done touring to support Squadrophenia. After the live shows were concluded, Barry surprised many fans by releasing a solo CD, Glimmer Of Hope, which showcased not his tremendous bass skills, but his incredible acoustic guitar playing. 2002 saw the release of Live At The Baked Potato; the result of the recording the band had done the previous year at their favorite Los Angeles live venue. The CD contained live tracks from the previous two Cosmosquad albums as well as Jeff's CD Shedding Skin. For the first time, fans from around the world, most of who had never actually seen a Cosmosquad concert, could finally at least hear the boys playing this music live. Meanwhile, Christopher borrowed Shane to record drum tracks on his first solo CD, Control. With Barry back out on the road with other artists, Christopher eagerly took over the bass chair once again to join Cosmosquad on many live dates. In June, the group made its first jaunt overseas to perform a one-off concert in Rome, Italy. Jeff, Shane and Christopher finished the year touring the UK with their friend, UFO singer Phil Mogg, in a group they put together called Sign Of 4. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.