Cosmic Superheroes

“Hey, it’s 1:11!! Make a Wish!!”, says guitarist and lead vocalist Brandon McLean.

Brandon, who founded Raleigh-based Cosmic Superheroes in 2014 with long-time friend “Sugar” Shane Smith, quickly found quirky accomplices to turn their musical vision into reality.

After befriending an amazing fly-by-night drummer named the “Dutch Treat”, they serendipitously met keyboardist Paul Sanders at a friend’s Phish ‘streaming’ party in the fall of 2014. They immediately started playing small bars and clubs regularly around Raleigh. After cutting their teeth in dive bars and local brewing establishments, the band really focused on writing songs and becoming friends. “We all started to get really excited about the new project because it was just so ridiculously fun and experimental,” exclaimed Paul “The Researcher/Facilitator.”

The band self-produced and released an album in October 2015, and called it Monday because it was recorded almost exclusively on Monday evenings--and everybody knows the certain feeling you feel on Mondays. The five songs, interlaced with explosive yet relaxed improvised jam moments, feature Shane playing bass, the Dutch Treat on drums, and Brandon and Paul oozing melodies.

Not able to stand the heat of summer in North Carolina, the Dutch Treat sweatily made his way home to New England, and Mike Myers “Mr. Fix-It,” took the throne as the Cosmic Drummer. Fast forward a few hundred beers, and we witnessed a few different faces playing the bass. With Sugar Shane bouncing back and forth between guitar and bass, live performances have always been a unique experience.

In the early weeks of 2016, Brandon decided to post an ad on craigslist to begin the bass search. Cosmically, a locally renowned bass-extraordinaire Paul Benner answered the call. Even more Cosmic, it turned out Brandon and Benner had known each other since 2009!!

It’s just one cosmic event after another, and even Raleigh’s INDYWEEK has taken notice:

“...fun loving Triangle quintet [quartet] takes an eclectic journey through atmospheres studded with psychedelic guitar workouts and slightly funky, slightly folky alt-rock.”
-Independent Weekly, Dec 2015

Taking a bold step toward a goal of “two releases in less than one year,” the band entered Bongo Studios in December 2015 to record a new group of songs with the local-legend, Bongo John Metcalf. Described by the The Facilitator as “hoping to capture the live energy we’ve harnessed in the last few months as we’ve grown much as people and a band,” the songs were recorded mostly live, (now-very-unorthodox thing to do).

With a very busy local-to-central-NC spring and summer touring schedule chock full of private back yard parties, festivals, and downtown stages, you can probably expect these not-so-regular-Joes to get back in the studio in a few months to finish up and broadcast to the Cosmic airwaves….