*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is Oklahoma.*
Cosmic Wool is straight from the Heartland Of America, Oklahoma City to be exact. The band formed in 2013 by brothers Nevada (Guitars/Backing Vocals) and Larado “Rado” Romo (Lead Vocals/Bass) who both are formerly of the band Anti Mortem and Nevada has been the guitarist for Texas Hippie Coalition since 2016. In 2018 Texas Hippie Coalition bassist and co-founder John Exall parted ways with the band, it was at that time Rado Romo joined his brother in the band and replaced Exall. I believe the Romo brothers being in 2 bands together allows them to constantly keep their chemistry alive and well both on stage and in writing new music. The remaining members of Cosmic Wool are John “Drew” Williams (Guitar/Keyboards) who met the brothers through a mutual friend, and Tom Frizzell (Drums) who responded to an ad by the band seeking a drummer. The band initially like most bands do started out as a jam band. Cosmic Wool was something for the Romo brothers to do with their breaks between tours. With the dissipation of Anti Mortem in 2014 it freed up more time and Cosmic Wool was moved up as a priority. The band first released a 3 track EP ‘Over Your Eyes’. The band tested their sound with local Oklahoma crowds and they seemed to love the direction the band was going in. The next step was to step further out of their region and see if the country was ready for the comforting sounds of Cosmic Wool. In 2016 the band released another EP titled ‘White.’ The band further developed their “cosmic” psychedelic sound and intertwined amazing melodic choruses within their newer songs creating the sound they have today. Cosmic Wool spent the spring of 2015 until the summer of 2017 writing and reworking the songs that would make up their debut full length, working with Chainsaw Kittens guitarist Trent Bell perfecting the sound they were looking for. The band has stated “We met Trent through another producer we’re friends with named Dustin “Provo” Provenzano who did the first Cosmic Wool demos as well as the Anti Mortem demos. Bell Sound is a huge facility,” points out Rado Romo, “so we took full advantage of that and recorded most of the guitar, bass and drum tracks together in the same room. We also experimented with state of the art synths and keyboards to round things out.” The bands sound has been described as various things, space rock, desert rock, psychedelic rock, groove metal, but one thing is for certain; the band has moved out of the hard rock genre and created a sound that is uniquely theirs. The bands debut self titled full length was released on December 19, 2017 and is available at most online music merchandisers. Pick up a copy on Amazon here, or check it out on spotify.
All of the bands songs are standouts and truly have single power, but the one that shines the most to me is “Hole For My Head” on their self-titled debut full length. The fuzzy melodic riffs really get your head moving before the vocals ever kick in. Cymbal crashes at exactly the right moments so you can get in the groove. Rado has a familiar vocal style, it’s like something you’ve heard before but its also different in it’s own way. The chorus takes on a much more gritty screaming style, then for the rest of the song its in a sing-along laid back tone. You will quickly be singing along “Another hole to put my head in, Another road to a dead end, A place to hide where you can’t find, A place to live where I can’t die.” This is some amazing song writing and the music goes along perfectly with the lyrical content. One of the best individual tracks I have heard in quite sometime. Cosmic Wool can expel amazing spacey psychedelic grooves and riffs and also melodic hooks in their lyrics that grabs your attention and won’t let go. Be prepared to be singing this song in your head for weeks to come. In March of 2018 the band revealed they had been in the studio but it wasn’t clear if they were recording a few singles or working on another EP or album. The band played several shows during the summer of 2018 and then in September released a brand new track titled “Chevy Nova” along with an accompanying lyric video. This song was recorded at Bell Labs Studios, by Trent Bell. “Chevy Nova” is an upbeat clean melodic song. The gravely raw tone and pitch in Rado’s vocals we heard in “Hole For My Head” are absent on this new song. It has a much more polished sound and cleaner sounding melodic vocals. The brothers Romo are tremendously talented musicians. If you have seen them with Texas Hippie Coalition you have only seen a portion of their talent. Cosmic Wool is their project and their creativity runs rampant throughout their songs. Guitarist Drew Williams and drummer Tom Frizzell are the final touches to the band that just puts them over the top. Each and every song of theirs has it’s own uniqueness and deserves to be heard. This band isn’t pulling the wool over your eyes, they are indeed cosmic and their style and sound is as comforting as your favorite old wool sweater. Put on your space suit and hit ignition in the form of Cosmic Wool.
