By: Haja Kabba
Contributing Writer
Passion without words. This is how Mike Mahgerefteh describes his band, Galaxy Dynamite. Galaxy Dynamite is a local band comprised of three Old Dominion students Mike Mahgerefteh, Kevin Arroyo and Sam Wolffe .
The band originally started through a series of sporadic jam sessions that transitioned into open mic nights. The name “Galaxy Dynamite” is derived from an anime show, but its personal meaning to the band differs. “It’s kind of overwhelming explosions. Excessive excitement. Free thinking,” Mahgerefteh said. “It’s basically just fun and goofiness,” Kevin said.
When asked some of their creative influences, Arroyo was quick to name Jimmy Hendrix.
Galaxy Dynamite is inspired by the idea of an epic flow of high energy, low energy, and improvisation with an underlining of “trans” music. Trans music is a branch of the dance and techno music genre, such as Daft Punk. They are also inspired by the idea of waves in the sense that they’re unpredictable. They find the potential that the waves can be calming one second but their movement changes continuously to be fascinating.
The band has recently finished recording their first album which is a compilation of a performance they did late last year at The Jewish Mother in Norfolk, VA. The album features an endless stream of free flowing music that leads into one another.
This is often an organic, improvised act, Arroyo explained. “A lot of the time we’re just jamming and we keep going.” Every concert experience is unlike the other. The songs feature effortless hits like “Zombiewalk” and “Rocket Smash.”
“It’s a kind of surf rock mixed with psychedelic trans jam,” Mahgerefteh said enthusiastically.
The song titles are inspired by random thoughts and the actual feeling the song depicts itself. They don’t intentionally sit down and attempt to make songs a certain way, but rather to make the process as natural as possible.
When asked when they thought their next album would be released Arroyo answered, “Oh man! Our next album is out in another year.” There was an agreement with this statement. “Yeah we still have a lot more work to do,” Wolffe said. “One idea I had would be to take the songs from our first album, rerecord it and dub it into reggae.”
The threesome have a fond appreciation of the support they’ve received from their friends, families and fans, which they dedicated a section on their debut CD for.
Fans of Galaxy Dynamite can find out more about the band via their YouTube, Facebook, and personal band page.
The band has an upcoming show at The Taphouse in Norfolk March. 3. Until then, their keeping themselves busy with performing at house parties, working on merchandise, and touring as much as possible.
“Our main goal is making money doing what we love to do. Five or 10 years from now I see us doing 70 to 100 shows on tour,” Mahgerefteh said. “The rest of the time we’re on the yacht,” Wolffe added jokingly.
