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| Cosmic Vocalist Christine Hollembaek |
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Hi, I’m Christine – one of Cosmic’s lead singers.
I have lots of memories of singing to huge stadiums/theaters/concerts halls full of imaginary people.
All I had to do was start one of my albums, tapes, 8-tracks (oh so sad) or (much later) CDs. From Abba
to Journey to Pat Benatar to Depeche Mode, I was rocking out and loving it – and so was the crowd. My
microphones of choice were a particularly microphone-looking vacuum attachment, my Mr. Microphone (which
I think worked for a whole day when I got it for Christmas when I was 8) or my sister’s Ban roll-on. I
guess that’s where I perfected my stellar stage moves too (I’m laughing too, it’s alright).
Seriously, though, I never had the nerve to sing in public. I would go watch my sister Cathy perform and
was simply amazed that she could get up in front of a crowd and sing – and be comfortable! Occasionally,
I would get up and sing back-up on a song but it took some serious liquid courage. She loved to sing and I
might be slightly biased but she was great from the very beginning when she sang in the Alleman Variety Show.
Cathy asked me to fill in for her for a short time when she was singing with the band ‘Chunkster’ and I
recall her saying ‘Don’t do this for me, do it because you want to’. Well, truth is, I did it for her.
The very thought of getting up on stage made me queasy. The guys in the band were absolutely fantastic and
made me feel right at home but I still got nervous every time we started a show. After it was all over, a
strange thing happened – I found that karaoke just didn’t cut it any more and I found myself wanting to sing in a
band (unbelievable). Lamont happened to call me shortly thereafter about joining ‘Why Not?’ and I found
myself having a blast. Cathy joined us a couple of years later and in early 2006, the three of us joined
forces with Steve Tracy and formed Cosmic. Because one Steve just isn’t enough,
we added Steve Merritt and here we all are.
It took a long time but I am finally singing with my sister. It is awesome – harmonizing, switching off on
lead, changing it up. Then there are Lamont and Steve squared. Lamont is incredibly talented and loves
playing more than anyone I know. He can’t walk by a guitar without picking it up and never plays a song
the same way twice. He’ll throw a different pedal in here, a slide in there, change the tempo and really
get into a groove. Steve Tracy has so much experience and such amazing talent. There isn’t anything Steve
can’t play – and play well. I listen for those subtle and sometimes not so subtle parts that really make
the song and give it its soul. We were oh-so fortunate to find Steve Merritt to round out the group. Steve
agreed to fill in for us when we were without a permanent drummer. In spite of how insane we all are (or
at least I am), he must have felt somewhat at home and decided to join us. His rhythm is the backbone to
our music and his professional training and creativity give our songs real life. His sound is awesome – I
could listen to him play without any other instrumentation all night long (just watch me during his sound
check).
I live for those moments when something one of them plays or something Cathy sings hits a nerve – it is
literally overwhelming (you can actually see Cathy and I look at each other and smile sometimes). If you’ve
seen me on stage then you know. I’m not about being showy, I’m about the singing and the music – it’s just the way
I am. I’m focused and I’m into it and the best thing for me is not only seeing the audience into it, but
seeing the rest of the band into it, too.
My musical tastes are all over the board and that is one of the things I love about Cosmic.
When you come out to see us, you will hear a variety of music genres, a variety of artists (including us), and
a variety of times in music history. I hope you’ll come out to see us soon and I hope you enjoy the music
and have as much fun as we do.
--Christine
Copyright © 2006, Cosmic
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