Interview with the Cosmic Wrays—Everett’s Only Surf-Space Retro Rock Band

If you’ve never heard the Cosmic Wrays, you’re missing out on one of the most fun bands to hit Hewitt. The four-piece Seattle-area band plays tunes that combine aural elements of spy movies, surf and garage rock into a unique pastiche of retro rock and roll.

Oh yeah, and they wear space suits on stage.

Their name is a nod to their hero, surf guitar hero Link Wray.

When I first heard the ‘Wrays, I wasn’t completely surprised—their sound reminded me of something I would hear on my favorite radio program Pull the String (RIP), an old KSER show hosted by a DJ named Van Ramsey. Indeed, Ramsey is the organ player in the Cosmic Wrays, adding a Hammond organ-like vibe to crashing waves of reverb guitar.

Pretty rad.

The Cosmic Wrays are playing the Black Lab Gallery this Saturday, June 8— don’t miss them as they rock the ‘Lab with Everett fave act The Moon is Flat.

I recently caught up with Van and Dave from the ‘Wrays to talk about the local surf scene, vintage vibes, and everything in the pipeline for Seattle’s premier retro surf space band.

How did you all find each other? Is there a subculture of surf musicians in the Pacific Northwest?

Crash Gordon (DAVE HOWARD): Perri and I met through the magic of Craigslist. We started off as a three-piece (with bass guitar) and focused more on Link Wray covers, with a few originals. We were lucky enough to have Van join us a few months later, and Chris solidified the bass guitar spot.

We've really been focused on originals with a Sci-Fi, spy surf, and even a little tiki/exotica influence. The Seattle Surf scene is VIBRANT! Believe it or not, there are 11 active surf bands in the Seattle/Tacoma/Bellingham areas. For the most part we all know each other, and often play on "surf billed" shows together. Seattle has become a respectable place for surf bands to play.

Ramjet Vortex (VAN RAMSEY): I met Dave at a surf show at Darrell's in Shoreline. He was really hot to get in a surf band! We kind of joined each other's networks and left it at that for a year or so, then I saw that Dave had put together The Cosmic Wrays. I have a well documented, long time adoration for Link Wray, so I was intrigued. I saw the band at Tony V's, and we talked about jamming sometime, and when we got together to play it was just a really good fit, so I got on board.

What was your recording session like? Where and when did you record and what gear did you use?

Crash Gordon (DAVE HOWARD): We recorded our EP "The Cosmic Wrays are Go!" at Buttersound Studios in downtown Everett. Big thanks to our audio engineer "man with a plan" Chip Butters who did all the recording, engineering, mastering and general magic to get our tracks sounding fantastic! We recorded everything live, in one room, just like we were playing at a club. We wanted to keep up our high energy, and were focused on a more of a classic sound like you would have heard in the early 1960's recordings rather than a "modern" overproduced studio sound. No tracking on anything, we only added a few sound effects on a couple of songs after the songs were recorded. A great experience for me! I play a Gretsch Renown 57 bop kit, with an added 16" floor tom (so one rack tom and two-floor toms) and a Gretsch Renown Birch 6.5 x 14" snare with all Paiste Giant Beat cymbals. Perri has now switched guitars to an Eastwood Airliner with a Bigsby—nearly identical to what Link Wray played years ago. Chris played a Fender Rascal bass with special vintage lipstick pickups.

Ramjet Vortex (VAN RAMSEY): I used my regular rig, a Crumar Mojo run through a Motion Sound Pro 145. The Mojo is basically a digital version of a Hammond B3. The Motion Sound is like a lighter-weight Leslie, with built-in mics and XLR output jacks so we ran it into the board that way and it sounded great! Kudos to Chip Butters, who had some great suggestions for me during the recording process.

The Wrays performing at Tony V’s Garage // Courtesy the Cosmic Wrays

How would you describe the sound and vibe of the Cosmic Wrays? I hear sci-fi elements and surf rock elements. Do you all share any influences?

Crash Gordon (DAVE HOWARD): First and foremost, I am a HUGE fan of surf music. I've been a fan since I first heard it in my teens. I do have to say that my strongest surf influences would be Link Wray (duh), Man or Astro-Man?, the Ghastly Ones, the Surf Coasters, the Bomboras, the Tikiyaki Orchestra, tiki/exotica music, all the Gerry Anderson shows (Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlett, UFO, Space 1999), some early Japanese animated shows (like Star Blazers), the original Johnny Quest show music (Hoyt Curtain is a genius), and brilliant composers like Jerry Goldsmith, Lalo Schfirin, Ennio Morricone and just about all the 1960's spy and space movies that you can think of. As for the band members 'sharing influences', we're all relatively close in age and were fans of the same movies, composers, and of course surf music.

Ramjet Vortex (VAN RAMSEY): Loud, hot, wild, driving, fun, fast, creative, continuously evolving...definitely influenced by vintage science fiction and 1960s spy movies. And Link Wray, of course. I like to research the astronomy when choosing a song title...which moons might have liquid water, etc. It took a couple of rehearsals for us all to correctly pronounce "Enceladus." In my youth I was a pretty good jazz trumpet player, so I kind of bring all that history with me. Basically I'm influenced by all the music I've ever heard, and all the movies I've ever seen. This is the first band I've been in that incorporates uniforms, creative merch, and a little schtick. We've worn shiny metallic purple shirts, crazy shades we couldn't even see through, and lately we're sporting ersatz "space suits" on stage. Plus sound effects, stage names...we really want to make this FUN!

What's next for the Cosmic Wrays after the Black Lab show?

Crash Gordon (DAVE HOWARD): Things have really been picking up for us lately! People really like the CD! We are starting to get exposure on several surf focused podcast shows, and in local and college radio. We have some new music in the works, and would like to play some bigger surf focused shows (yes, there are several multi-day surf shows nationwide). We will start to record a new CD soon.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: On Saturday July 27, Darrell's Tavern in Shoreline will host the first annual "Surf by Surfwest" featuring 11 surf bands from the PNW area! This will be the biggest surf show in Seattle's history (most bands) all thanks to Thom Head and Darrell's Tavern. We are playing at 8:15 pm....bands start at 3pm to midnight! If you're a surf fan...or want to become one... come out and hear your local surf bands crank it up to 11! Sorry, had to do the pun.

Ramjet Vortex (VAN RAMSEY): We want to continue RIDING THE WAVE (sorry) of our current success. We've had great response to our album and our live shows, and we're always working on new music. There are some festivals in the U.S. and Europe we'd love to play. Meanwhile we're enjoying the local bar gigs, and hoping for some festival or parks concert-type gigs.

Where can people buy your new CD?

Obviously we really want you to come see The Cosmic Wrays live and pick up a CD direct from us at our shows... we'll even sign it!. We also always have new T-shirts with limited run graphics, and our signature Cosmic Wray ray guns (squirt guns!) available at our live shows.

You can download single songs or the whole album online from Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, and CD Baby. Check out www.cosmicwrays.com for our next gig information or to book us for a gig, just send a friendly email to thecosmicwrays@gmail.com.