Indiana blues-rock outfit THE COLD STARES have released ‘Voices,’ their explosive new full-length album, out now via Mascot Records. Self-produced by the band and recorded almost entirely over the course of just two days with engineer Mark Needham (Taj Mahal, The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon, Fleetwood Mac), ‘Voices’ stands as The Cold Stares’ most mature, eclectic collection yet, balancing gritty muscle and tender emotion in equal measure. To celebrate the release, the band has shared a live performance video for the album’s latest single “Got No Right,” an upbeat jam about not being able to leave a bad relationship for all the right reasons. Watch HERE.

“We approached ‘Voices’ as each song being an idea or a film to itself, giving each effort its own ‘voice,’” guitarist/vocalist Chris Tapp explains. “I think they still work well together, but provide the listener a little bit more of a journey through the course of the album than we’ve provided in the past.”

For the past ten years, The Cold Stares have toured the world relentlessly as a duo, blowing away audiences across the US and Europe with a fierce, blistering live show that belied their bare bones, guitar-and-drums setup. Now, the band is embracing a whole new kind of chemistry as they launch their next chapter, adding a third member and channeling the classic power trio sound they grew up on with their explosive new album. “The chains were off when we made this record,” says Tapp. “Suddenly, all the parameters that had dictated what we could and couldn’t do just disappeared and we were free to create whatever sound we wanted.”
 
That sense of total artistic liberation lies at the heart of Voices, which pushes The Cold Stares’ signature mix of blues, southern, and hard rock to bold new heights. It would have been easy for Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins to simply crank the volume here, but instead they make the most of bassist Bryce Klueh’s arrival by getting more nuanced and adventurous in their approach, chasing a raw, unvarnished sound that manages to feel both vintage and modern all at once. Add it all up and you’ve got a gutsy, cinematic record that’s as honest as it is exhilarating, a high-octane dose of unadulterated rock and roll that tips its cap to everything from Cream to Led Zeppelin as it reckons with love and loss, sin and redemption, hope and regret.

A lot of these tunes deal with really personal things that have been on my mind for a while,” says Tapp. “I just had to live enough life and get enough experience under my belt to know how to talk about them, to know how to feel comfortable opening up those veins and sharing whatever came out.”
 
Characters fueled by similarly desperate longings—for hope, for purpose, for comfort—turn up throughout the record. The haunting “The Ghost” features Southern Gothic and western overtones, while the epic anthem “Nothing But The Blues” wrestles with hard times in a down-and-out town. The release of ‘Voices’ follows album singles “Throw That Stone,” a cinematic track that channels some of the greatest artists in gospel blues, and “The Joy,” which draws from Pink Floyd as it revels in the happiness that comes with finding your true soulmate. “This song takes a step outside of our normal catalog and tackles the topic of finding happiness after heartache,” Tapp explains.

Track list

1. Nothing But The Blues
2. Come For Me
3. The Joy
4. Lights Out
5. Got No Right
6. Sorry I Was Late
7. Voices
8. Waiting On The Rain
9. Sinnerman
10. Throw That Stone
11. It’s Heavy
12. Thinking About Leaving Again
13. The Ghost

Launched in 2012, The Cold Stares got their start when longtime friends Tapp and Mullins agreed to team up for a fill-in gig that caught them both by surprise. With a sound far bigger than any duo should rightfully have been able to create, the pair of Kentucky natives began turning heads almost immediately, releasing a series of acclaimed albums that landed them on the road with the likes of Larkin Poe, Rival Sons, Reignwolf, Spoon, Grand Funk Railroad, and Thievery Corp, among others. American Songwriter praised the group’s “hard-won commitment, honesty, and intensity,” while No Depression hailed their sound as a “roots rocking firestorm,” and tunes from their albums turned up everywhere from ESPN and TNT to the hit video game Cyberpunk 2077.
 
After wrapping up touring for 2021’s ‘Heavy Shoes’ (their fifth studio album and debut release for Mascot Records), Tapp and Mullins returned to their adopted hometown of Evansville, Indiana, with a decision to make. The band’s sound had been growing increasingly elaborate in the studio, but unless they wanted to start playing along to pre-recorded backing tracks onstage, they were reaching a point where they wouldn’t be able to faithfully replicate their tunes anymore as a duo.
 
“We’d been a two-piece for a decade, so it wasn’t something we took lightly,” says Tapp. “But we’d also known Bryce for a long time and knew he’d fit right in.”

Upcoming Scandinavian tour dates:
31/05/23 – Dexter – Odense, Denmark
01/06/23 – Karosserifabrikken – Helsingør, Denmark
02/06/23 – Bomber Bar – Motala, Sweden
03/06/23 – Rockland – Sala, Sweden
05/06/23 – Klubb Nalen – Stockholm, Sweden
07/06/23 – John Dee – Oslo, Norway
08/06/23 – Pustervik – Gothenburg, Sweden
09/06/23 – Folk & Rock – Malmö, Sweden
10/06/23 – Tryckhallen – Falkenberg, Sweden

On their cinematic new single “Throw That Stone,” featuring guest vocals by bluegrass singer Brenna Macmillan and mandolin by the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Warren Hood, the Indiana blues-rock outfit THE COLD STARES channel some of the greatest artists in gospel blues and American roots for a stirring tale of judgement and acceptance. Released alongside a lyric video that retells biblical stories in an old west setting, drawing on visual influences that include the video game Red Dead Redemption and the western films singer/guitarist Chris Tapp grew up watching with his grandfather, “Throw That Stone” will be featured on the band’s explosive new full-length album ‘Voices,’ out March 3rd via Mascot Records. Pre-order/save ‘Voices’ HERE

“I was drawing from my heroes like Son House, Blind Willie Johnson and even Johnny Cash,” explains Tapp. “To me, ‘Throw That Stone’ speaks to the redemption that can be found by not judging others. I felt that was what Cash did with the prison stuff, and Son and Willie did that with blending the gospel into everyday life.” 

Self-produced by the band and recorded almost entirely over the course of just two days with engineer Mark Needham (Taj Mahal, The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon, Fleetwood Mac), The Cold Stares’ new album stands as the band’s most mature, eclectic collection yet, balancing gritty muscle and tender emotion in equal measure. The release of “Throw That Stone” follows previous single “The Joy,” which draws from Pink Floyd as it revels in the happiness that comes with finding your true soulmate. “This song takes a step outside of our normal catalog and tackles the topic of finding happiness after heartache,” Tapp explains.
 
For the past ten years, The Cold Stares have toured the world relentlessly as a duo, blowing away audiences across the US and Europe with a fierce, blistering live show that belied their bare bones, guitar-and-drums setup. Now, the band is embracing a whole new kind of chemistry as they launch their next chapter, adding a third member and channeling the classic power trio sound they grew up on with their explosive new album. “The chains were off when we made this record,” says Tapp. “Suddenly, all the parameters that had dictated what we could and couldn’t do just disappeared and we were free to create whatever sound we wanted.”

That sense of total artistic liberation lies at the heart of Voices, which pushes The Cold Stares’ signature mix of blues, southern, and hard rock to bold new heights. It would have been easy for Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins to simply crank the volume here, but instead they make the most of bassist Bryce Klueh’s arrival by getting more nuanced and adventurous in their approach, chasing a raw, unvarnished sound that manages to feel both vintage and modern all at once. Add it all up and you’ve got a gutsy, cinematic record that’s as honest as it is exhilarating, a high-octane dose of unadulterated rock and roll that tips its cap to everything from Cream to Led Zeppelin as it reckons with love and loss, sin and redemption, hope and regret.
 
“A lot of these tunes deal with really personal things that have been on my mind for a while,” says Tapp. “I just had to live enough life and get enough experience under my belt to know how to talk about them, to know how to feel comfortable opening up those veins and sharing whatever came out.”

Characters fueled by similarly desperate longings—for hope, for purpose, for comfort—turn up throughout the record. The haunting “The Ghost” channels the redemptive fervor of a Sunday morning tent revival, while the epic anthem “Nothing But The Blues” wrestles with hard times in a down-and-out town.
 
Launched in 2012, The Cold Stares got their start when longtime friends Tapp and Mullins agreed to team up for a fill-in gig that caught them both by surprise. With a sound far bigger than any duo should rightfully have been able to create, the pair of Kentucky natives began turning heads almost immediately, releasing a series of acclaimed albums that landed them on the road with the likes of Larkin Poe, Rival Sons, Reignwolf, Spoon, Grand Funk Railroad, and Thievery Corp, among others. American Songwriter praised the group’s “hard-won commitment, honesty, and intensity,” while No Depression hailed their sound as a “roots rocking firestorm,” and tunes from their albums turned up everywhere from ESPN and TNT to the hit video game Cyberpunk 2077.
 
After wrapping up touring for 2021’s ‘Heavy Shoes’ (their fifth studio album and debut release for Mascot Records), Tapp and Mullins returned to their adopted hometown of Evansville, Indiana, with a decision to make. The band’s sound had been growing increasingly elaborate in the studio, but unless they wanted to start playing along to pre-recorded backing tracks onstage, they were reaching a point where they wouldn’t be able to faithfully replicate their tunes anymore as a duo.
 
“We’d been a two-piece for a decade, so it wasn’t something we took lightly,” says Tapp. “But we’d also known Bryce for a long time and knew he’d fit right in.”

Track list

1. Nothing But The Blues
2. Come For Me
3. The Joy
4. Lights Out
5. Got No Right
6. Sorry I Was Late
7. Voices
8. Waiting On The Rain
9. Sinnerman
10. Throw That Stone
11. It’s Heavy
12. Thinking About Leaving Again
13. The Ghost

Indiana blues-rock outfit THE COLD STARES have announced ‘Voices,’ their new full-length album, out March 10th via Mascot Records. Recorded almost entirely over the course of just two days with producer/engineer/mixer Mark Needham (Taj Mahal, The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon, Fleetwood Mac), the album stands as the band’s most mature, eclectic collection yet, balancing gritty muscle and tender emotion in equal measure. To celebrate the announcement, the band has unveiled an official music video for the album’s lead single “The Joy,” which draws from Pink Floyd as it revels in the happiness that comes with finding your true soulmate.

Pre-order/save ‘Voices’ HERE

“This song takes a step outside of our normal catalog and tackles the topic of finding happiness after heartache,” guitarist/vocalist Chris Tapp explains. “I think it will connect with those people that have overcome trials, and those who have survived toxic relationships and finally found happiness.”
 
For the past ten years, The Cold Stares have toured the world relentlessly as a duo, blowing away audiences across the US and Europe with a fierce, blistering live show that belied their bare bones, guitar-and-drums setup. Now, the band is embracing a whole new kind of chemistry as they launch their next chapter, adding a third member and channeling the classic power trio sound they grew up on with their explosive new album. “The chains were off when we made this record,” says Tapp. “Suddenly, all the parameters that had dictated what we could and couldn’t do just disappeared and we were free to create whatever sound we wanted.”
 
That sense of total artistic liberation lies at the heart of Voices, which pushes The Cold Stares’ signature mix of blues, southern, and hard rock to bold new heights. It would have been easy for Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins to simply crank the volume here, but instead they make the most of bassist Bryce Klueh’s arrival by getting more nuanced and adventurous in their approach, chasing a raw, unvarnished sound that manages to feel both vintage and modern all at once. Add it all up and you’ve got a gutsy, cinematic record that’s as honest as it is exhilarating, a high-octane dose of unadulterated rock and roll that tips its cap to everything from Cream to Led Zeppelin as it reckons with love and loss, sin and redemption, hope and regret.

“A lot of these tunes deal with really personal things that have been on my mind for a while,” says Tapp. “I just had to live enough life and get enough experience under my belt to know how to talk about them, to know how to feel comfortable opening up those veins and sharing whatever came out.”
 
Characters fueled by similarly desperate longings—for hope, for purpose, for comfort—turn up throughout the record. The haunting “The Ghost” channels the redemptive fervor of a Sunday morning tent revival, while the epic anthem “Nothing But The Blues” wrestles with hard times in a down-and-out town.
 
“Nothing But The Blues is kind of a continuation of the theme of our song ‘Hard Times,’” adds tapp. “I was thinking about what it takes to play ‘authentic blues,’ which traditionally meant suffering through the horrors of the old south. In my mind, there are so many things that can definitely set you down in the blues in the current world we live in.”
 
Launched in 2012, The Cold Stares got their start when longtime friends Tapp and Mullins agreed to team up for a fill-in gig that caught them both by surprise. With a sound far bigger than any duo should rightfully have been able to create, the pair of Kentucky natives began turning heads almost immediately, releasing a series of acclaimed albums that landed them on the road with the likes of Larkin Poe, Rival Sons, Reignwolf, Spoon, Grand Funk Railroad, and Thievery Corp, among others. American Songwriter praised the group’s “hard-won commitment, honesty, and intensity,” while No Depression hailed their sound as a “roots rocking firestorm,” and tunes from their albums turned up everywhere from ESPN and TNT to the hit video game Cyberpunk 2077.

After wrapping up touring for 2021’s ‘Heavy Shoes’ (their fifth studio album and debut release for Mascot Records), Tapp and Mullins returned to their adopted hometown of Evansville, Indiana, with a decision to make. The band’s sound had been growing increasingly elaborate in the studio, but unless they wanted to start playing along to pre-recorded backing tracks onstage, they were reaching a point where they wouldn’t be able to faithfully replicate their tunes anymore as a duo.
 
“We’d been a two-piece for a decade, so it wasn’t something we took lightly,” says Tapp. “But we’d also known Bryce for a long time and knew he’d fit right in.”

Track list

1. Nothing But The Blues
2. Come For Me
3. The Joy
4. Lights Out
5. Got No Right
6. Sorry I Was Late
7. Voices
8. Waiting On The Rain
9. Sinnerman
10. Throw That Stone
11. It’s Heavy
12. Thinking About Leaving Again
13. The Ghost

For the past year, fans of the wildly popular, Keanu Reeves-starring video game Cyberpunk 2077 have been clamoring for the release of “Mojo Hand,” the hard rocking hit featured in the game’s official trailer, “The Gig.” Now, on the 6-month anniversary of their latest full-length album ‘Heavy Shoes,’ the Indiana blues-rock outfit THE COLD STARES have finally released the single, marking their first new music of 2022. Mixed by Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar, Gov’t Mule), “Mojo Hand” has already received more than 100 million streams through the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer and is one of two songs by The Cold Stares featured in the game. The band is currently on tour in support of ‘Heavy Shoes’ and is working on a new album, due out later this year.

Watch and listen to “Mojo Hand” here:

“Mojo Hand” is about a woman that is like a force of nature,” explains guitarist Chris Tapp. “When she blows in it’s like a storm – bad weather, tornados, the whole works. But the guy who loves her has the “mojo hand,” and he’s able to overcome all of her craziness for the sake of love.”
 
The Cold Stares’ story is enough for a drama series – cancer, suicide, betrayal, divorce. There’s a richness running through the songs, with dark, multi-layered narratives that course through every twist and turn. Dirty fuzzed-up rock and roll meet blues, garage, desert rock and a Southern Gothic sensibility. Sombre storytelling is etched into their songs with unflinching honesty. For guitarist Chris Tapp, drummer Brian Mullins, and bassist Bryce Klueh, authenticity is their hallmark.

“There’s not really anything that bothers me to talk about,” Tapp explains. “When you don’t allow yourself to be human and say what’s happened to you, then you make other people that are going through tough shit think that they’re alone. Both been Brian and I have gone through divorces, and I’ve been through cancer. We’ve been through tough times and never been given anything on a silver plate. We’re just a blue-collar American rock and roll band.”
 
Recorded largely at Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis, the band’s latest album ‘Heavy Shoes’ runs a gamut of themes; addiction on “Save You From You,” emotional torture on “Prosecution Blues,” destructive relationships on “Heavy Shoes,” and manipulation on “Election Blues.” Tapp hasn’t been dealt the easiest cards in life. Aged ten he discovered he was adopted, and “for a long time, I kinda felt I was alone.” His Grandfather, whom he “emphatically loved,” ended up taking his own life, and it was Chris who found him. “It was difficult then, and it’s been difficult since,” he says. “That’s a heavy component of my life, and that creeps into the songs. It’s sometimes easier for me to think about it in a song with characters than it is for me to just think about it.”

As a child, his grandfather told him about his great-grandfather, who ran moonshine during prohibition. When no one in the family would discuss that period, he decided to go to do his own research, and discovered that during this, the local Sheriff and Deputy visited his great-grandfather’s house and assaulted his great-aunt.  To protect his family, the next time, he hid under the porch until the Sheriff and Deputy returned. He then shot them both dead on the porch. He spent six days in jail and was released. This trauma shook the family and Tapp lived in that home during his twenties. “My great-aunt lived to be 103 and, just before she passed away, in the last couple of years, she started to talk to me about it.”
 
Tapp was diagnosed with Stage 3 Cancer in 2009 and given six months to live. 18 months of radiation and chemotherapy followed. “Now I feel like I’m saying what I want to say a little bit more concisely and elegantly,” he concludes.
 
Now at work on their sixth full-length album, the road-worn warriors have crisscrossed the US and Europe, playing the Mercury Lounge to the Viper Rooms, and played with Rival Sons, Spoon, Grand Funk Railroad and Thievery Corp. You want authenticity, take one long cold hard stare at this band. The Cold Stares are a rock ‘n’ roll band, but they take a sledgehammer to the foundation to reveal the cracks that are suppressed within it. With that, allowing themselves to be raw and open to show that, we are not alone.

For details and tickets for The Cold Stares’ upcoming tour, please visit www.thecoldstares.com.

THE COLD STARES will release their new studio album ‘Heavy Shoes’, on August 13th via Mascot Records. Today the band has shared a new video for ‘Prosecution Blues’, watch it below.

The duo just ended a10 day outsold tour of Denmark and Sweden to extatic audience respons.

There’s a richness running through the songs with dark, multi-layered narratives that course through every twist and turn. Dirty fuzzed-up rock and roll meet blues, garage, desert rock and a Southern Gothic sensibility. Sombre storytelling is etched into their songs with unflinching honesty. For Chris Tapp and Brian Mullins, authenticity is their hallmark.

“I’m writing from the point of Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner. It needs to have weight to it,” he explains. “There’s not really anything that bothers me to talk about. When you don’t allow yourself to be human and say what’s happened to you, then you make other people that are going through tough shit think that they’re alone.”

Now on their fifth album, the road-worn warriors have crisscrossed the US, playing the Mercury Lounge to the Viper Rooms, and played with Rival Sons, Spoon, Grand Funk Railroad and Thievery Corp. Their music has been streamed over 20m+ times and has featured on TV and games; ESPN, X-Games, Monster Energy, TNT’s Animal Kingdom, Dodge Motors and the smash-hit game CyberPunk 2077.

You want authenticity, take one long cold hard stare at these two. The Cold Stares are a rock ‘n’ roll band, but they take a sledgehammer to the foundation to reveal the cracks that are suppressed within it. With that, allowing themselves to be raw and open to show that, we are not alone.

Track list

1. Heavy Shoes
2. 40 Dead Men
3. Take This Body From Me
4. Hard Times
5. In The Night Time
6. Strange Light
7. Prosecution Blues
8. It’s A Game
9. Save You From You
10. You Wanted Love
11. Election Blues
12. Dust In My Hands
13. Hard Times

Also watch

THE COLD STARES will release their new studio album ‘Heavy Shoes’, on August 13th via Mascot Records. The band has shared a new video for the title track, watch it below.

Chris Tapp comments:

“Heavy Shoes is a metaphor for something that is weighing you down. Could be a relationship, an addiction, or just something you can’t let go of. That feeling of every step being heavier than the last and not being able to carry the baggage any further. Heavy Shoes was the first song I had written for the album, and kind of a template we wanted to use for the rest of the record.  Heavy, bluesy, straight ahead and honest. 
 
What you hear on the track is the first take we did at Sam Phillips Studio in Memphis. If I remember right,  it might have been the first song we recorded as well.  I think I went back and recut some vocals and maybe part of the solo in late 2020 at my home studio, but the song is about as live and real as a studio session can be. 
 
We shot the video in a old church from the 1800’s. The church was abandoned, and in the 1980’s it was set for destruction when a woman bought it. The lady had the church moved about a mile down the road to her property and slowly started to preserve it. It’s cool that today it’s structurally sound, but they haven’t changed anything from on the interior from the day the church closed its doors. Like a lot of places I love, you can feel the memories and peoples experiences in the walls.”

There’s a richness running through the songs with dark, multi-layered narratives that course through every twist and turn. Dirty fuzzed-up rock and roll meet blues, garage, desert rock and a Southern Gothic sensibility. Sombre storytelling is etched into their songs with unflinching honesty. For Chris Tapp and Brian Mullins, authenticity is their hallmark.

The Nuggets-era psychedelic garage-rock “In The Night Time” is the band striving for something more unique and is inspired by the southern gothic city of St Augustine, Florida. “The whole city is a graveyard. So many Spaniards are buried there,” singer-guitarist Tapp says. “When you’re walking the streets, it’s like you’re walking on the graves. I was visualising walking late at night, with things in the shadows coming alive, and It’s joyous.”   The day of the dead inspired narrative and visuals ties into the incredible cover-art by Corey Booth (Rick & Morty) which highlights that darkness doesn’t need to be menacing, it can be beautiful too.

Now on their fifth album, the road-worn warriors have crisscrossed the US, playing the Mercury Lounge to the Viper Rooms, and played with Rival Sons, Spoon, Grand Funk Railroad and Thievery Corp. Their music has been streamed over 20m+ times and has featured on TV and games; ESPN, X-Games, Monster Energy, TNT’s Animal Kingdom, Dodge Motors and the smash-hit game CyberPunk 2077.

You want authenticity, take one long cold hard stare at these two. The Cold Stares are a rock ‘n’ roll band, but they take a sledgehammer to the foundation to reveal the cracks that are suppressed within it. With that, allowing themselves to be raw and open to show that, we are not alone.

Track list

1. Heavy Shoes
2. 40 Dead Men
3. Take This Body From Me
4. Hard Times
5. In The Night Time
6. Strange Light
7. Prosecution Blues
8. It’s A Game
9. Save You From You
10. You Wanted Love
11. Election Blues
12. Dust In My Hands
13. Hard Times

Also watch