The start of the Kool Katz and "Latin Bounce!"

 

Art Galvan- 56, born in Gilroy, ca and raised in San Jose, CA. Lived on the Eastside of San Jose the majority of his life.

 

Kelly Galvan- 51, born and raised by her aunt Betty in San Jose, ca. Lived on the Eastside and North side of San Jose.

 

We love to camp, ride Harley’s, party, bbq, hear music, family time, go to movies, eat chips n salsa and oh yes, perform music til the day we die!

 

Art and I met back in 1983 or 84 at a place called Maria’s nightclub. He was in a band called Starfire and my mom Trudy introduced us. We were friends for a lot of years before seeing each other in 1986. Our relationship grew more and more and in 1989 we decided to elope in Reno, Nevada. Our marriage took place on the BEST day of the year,  New Years Eve!! Together; we have 6 kids, 11 grandchildren and 2 great grandchild. We’re originally from San Jose but live in Tracy, Ca since 2003.

 

The Kool Katz got started in 1997. I owe it all to my husband Art Galvan “Kool Katz Lead Guitar Man.” He is the one who introduced me to the band scene.  It was 1994 and one day while Art was at work, I had these vocals and rhythms in my head. It kept on and on till finally I wrote down the words in my head and I recorded the rhythms too. I created a song sounding out the guitar, bass, horns and vocals.

 

It was pretty trippy to me so I called Art to tell him. I said I want you to hear something so I placed the recorder to the phone and let it play. Once the song was over I asked him what he thought. He said what is that? I told him it was a song I wrote for him and the band he was in, Mystique. I called it, Hard Work Café. He was so excited and couldn’t believe I had written a song. We went over the entire arrangement and then he spills it on me and says, “I think you’re ready” I’m like, HAH?? Ready for what?? He say’s, to join a band and of course my first response was AH-AHH....no way!!

 

Art has always told me that I have a good ear for music cuz I could follow a song to a T. I just love music period and I made it a point to always know the words by heart. After that day, I continued to write up more lyrics and melodies. We decide to move back to San Jose in 1996 and Art also decides to leave Mystique. He would then form the band the Kool Katz in October 1997.  We did our first show on August 3, 1998 at San Jose's Legendary Angelo’s Arena.

 

I’ll never forget that night. My first gig and I had bronchitis, a fever and strepthroat to boot!! My Brolette Vickie had to go and get me from the bathroom cuz I was too scared to come out. The next thing you know, Art was in there too and said (if you want to be a singer, you have to deal with these kind of things). Oh man, it was a packed house and I felt like crap, but the show had to go on, I couldn’t let anyone down not even the band. We worked really hard for the show so I sang my gut and heart out. A huge success it was and we all had a great time.

 

Art and I put our heads together and wanted to create songs with a Latin passion of the 70’s. We both loved those years in our life and we were inspired by so many musicians like Santana, Azteca, Malo, Sapo, Tower of Power, Chicago and Average White Band just to name a few. We thought what better way to express our songs than by the sounds we loved when we were younger. It was also a good feeling to know that we were doing this together as husband and wife.

 

Art has this very unique and creative way of playing his guitar. I am so in AWE whenever I hear him. I could be walking down the street and hear a guitar playing and I will know its Art right away. The way he comes up with melodies never seizes to amaze me. All he has to do is strum a note or come up with a quick melody and I can instantly write a verse to a song. He is a wonderful guitar player and performer. I’m much honored to share the stage with him.

 

Every song we write has a story behind it. Whether it is something that happened to me, Art, a friend, a loved one or maybe even you, that’s what we like to write about. I like to be real and true with my words and Art plays every lick of his guitar with such passionI. You'll notice the word LOVE a lot in our songs.  I believe I "Kelly" write that way  because love was  never a word that was used as I was growing up. I want people to feel the passion when I sing and I hope that they can relate to my words as I do when I sing them.

 

We thought of the name Kool Katz because of a tiger our daughter Mary had. It was black and white. I looked at it and said “hey, that’s a cool cat” and whah-lah! Mary said that would be a good name for the band and so we did.

 

Years go by along with many, many, many gigs  then we happen to meet a new friend in 2006 named Ron Moton. He is the Saxophone player for the group/band Con Funk Shun. We hired him to do more than a few shows that consisted of our original and cover music. We developed a very good and personal relation with Ron. We were even honored to attend the renewing of his vows at his house for his wedding.  Ron is now the Kool Katz Musical Producer. To this day, we are all still good friends. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For so many years Art and I tried to come up with a genre for our original music that people would be able to connect and relate with. First there was Kool Katz "Latin Razz" then "Latin Pazazz" then "A New Chicano Groove." Ron has always asked us, hey so what do you guys think your music is about or what style are you going with? We told him, well....our originals are different and have a variety of sound from Pop to Rock to Neo Soul and more. We said as long as they have the Latin vibe and sound that we grew up with we'll be happy. 

 

Well one day back in 2008 we were all sitting around at Ron's studio after recording and Ron tells us he has the perfect genre name for our group.  We were very excited and were like, ok what is it and he says "Latin Bounce!" We all looked at each other and said Yeah! That was a great day for us. We were very excited about "Latin Bounce"and satisfied to finally know we can distinguish our new sound with a new genre. Thanks Mr. Ron Moton!!!! We love yah! 

 

So on that note, we write and compose tunes with the early 70’s flavor of Latin Rock, R&B, Pop, Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia, Dance, Neo Soul, World and Jazz with a twist of our own rhythms we call Latin Bounce.

 

1st cd released by Kool Katz in 1998 was a single introducing our San Jo trademark song “Your love just moves me” and “I will do most anything”

 

2nd cd released by Kool Katz in 2000 was

“Me Gusta Como Bailas”

 

3rd cd released by Kool Katz in 2005/2006 was a single called "The Boot" with musical guests Tower of Power horn Section

Emilio Castillo – sax: 
Stephen 'Doc' Kupka – baritone sax: 
Tom Politzer – lead tenor sax:

Adolfo Acosta – trumpet, flugelhorn;

Mike Bogart – trumpet, trombone: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5th cd Kool Katz released in 2010 "Turn It Up! Latin Bounce”

with special guest performances including; Christina Torres (Mike Torres Band) on Timbales, Tetsuya “Tex” Nakamura (WAR, 44’s, Los Suspiros, Monte Carlo76’s, Mr. B & The Stingers) on Harmonica, Ron Moton (Con Funk Shun) on Saxophone, Frank Bailey (MALO) on Trumpet and Dale Villavicencio (Tierra) on Timbales, Congas and Percussion