About Cold War Kids
Cold War Kids are an American indie rock band from Long Beach, California. Band members are Nathan Willett , Matt Maust , David Quon , Matthew Schwartz , and Joe Plummer . Former members of the band include Dann Gallucci , Matt Aveiro , and Jonnie Russell .
Forming in 2004 in Fullerton, California, the Cold War Kids' early releases came from independent record label Monarchy Music. In 2006, the band signed with Downtown/V2 and released their major label debut Robbers & Cowards to cult appeal from fans and critics. 2008's Loyalty to Loyalty and 2011's Mine Is Yours saw the band develop different musical sounds and lyrical content throughout to mixed reviews. The band's seventh studio album, New Age Norms 1, was released on November 1, 2019.
The members of Cold War Kids met at Biola University. They formed a band in 2004 when they would meet regularly in Jonnie Russell's apartment above a restaurant called Mulberry Street in downtown Fullerton. Maust came up with the band's name around 1997, during his travels in Eastern Europe with his brother, where they found a park in Budapest with missing statues, taken away after Communism fell. Seeing that there was a playground in the park, Maust said "...being in that environment just made the phrase 'Cold War Kids' pop into my head. I may have heard it before. I'm a Cold War kid, too – I was born in 1979." Maust used the name for his personal website, but then he repurposed it after the band decided to use the name. The band relocated to Whittier, California, and began recording their first demo, which Monarchy Music released as the EP Mulberry Street in spring 2005. Between tours, the band released two more EPs: With Our Wallets Full and Up in Rags, in 2006. Monarchy Music would re-release those EPs as one compilation album titled Up in Rags/With Our Wallets Full in 2006.
In summer 2006, Cold War Kids signed with Downtown Records and started work on their debut album. The album titled Robbers & Cowards was released on October 10, 2006, with sales close to 200,000 copies. Critics were impressed with the band's blues rock sound and lyrics that told morose tales of yesteryear: Joe Tacopino of PopMatters said that "These ambitious youngsters are definitely worth the trip, even without the ostentatious vocal harmonies." Jeff Weiss of Stylus Magazine called the album " a good debut, maybe even a very good one. Whether or not this band will achieve greatness remains anybody's guess." One of the album's biggest detractors came from Marc Hogan of Pitchfork, who criticized the band for its songwriting, melodies, and Christian symbolism, saying that "Robbers and Cowards insults our intelligence a few times too often." Cat Dirt Sez of the San Diego CityBeat said that Hogan's review was an example of lazy journalism, with lead guitarist Jonnie Russell saying that the reviewer wanted a wittier approach to the album rather than a thoughtful assessment of it.
After two years of non-stop worldwide touring and an eventual relocation to Long Beach, California, Cold War Kids went back into the studio in spring 2008 with the producer of their first record, Kevin Augunas. Nathan described the record making process: "Throughout the record making process, we would write songs in our own little practice studio, then we'd go into the studio for, like, two days and record three or four songs, then go back into our own practice studio for, like, a few weeks. So really it was over the span of four months or something. Actual studio days probably like 15 days. We don't love being in a studio; we focus more on the writing."
Cold War Kids' second album, Loyalty to Loyalty, represented a departure from its debut, featuring a lot of narrative storytelling, as well as political and philosophical references. In an interview with NPR, Nathan described the songwriting process for the album: "The choices that we make have always been organic ones, to try to grow at a rate that makes sense," Willett says. "Not necessarily talking about, 'Is there a great single? Is this a big breakthrough for us? Is this the next level for us?' But just write songs. Yeah, there is a stress, and the way we deal with it is to ignore it." Loyalty to Loyalty was released on September 23, 2008, to generally positive reviews from critics. Bart Blasengame of Paste called it "a better-than-solid album from a band that seemed equipped to someday make a classic one". James McMahon of NME said that "Almost in defiance of poor sales and cult following, CWK and their charming second album embody everything you hoped music might be."
Cold War Kids spent the end of 2008 and most of 2009 on the road touring for Loyalty to Loyalty, highlighted by a national tour with Death Cab for Cutie. In between touring, the band returned to the studio to record what would become their seventh EP, Behave Yourself. In an interview with Flavorwire, Maust talked about the differences between this and Loyalty to Loyalty: "It's basically the happier, more vibrant songs that didn't really fit on the album. We realized that in a way, we were starting to work ahead of ourselves, so this works as a nice bridge between records." Behave Yourself was released digitally on iTunes on December 21, 2009, and given a physical version on January 19, 2010.
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