Cold War Kids
Given the amount of acclaim they’ve received, and how honed their craft appears, it’s funny to think that Cold War Kids have been a band for only a little over two years. The four Californian friends started by rehearsing in rooms above Fullerton restaurants, reportedly with the mindset that having an instrument to play at such practices was “not as important as heavy stomping, chanting and laughter.” It’s an ethic which is still visible in their live performances today, with any band member not involved in the sound on a conventional instrument encouraged to smack the living daylights out of a cymbal placed on a flight case using a maraca.
Come 2003, the band had self released three six song EPs – ‘Mulberry Street’, ‘Up In Rags’ and ‘With Our Wallets Full’, and embarked on mammoth tours with other Rockfeedback darlings like Two Gallants and Tapes N Tapes. On the back of their growing reputation, a deal was struck with Downtown Records in the US, the Stateside home to folk like the Eagles of Death Metal and Art Brut. Their debut LP, ‘Robbers and Cowards’, was recorded for and released by those guys in the states, and V2 in the UK.
Cold War Kids were also a band who benefited from being the top tip of many a blogger around the globe. Their reputation grew therefore in the best way, via word of mouth, a technique aided by the band’s remarkable attention to their website, where a diary and news section are kept painfully up to date with notes direct from the band, along with pictures and collages designed personally by the CWKs.
OFFICAL WAR KIDS: The band’s official home is a fascinating, dense, messy and comprehensive guide to the day to day goings on of being in a fantastic rock act. Marvel at the artistry of it.
COLD WAR SPACE: This MySpace profile is a rather more tame affair than the band’s official site, but there’s free music here, along with some videos. All of which are marvellous.
V2 RECORDS: The band’s UK label, V2, provides a nice, clean collection of CWKs info, pictures and the like.
BANDWATCH: Our own section dedicated to the band, where we follow any news, supply some videos, and generally continue to big them up Rockfeedback style.
WE USED TO VACATION EP: Last year’s final CWKs release rolled out the red carpet for what should be a fantastic 2007 for the band.
HANG ME UP TO DRY EP - *Coming soon* - we’ll be telling you exactly what we think of the band’s signature tune.