Co-Pilot

I’ve been very remiss in putting these guys up here, especially since I’ve had a handful of their songs on my iPod for, what?, a year now? (Guys, are you ever going to put up any new tracks on the MySpace page? Please? I know they were promised at the end of Feb., but I sure haven’t seen anything new…) Plus, they’ve got a fine H-town rock pedigree, with at least one (possibly two) ex-member(s) of one of my favorite local indie-rock bands of all time, Scooter. What the hell — I like the songs and the people involved, and yet, I haven’t gotten off my ass and made ’em a Featured Band? Yep; I’ve been a bad, bad, lazy person.

In my defense, I’d kinda been holding my breath/crossing my fingers for the band’s first actual release — to my knowledge, the only songs they’ve got out so far are the three up here, so I figured rather than put ’em in the list on the strength of those three tracks, I’d wait for a full-length (or at least an EP). Over time, however, those three tracks have worn me down, dammit. I give!

At any rate, Co-Pilot have kind of fallen in with the little nu-spacerock scene that’s been going on here for a while now, alongside bands like Storms Threaten to Destroy and Antarctica Starts Here, and I have to say that I love the fact that there’s a whole crew of like-minded folks doing this kind of thing in our fair city. The music bridges the gap between MBV-style fuzz and Explosions in the Sky-style distant space-instro-country (with a bit of Denton spacerockers The Secret Machines thrown in, to boot) — we’re talking roaring-yet-gorgeous guitars, head-nodding, heartbeat-steady rhythms, soaring, melancholy melodies, and the occasional gentle, Seam-esque vocal.

I haven’t yet caught these folks live (I’ve been hoping to, but now they’re apparently headed off to tour Canada and party like rockstars), but damn, the music’s impressive. Check out the MySpace tracks if you get a chance — “Low Earth Orbit” kills me every time, and “Elysian Fields” is freakin’ majestic as hell, as well — or, better yet, go see ’em play live. And again: guys, please record/put up some more stuff soon??

• Tonight: Omotai, Co-Pilot, Sleep Envy, & DSGNS at Fitz
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Matt Pond + Hoofprints + Brand New Hearts + Junius + Featherface + We Were Wolves + M.O.D. + More
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Badass Weekend (Still) + Jon Black + Cordial + For The Community IV + Co-Pilot + Rakim + Valens + More
• Yr. (Abbreviated) Weekend, Pt. 2: Red Cross Benefit + Stevie & Tara Benefit + Ruiners + DJ Sun + Indian Jewelry + Metalachi + More
• Tomorrow: Co-Pilot Kicks Off Tour with Alaskan
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Knights of the Fire Kingdom + Co-Pilot + Bright Light Social Hour + Rammstein + Fox & Cats + More
• Alaskan/Co-Pilot, “Euthanize”/”The Bering Sea”
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Buxton (Rev’d!) + Bang Bangz + Co-Pilot + Holy Fiction/Orchestra (Interviewed!) + More
• Say Hello to Treaty Oak Collective & The Convoy Group
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Latch Key Kids + Chris Gray Day + The Eastern Sea + The Sour Notes + Lisa’s Sons + More
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Literary Greats + Finnegan + Quiet Company + Balaclavas + Jealous Creatures + Wheel Workers + More
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: The Octopus Project + Benefit for Tim Young + Co-Pilot + Clory Martin + The Suffers + More
• The Wild Moccasins
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Two Star Symphony + Co-Pilot + The Small Sounds + Square and Compass + White Linen + More
• Coming Up: Co-Pilot Leads an Atmospheric, Heavy Blowout, This Saturday