Cold War Kids: "Loyalty To Loyalty"

[That Skipping Rope.]

I don't have much time to type out a post about these guys, so just trust me.

Listen to "Hospital Beds." If you don't like that, you don't have good taste.

MYSPACE:
www.myspace.com/coldwarkids

OFFICIAL SITE:
www.coldwarkids.com/

[mike]

Wow... I really liked "Hospital Beds".. Thanks for the suggestion! I don't have time to listen to anything else by them

[mike]

No seriously.. I can't stop listening to "Hospital Beds" Jesus.

[That Skipping Rope.]

mike said:

No seriously.. I can't stop listening to "Hospital Beds" Jesus.

I know! The chorus is crazy anthemic.

[mike]

Okay.. I'm officially in love with this band.. Will probably be my favorite of 2007.

[Punchanello]

Thumbs up.

[mike]

I think I like "Hang Me Up to Dry" more than "Hospital Beds"

This band is for real.

[That Skipping Rope.]

I'll be seeing them live this June at Bonnaroo. Awohoo.

[mike]

I'll be seeing them live the March at the Social in Orlando... .I just discovered

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

I charted "We Used To Vacation" in the Autumn which was their first UK single.

I heard that "Hang Me Up To Dry" will be the new single here. ;D

[RedDragon]

Starting tomorrow, their single "Hang Me Out To Dry" will also be iTunes Music Store free download of the week.

[That Skipping Rope.]

reddragon said:

Starting tomorrow, their single "Hang Me Out To Dry" will also be iTunes Music Store free download of the week.

Great promo! Be sure to download it tomorrow, guys!

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

"Hang Me Out To Dry" confirmed as the next single in the UK.

It's released January 29th acc. to HMV.co.uk

www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=607197

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

I downloaded "Hang Me Out To Dry" for free on iTunes. I like it! I like it more than "Hospital Beds" actually, but I don't see either one becoming a big radio hit.

[That Skipping Rope.]

Cold War Kids:
The Kids Will Have Their Say
By John Simone

Stone faced indie rock fans had trouble keeping their cowboy boots and Chuck Taylors from stompin’ and shufflin’ to the drum skin hand-slaps of Cold War Kids percussionist Matt Aviero and the ballad belting of vocalist Nathan Willett during the last of three consecutive, sold-out shows at Pianos in New York City. The band’s distillation of Delta Blues and dusty, Southwestern piano alt-rock ballads makes for a potent tonic that’ll leave your tongue dry and thirst piqued.

I sat with the band in the back of Cakeshop, a hip new combo-café, bar, and record store, just before the third Pianos show. Bassist, graphic designer, videographer and guru Matthew Maust—hunched, auburn-bearded, thin, and pale, his small dark eyes darting about—let his theories on his band’s diverse influences slide out in humble, rapid-fire bursts: “There are so many design movements throughout history, and I like so many different ones. Normally they wouldn’t intersect. Something in France —happening in Bohemia—wouldn’t happen in the 1960’s in America, but there are very similar things about them. When you put them on the same canvas together somehow it works. It’s similar with music.”

Scanning the stage for a PowerBook, one wonders if the deep howling Mississippi cries, Nevada desert rattlesnake shakes, and Fogerty-like barks are really coming from these unassuming performers. Instead of mimicry, CWK serve only raw ingredients: instruments and soul. Instead of listening to a distant loop of African American slave hymns in the background of Moby’s Honey, it is right in your face: clanging in your ear with a drumstick on an old empty bottle, rattling a maraca, sweatin’ and screamin’ Great Jehoshaphat like a Baptist wedding.

Listening to their latest EP Up in Rags has a similar impact. The largely self-produced six tracks were laid down in six hours in a home studio with engineer/producer Matt Wignal, and then released through Monarchy Music.

Maust calls Up in Rags an act of documentation. “We’re a fan of field recordings and the way the Library of Congress and Smithsonian document things.” Though Willett’s lyrics are mostly fictional, the stories feel very real, and very personal. Such is the case with “We Used to Vacation,” a story of a man torn between alcoholism and his family, or “Hospital Beds,” a song about two hospital patients who are “finding their points of connection in similar experiences like fishing trips and Italian opera,” explains Willett.

Willett has the softly spoken manner of an ordained minister, but it emanates from a menacing face hinged with a square jaw of blue collar granite. All four CWK members are disarmingly articulate and good-natured. The merry troubadours were all raised within a 50-mile radius of Whittier, California, a town named for Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier. They traveled within the same circle of friends for many years before forming nearly two years ago.

CWK cut their teeth performing live in the LA area, drawing inspiration from the likes of Richard Swift and Van Morrison. “I seriously first started playing drums on a regular basis when I started playing with this band,” says Aviero, who was brought into the fold last. “I was excited the first day.”

After releasing their third EP, they undertook a national tour with Two Gallants and then Tapes ‘n Tapes. In July, several interested British record labels bankrolled the band’s travel expenses for a string of UK shows. In August, CWK played Lollapalooza. “None of us are big festival people. We thought it was going to be chaos, running around, and people pointing us in the wrong direction,” says Willet, “but it was extremely well organized. It was a good experience, and it was the most people we’ve played to.”

September saw CWK return home to regroup. Throughout their tour offers had arrived from a multitude of record labels. Aided by manager Brett Williams, their honorary fifth band member, CWK began studying the complex relationship between the A&R person and the rest of the record label. “We got a crash course in the music business,” says Willett.

To avoid the bureaucracy of major labels, CWK opted for Downtown Records, a company with only nine people, a readily accessible owner in Josh Deutsch, and a roster that includes Art Brut and Eagles of Death Metal. The Kids like that they can deal with Josh directly and he is a regular attendee of their shows. “It is very comfortable for us,” says Willet of the match. “There’s no middleman, there’s no confusion, everything is pretty straightforward.”

Once signed, CWK quickly moved with co-producer/engineer Kevin Auganas to compile their best EP tracks and two new tracks into their first full-length recording, Robbers & Cowards. Half the EP tracks they selected were re-recorded for the LP. In one such track, “Saint John,” three drum kits were arranged in a large room and used simultaneously in the recording process. Although they had more time to experiment during the sessions, a larger budget and more equipment failed to dissuade CWK from their creative direction. “You’ll probably never see us on stage with a laptop,” says Willett.

Much of the sweat and dust CWK kick up during their stage performances has been primped and packaged in this polished new disc. Its October release galvanized CWK and sparked their second major US tour; in acceptance of a long-standing invitation from Two Gallants, CWK paused their US tour in November to tour Europe.

Although I saw them play a fierce set in the dank, sweaty, 90-degree basement of the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia in June, it was the May show at Pianos in NYC that stands out in my mind. During the show, to punctuate the end of a verse in “We Used to Vacation,” lead guitarist and background vocalist Jonnie Russell would slam his maraca into a lone cymbal resting on top of a small wooden crate. At the peak of the performance, a particularly powerful strike caused the cymbal to fly off the crate. Without missing a beat, Jon flew after it, attacking it, kneeling on the floor, and beating it into the stage with his guitar still dangling at his side.

Maust’s reference to their diverse musical origins can also explain their on-stage intensity: “We embrace the spirit.” It may also be said the reverse is true.

harpmagazine.com/articles/detail.cfm?article_id=5105

[-m-]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrrGKR8Xii4

the video for "Hang Me Up to Dry"

it's AMAZING

[RedDragon]

They have a free EP as a "thank you" to the fans. The EP is available at Coldwarkids.rcrdlbl.com.

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

I heard "Passing The Hat" on Entourage and I'm hooked on it now. Definitely the best of what I've heard from them.

[AFRO SAMURAI]

This band completely flew under my radar over the last couple of years, but damn this is a great album! I'm bigger on "We Used To Vacation" and "Hang Me Up To Dry" than on "Hospital Beds," but they're all excellent tracks.

New album due out this fall: www.spinner.com/2008/01/22/cold-war-kids-play-it-cool-for-coachella/

[That Skipping Rope.]

The new album is set for a September release.

[AFRO SAMURAI]

Cold War Kids reveal new album details[/size][/url]
Loyalty To Loyalty is due out this autumn.
Jul 11, 2008

Cold War Kids have revealed the details of their highly anticipated second album.

The band's follow-up to 2006's 'Robbers And Cowards' will be called 'Loyalty To Loyalty' and is due out in the US in September.

The album contains 13 tracks, including 'Every Valley Is Not A Lake' and 'Avalanche In B'.

The band will soon embark on an extensive US tour to support the new album.

The album tracklisting is:

'Against Privacy'
'Mexican Dogs'
'Every Valley Is Not A Lake'
'Something Is Not Right With Me'
'Welcome To The Occupation'
'Golden Gate Jumpers'
'Avalanche In B'
'I've Seen Enough'
'Every Man I Fall For'
'Dreams Old Men Dream'
'On The Night My Love Broke Through'
'Relief'
'Cryptomnesia'

TOUR SCHEDULE:
August
22 - San Franciso, Calif. @ Outside Lands Festival
23 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Sunset Junction Festival
24 - Band, Ore. @ Les Schwab Amphitheater

September
20 - San Diego, Calif. @ Street Scene
27 - Portland, Ore. @ Wonder Ballroom
28 - Vancouver @ Richards on Richards
29 - Seattle, Wash. @ The Showbox at the the Market

October
1 - Boise, Idaho @ The Nuerolux
2 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ In the Venue
3 - Boulder, Colo. @ The Boulder Theatre
10 - Minneapolis, Minn. @ Fine Line Music Cafe
11 - Chicago, Ill. @ Vic Theatre
14 - Boston, Mass. @ Paradise Rock Club
15 - New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall
16 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
17 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ Theatre of the Living Arts
18 - Washington, D.C. @ NIghtclub 9:30
20 - Carrboro, N.C. @ Cat's Cradle
21 - Nashville, Tenn. @ Mercy Lounge
23 - Fort Worth, Texas @ Lola's
24 - Austin, Texas @ Emo's Alt. Lounge-Outside
25 - Houston, Texas @ Warehouse Live
26 - New Orleans, La. @ Voodoo Music Experience

[-m-]

www.myspace.com/coldwarkids


New song: "Something Is Not Right With Me" is up on their myspace.

[That Skipping Rope.]

[AFRO SAMURAI]

LEAKED!

[That Skipping Rope.]

I'm not really feeling this at all.