THE COLD FRONT interview

Ladies and gentlemen, here’s THE COLD FRONT, a hardcore punk band out of Long Beach, California. These guys play fast, melodic hardcore punk, have been playing under the Irish Voodoo Records flag for some time now. Here’s a perfect chance to meet the guys.

We had a chance to ask them a few questions on April 13th, 2012.

Hey guys! How’s Long Beach these days?

Hey! Long Beach is always the place to be. More so in our living room at The Cold Front den, but more or less we love it here.

We’re stoked about how local hardcore/punk scenes worldwide are growing and creating their own mixtures of people and the original stuff original for certain areas. What’s the shape of your local scene? What’s special about it?

The scene in Southern California has always been an amazing thing to be a part of. There are so many bands from around here, and while a lot of people may believe that this causes an over-saturation of local music, we think it just pushes bands to develop their styles and sounds that much more. The more bands that come out, the more the scene changes and grows. It keeps things interesting. It is also cool to see shows where you get bands that have completely different musical styles playing together at shows. Nowadays it isn’t too far fetched to see a power-violence band like ACxDC playing with a rock band like SILVER SNAKES. The diversity makes it hard to sleep.

So, let’s talk a bit about your place in your local scene. What music projects have you been involved with before THE COLD FRONT? Have any of you been in any other bands?

Jack and I were in a metal band back when we were young bucks in high school. Nothing significant at all it was just a fun project that we had with our original drummer that tracked our demo. Alex was in some black/death metal bands in high school too (MORTIFIED) and more recently was part of a fusion-jazz/experimental rock band called BLACK AND WHITE RADIO. Brian was in a hardcore band called NEVERENDER when he lived in Minneapolis, and also plays bass in PLAGUES, whom we released our split with. We are all kind of all over the place when it comes to labeling our musical tastes and influences. We try to stay closely involved in the hardcore scene as much as possible. I book shows around the Long Beach area occasionally. Unfortunately it is hard to find venues that are willing to have hardcore/punk shows so we try to hold house shows as much as possible. We recently just got shut down at a place that we use to call The Tall House. It is nice to contribute to the scene as much as possible. It’s good to give back to a community that has helped you grow as a person for so long. If it wasn’t for people staying actively involved, then punk would have never lasted this long. It’s important for everyone to try and do their part when they can.

You’ve just released a split with your label mates, PLAGUES. Tell us more about the outing, How did you decided to merge your strengths and produce this joint?

We first met the Plagues dudes a couple years ago after playing a some shows with their old band Terezodu. After they recorded their demo we went on a weekend trip to Arizona with them. During that weekend tour we had talked about possibly releasing a split together. About a month later we went up to Northern California and during that tour Danny from Irish Voodoo saw our set and contacted us. He told us soon after that they wanted us to do a Split 7” together. It all coincidentally and semi-ironically worked out really well and we’re all stoked on how it all came together.

You’ve been recording your part of the split in Savage Studios in Palos Verdes, CA and Donkeytown Studios in Rolling Hills, CA. Was it an “in/out” job? Tell us more about the process.

”Savage Studios” is actually our friend’s bedroom and Donkeytown Studios is a small ranch that our drummer’s parents live on. We were lucky enough to have our good friend Scott Savage help us out and record our side of the Split for us over a span of about 3 days. We did all the drums in Alex’s parents house and all the vocals/guitars in Scott’s bedroom. After all the tracks were recorded, we took them to The Earth Capital Studios in Los Angeles where Alex Estrada mixed and mastered them. We couldn’t be more happy with the way that they came out. With our budget being next to nothing, we were very grateful to have the resources and people around us to help us put the record out.
 

Are you tight with other bands from the label?

 We’re currently in a domestic partnership with PLAGUES, we share them but we’re kinda in love. But as for the others, we are good friends with the COLOMBIAN NECKTIE dudes and have had the chance to play a couple shows with They As In Them who both are seriously amazing. COLOMBIAN NECKTIE has a split coming out with our friends in SEIZURES from Orange County soon and THEY AS IN THEM just released a brutal 7” on IrishVoodoo that I am really into.

You’ve confirmed some shows in May and June. COLOMBIAN NECKTIE, KDC, SINGLE MOTHERS, GHOSTLIMB, HOLLOW EARTH and many other great bands will be sharing stage with you. Are you planning to go farther beyond the Californian borders? How about touring abroad?

We are planning on going on a Northwest Tour up to Seattle, WA and back down through Idaho and Nevada. Nothing set in stone yet but we will definitely be doing some traveling here in the near future. As for touring abroad it has always been a dream for all of us to travel the world in a touring band. That is ultimately our goal that will hopefully become a reality in the next couple years.

You’ve mentioned something about your cover of NIRVANA’s “Tourette’s”. Great song, I must admit. Does the band have a special place in your heart? How would you release the track?

During the recording sessions for the split we recorded that cover and we have just been sitting on it ever since. When Jack and I first started the band it consisted of us writing the songs for our demo here and there and then for the most part spent most of the time covering BLACK FLAG and NIRVANA songs so it felt like a good idea to record one. For me personally NIRVANA holds the most sentimental place in my heart when it comes to music. They have been my favorite band for as long as I can remember and to be able to release a cover of one of my all time favorite songs is pretty cool. We may or may not be releasing a video for the song with Scott Fecteau, your just going to have to stay tuned with us to find out..

How are things with Irish Voodoo Records going? How did you end up being a band from this roster? What support do you get from the label?

Irish Voodoo has been great. We are stoked to be part of such an amazing roster of up and coming bands and it keeps growing! Expanding on what I had mentioned above, Danny from Irish Voodoo saw us at a show in LA just before we went up north with PLAGUES. After our set he talked to us briefly about possibly releasing something with Irish Voodoo and about a week later Joey offered us a deal to do a split with PLAGUES which could not have been more perfect. Working with them has been great, they let us control everything that we wanted to do and backed us 100% from the recording to the artwork (Leo from PLAGUES designed). They also help us out with anything else that they can like merch costs and things like that.

Are there any age restrictions when it comes to shows in California? What’s your opinion on that? Young Australian kids must be pissed off being left outside venues with their favorite bands. How does it look like in your area?

Most of the shows we play are all-ages. We try and keep every one of them all-ages but unfortunately it does not always work out that way. Venues in our scene are always hard to come by and short lived so sometimes bars become a lesser alternative for having a show. I started going to shows when I was about 14 and it has shaped the way I live my life, if those shows were all 21+ and I was never exposed to the bands that I grew up listening to I probably would have never gotten into hardcore and my life would be completely different. It is unfair to not give kids the same opportunity to go to shows as I had when I was younger so we are all for all-ages DIY.

In Poland there is a direct link between politics, single politicians, parties and the mood of the people. How do politics and things around it influence your everyday life? Do you follow politics-related news? Do you care?

Speaking for myself I grew up in a very conservative house hold which obviously shaped the way I feel about the world. When people are overly exposed to a single demographic trend it’s kind of hard not to be influenced whether you agree or not for better or worse. Once I was old enough to hold my own view on the world I realized that if you do not take the time to actually research things for yourself (religion, political party, social issues etc.) you end up just throwing up whats been fed to you since you were an adolescent. In my opinion, too many people hold “strong” beliefs on issues that they really have not done much research about. People voting on things blindly and fighting wars for unknown reasons. I do not and have not voted for this reason. A politician can campaign and promise people things all he wants but in the end when all the money is coming from corporations and outside entities, who knows what words are coming from the speakers mouth and what words are strictly being used for a vote and to gain power. I am not against voting I just feel like the public is often not given the proper information to make a thorough decision that would reflect how I would like to see the world grow and change. Good thing we at least live in a place where you can express your feelings in other forms without too much hassle for the most part, which is why a community like the hardcore scene is a sanctuary for a lot of kids. To see places like Indonesia detain punks for the way they dress and the music they listen to is disgusting and disheartening.

Thanks for your time!

Photo by I Shot Photography.