Behind The Galacticas: Will Talks Punk Roots and Calgary’s Music Energy

Name: Will Cowan

Location: Calgary, AB

Talent Name: The Galacticas

Instagram:

@the_galacticas (band)

@stixxmuhoney (personal)

@chapterbychapterpod  (host)

@lastgenarcade  (host)

Category: Punk Rock Band • Drummer • Host  • Writer

💬 INTRODUCTION

I’m Will, a writer, content strategist, professional driver, and Jedi Knight. I’m also a founding member and drummer for The Galacticas, a pop-punk band based out of Calgary. I was born and raised in Calgary, and I’ve been playing drums since I was 13. My passion for music started at home—my dad was a working musician, so instruments and CDs were always around for me to mess with. But it wasn’t until I watched the documentary Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and discovered Slipknot that I knew I wanted to take drumming seriously. Hearing Joey Jordison play drums for the first time was a lightbulb moment—I knew this was what I had to do.

I picked up drumming quickly, playing with friends in junior high, and occasionally filling in for my dad’s band when their drummer couldn’t make it. High school brought my first “serious” band, Vulture Row, where I played alongside older kids. Sneaking into bars to play shows was all part of the rock ’n roll experience. It was also during this time that I met Anthony “Tony” Janicki, our lead singer/guitarist/frontman for The Galacticas. We played a few shows together back then but weren’t close at the time. After my band broke up post-high school, I didn’t play in a band for a few years, mostly focusing on university and earning a Journalism degree from Mount Royal.

While covering the music scene for an article, I reconnected with Tony. A few weeks after interviewing him and his band Deluge, he reached out to see if I wanted to try out for a new project he was forming. I said yes—and the rest is history. Our original bassist, Dan Wallach, eventually moved on to other projects, and Mark Ferguson joined in 2018. Since then, it’s been the three of us, with a revolving door of fill-ins, keeping The Galacticas alive and rocking.

🔥 THE PASSION

I often credit the late Joey Jordison for inspiring me to pick up the drums for the first time, but my influences go beyond that. Growing up with a dad who was a musician gave me both access to instruments and the encouragement to stick with drumming—especially when playing with others.

I also love the art of performance. Deep down, I’m a closeted drama kid, so being on stage has always felt natural. Sharing that space with goofballs like Tony or Mark makes it even better. I wouldn’t say I crave attention, but I enjoy knowing I can keep people engaged when the spotlight is on me.

🇨🇦 COMMUNITY & CANADIAN PRIDE

Being Canadian means the world to me. One of the perks of being in The Galacticas is getting to travel all over Western Canada, and not enough people realize just how much fun there is out there. We’ve played every type of event imaginable—music festivals, rodeos, drag shows, weddings, grand openings—you name it.

Alberta sometimes gets a bad rap (some of it deserved), and it can be easy to feel down if you’re not into the whole cowboy thing, but there’s so much more beneath the surface. Dig around, and you’ll see Alberta is one of the best places to live in the world.

Western Canada is such a mosaic of cultures, and being in The Galacticas gives me a chance to experience as much of it as I can. At the end of the day, I think we’ll always be known as an Albertan band, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

🚀 BUILDING THE DREAM

Honestly, I’m most proud of our consistency. It’s been the same three of us for the last seven years, and we have no intention of slowing down. We even managed to find shows to play in the middle of the pandemic! Looking back, what stands out most is how long we’ve been doing this—and doing it our way. Because of that, we’ve earned a reputation as a fun, reliable act that venues and promoters know they can count on for a good time.

It’s also been amazing to see kids grow up watching us, start their own bands, and then share the stage with us at their shows. There’s no greater compliment than inspiring someone else to pick up an instrument and chase their own dream—it’s incredibly rewarding.

🤝 NETWORKING SPOT

All three of us are huge fans of the Mass Effect series, developed by Edmonton-based studio BioWare.

If they could feature us as some kind of alien band in the next Mass Effect game, that would be incredible. Or, you know, if they could respond to any of the (very few) emails I’ve sent them—that’d be nice too. (I’m kidding… I think I’ve sent only like five.

🌈 CLOSING

We’re currently in the middle of producing our next EP, IRL, which is set to drop sometime between January and February 2026.

🖤 COMETS QUESTIONS

COMET: Do you remember the first time you felt truly connected to playing drums?

WILL: I don’t have a single moment when I connected with playing drums, but I do remember being 13 or 14 and spending hours a day locked in my room on a set of electric drums my parents bought me. If it wasn’t for that kit, I wouldn’t have had the privacy I needed to learn, make mistakes, and not have everyone in my neighborhood hear about it. What really helped me stick with it was when people started connecting my identity to drumming. When I heard kids and teachers say,

“that’s Will, he plays drums,” 

it made it easier to stay committed.

COMET: What do you think makes your drumming approach stand out from other players in the scene?

WILL: Skill-wise, I’m as mid-tier as mid-tier can be. I’ve got a couple tricks up my sleeve, but that’s about it. I think what helps me—and the band—stand out on stage is our willingness to be idiots. We don’t pretend to be cool; that just comes off as arrogance. We like to keep things light and fun. We’ve got nothing to prove, so we don’t act like we do. People also find it impressive that we can play for as long as we do. As a road band, we’re used to being the only act for the night, playing 4–5 sets in a row—that’s 4–5 hours of dedicated playing—and we can pull it off.

COMET: Who’s inspired your playing style the most over the years — any Canadian punk legends in the mix?

WILL: There are so many. Joey Jordison (Slipknot) got me started, but there’s also Tré Cool (Green Day), Danny Carey (Tool), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Chad Smith (RHCP), Stuart Copeland (The Police), Travis Barker (Blink 182), and, of course, Neil Peart (Rush). Other musicians I discovered online helped shape my understanding of music and taught me to play for the song, not just to show off—guys like Tony Royster Jr., Daniel Adair, Atom Willard, Ilan Rubin, Cobus Potgeiter, Troy Wright, and Josh Freese. I like to pull inspiration from a diverse range of genres, from skate punk and death metal to gangsta rap, K-pop, and today’s pop hits. I truly believe there’s no such thing as a bad genre.

As for a particular Canadian punk rock legend who’s had an influence on me, I have to give a shout out to the mighty Casey Lewis, the drummer from Belvedere and countless legendary Calgary acts. He’s a true savant of his craft, and I’ve been fortunate enough to work directly with him as The Galacticas’ recording engineer for all of our albums and EPs.

COMET: How do you approach building drum parts that complement the rest of the band’s sound?

WILL: It comes down to playing for the song, not yourself. The song should always come first. If you overpower it—whether it’s the drums, guitars, bass, or anything else—you risk making it worse. If you play for the song, you’ll find opportunities for little tricks and moments that complement and elevate the rest of the band.

COMET: What helps you stay creative and avoid falling into the same patterns when writing music?

WILL: Discipline and consistency. We don’t wait for inspiration—we go into the jam room and pull songs out of ourselves. The more we do it, the easier it gets.

I also steal advice from our bass player, Mark: you have to write the bad songs to get to the good ones. We’ve recorded plenty of songs we don’t like, but it’s always better to get them out so you can learn. And who knows—some people end up loving the songs we didn’t think were good!

COMET: What’s your favorite memory of being on stage with the band so far?

WILL: Alright, this isn’t exactly a story from being on stage, but it’s one of my favorite moments in the band:

We’ve been playing Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus for years, and it’s always one of those songs that can get a crowd going—especially in ski towns like Canmore or Revelstoke. We even had this inside joke that the song was an ancient cursed hymn that drove people berserk, and that “The Templar of Wheatus” would one day show up at a show to warn us of its dangers.

Then one day, we actually got to open for Wheatus. We told them our joke, and it was hilarious to bond over this bit we’d been milking for years. It was a funny full-circle moment, and we still laugh about it today.

COMET: What’s the most awkward or hilarious mistake you’ve made mid-performance?

WILL: There was a time in Edmonton at the Starlite Room when Tony broke a string halfway through the set. He had left his other guitar in the gear room, so he had to jump off stage, grab it, tune it, and come back. Mark and I jammed in the meantime to keep the music going.

When Tony returned, he suddenly called out for us to play The Trooper by Iron Maiden—a song we’d only jammed a couple of times as a joke. Somehow, we nailed it. We still don’t know why we chose that one of all songs, but it worked, and we were all laughing about it after.

COMET: What’s the most chaotic or unexpected thing you’ve witnessed at a punk show?

WILL: We were playing a gig in Fernie, doing four sets that night. Between sets, the bar had a DJ playing songs to keep energy up. At the end of the night, I jokingly asked the DJ if he wanted to “get this party really going,” and suggested he play Man, I Feel Like a Woman by Shania Twain.

He didn’t believe me at first, but when those first notes hit, the crowd went wild. The DJ looked completely shocked, and I’m pretty sure the bar wasn’t thrilled since it was last call—but it was unforgettable.

COMET: What kind of music do you secretly love listening to first thing in the morning?

WILL: I start nearly every morning with a workout, and nothing gets me going like girly pop music. I’m talking Sabrina Carpenter, Chappel Roan, Carly Rae Jepsen, plus K-pop groups like TWICE and BlackPink, and even the Japanese “kawaii-metal” band baby metal. I don’t know why, but I’ve lost 25 pounds listening to that stuff over the last year.

COMET: What’s the weirdest thing a fan has ever done to get your attention?

WILL: Honestly, nobody has done anything I’d consider weird. We’ve had fans get tattoos of our logo, which I really cherish. If someone goes out of their way to talk to us and be a fan, I consider it a privilege. We’re just some dumb band—it’s cool people actually care.

Follow us on Instagram at @the_galacticas

Find us on all your favourite streaming platforms, or—if you really want to be cool—grab a CD from our Bandcamp:

https://thegalacticasalberta.bandcamp.com/

Beyond that, you can catch us playing shows throughout Alberta and BC. Be sure to check out our Instagram for the latest show announcements and updates!

You can catch us throughout the year across Alberta and BC, including Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Innisfail, Lethbridge, Revelstoke, and Canmore.