BOSTON, Mass. [January 19, 2024] – John Lennon is often attributed with the line about how “life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” For Derek Smith and the Cosmic Vultures, both life and plans took a rather circuitous route to deliver us to the present day, where the Boston alternative rock band unveiled their new single “Waiting” on Friday, January 19.
After forming roughly a decade ago, the Cosmic Vultures developed a reputation around New England for their electric live show and eclectic blend of genre-spanning rock and roll. But a few years back, frontman, vocalist, and principal songwriter Derek Smith branched out with solo material, unleashing the creative fire burning within. He released a pair of albums (2022’s Rubedo and last year’s Obscura) that explored new musical territories before October’s well-received and anthemic “Black Angel” single, all featuring members of the band, around the same time the Vultures were nominated for Rock Artist of the Year at the 2023 New England Music Awards.
Before the year was out, Smith and the band decided to merge and become a unified entity, re-christening the project as Derek Smith and the Cosmic Vultures, and the first offering in this new music chapter arrives this month with “Waiting,” a celestial cruise through an alt-rock galaxy that was produced and mixed by David Minehan at Woolly Mammoth Sound in Waltham, Massachusetts.
The irony is not lost that Smith and the Cosmic Vultures quickly rediscovered their musical chemistry through a single called “Waiting,” as with both projects gaining momentum in the Boston music scene, the time was right to come together once again for a unified creative vision.
“‘Waiting’ is about waiting for something to happen,” Smith says. “Waiting for the money to fall in your lap. Waiting for the big break. Waiting for death. Waiting for the chickens to come home to roost. It’s everything and anything you can be waiting for. But for me I always had this idea that maybe something will just happen. I was very wrong. Waiting for something to happen to you is a sad thing. I’ve learned that you need to go out and do it. Do what you need to do. Make your own luck.”
That’s what the prolific Smith has done over the past few years, developing a fan base organically both through his recent solo efforts and through the Cosmic Vultures. “Waiting” was first written by Smith about a dozen years ago, sitting in the bedroom of his old house a few miles outside Boston, just strumming the chords of his acoustic as the melody to the vocals just came to him.
Smith always envisioned the final version of “Waiting” to have a big, galactic sound to it, something to be heard in the car while flying up and down Interstate 93. And after the grand ambition and skyscraper force of “Black Angel,” enlisting Minehan for that final studio polish and working with the Cosmic Vultures – lead/rhythm electric guitarist and backing vocalists Jonathan Chesbro and Michael Strakus; bassist Steve Constantino; and drummer Dalton DeLima – made all the sense in the world. The three players were natural fits on “Waiting,” complementing Smith on vocals, B3 Hammond Organ, and rhythm guitar.
“I wanted to do something a little harder for this one,” Smith admits. “I can do more than just soft and melodic. I didn’t think of it as the first song after merging, but more of the next chapter after ‘Black Angel’. I look at the body of work that hasn’t been released and sort of see what makes sense next. Maybe I was just tired of waiting to record this one.”
So far, merging Derek Smith the solo artist with Derek Smith the frontman of the Cosmic Vultures has been seamless, as the band continues to perform live around the New England area, taking part in the New England Music Awards’ Last Band Standing competition in March. With the two entities coming together, the catalog has now expanded to include five albums, two EPs, and now, with “Waiting”, there’ll be four stand-alone singles.”
“It definitely feels like we made the right decision merging both entities together,” Smith adds, but before admitting: “It became a little difficult to figure out what song was meant for which project: solo or band. To me, they didn’t even feel like separate things. I just write. But it made so much sense to combine everything after jumping back and forth with my solo Spotify page and band page. Why not combine the two and have everything under one umbrella? As a band we’ve talked about the dynamic of everything. Steve, Mike, Jon and I are comfortable with what we are doing and how we are approaching it. I could have easily listed Rubedo and Obscura as band albums and probably should’ve at the time because the Vultures performed on a lot of those tunes.”
Smith is also quick to commend the production effort of the great Dave Minehan, who helped the band achieve the massive, hypnotic sound for which “Waiting” was always destined. After this release, another new single is set for April, and then Derek Smith and the Cosmic Vultures head back into Woolly Mammoth to record a new full-length.
“I had the song for years, but creatively, I have to give a ton of props to our producer David Minehan and to the band for digging deep into finding the proper sound for this song,” Smith says. “We are an ‘idea’ type of band. Coming up with specific guitar licks and such. Minehan really helped create a great harmony section in ‘Waiting’. The members of the band are extremely dedicated in making a great sounding song. We are a group of musicians who perform for the song. That’s the most important thing. Whatever the song needs. What’s best for the song. There will always be a little ego from time to time, that’s just normal. But we focus on what each of us can do to make the song better.”
And sometimes, that means coming back together, to unify what once was, and what was always meant to be.
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