Matt Maust, bassist for the Cold War Kids, is excited about coming back to Australia.
The band will be touring later this month for Bluesfest and a string of sideshows. And Maust loves playing to Australian audiences. “I think the crowds are the best there,” he says, flattering us appropriately.
While the band hasn’t played Bluesfest before, they have visited Byron a couple of times, spending a New Year's or two on the famous beach. Matt’s excited about this year’s Bluesfest line-up, and has two recommendations for festival goers in particular. “The National, I like seeing that band a lot. I’d like to see Steve Earle [and The Dukes], I think those are my top two. Love those National guys.”
Australian Cold War Kids fans might be in for a special treat. The band has been working on a new album and might – or might not – test out a few new tracks. “We’ll be playing songs from every single record, maybe some brand new ones, maybe not! I’ll give you a 100 per cent maybe on that,” Maust says with a laugh.
Together for over a decade (the band formed in 2004), Cold War Kids have spent a lot of time honing their sound. “We came from two guitars, a bass and a drum on our first EP ever; and then on our first record we added the piano, and over the years more synth sounds and more keyboard and more tech things I think.
“We’re a band who started off as very, very, very self-taught monkeys playing in a room, and we’ve become more and more refined over the years,” Maust says.
But the band isn’t satisfied resting on their laurels. For their music to be satisfying, it needs to be constantly evolving. “I think it’s real important for each record to try something new. It’s really easy to limit yourself, and do what you did on the last record.
“So always keeping it different and approaching it in new ways is really key to staying excited about the music. It’s like anything, it’ll become routine and just be a job if you’re not careful.”
Evolving, however, doesn’t necessarily mean looking forward. In fact, Cold War Kids seem to be reaching into their own past for stripped back musical inspiration. “Now we’re kind of fixing the tune, we’re working on going back. We constructed it so much with the synth and a lot of this and that. I think we’re now much more rock than in our older days,” Maust explains.
Band members have also been working on side projects to keep the creativity flowing, perhaps necessary for a group that has been together for so long. Maust and lead singer Nathan Willett have recently collaborated with We Barbarians’ Nathan Warkentin and others to form a group called French Style Furs. The poetry of Thomas Merton, a trappist monk, form the band’s lyrics.
It is clear that Maust is very proud of this project as well as the latest from Cold War Kids. Maust describes the new Cold War Kids tracks so far as a “healthy follow up” to previous albums. “We’re still right in the middle of it. We’re probably about a sixth of the way through recording it so it’s too early to tell.”
Cold War Kids Tour Dates
Sun 20 Mar - Metropolis (Perth)Tue 22 Mar - HQ Complex (Adelaide)
Thu 24 Mar - Bluesfest (Byron Bay)
Fri 25 Mar - 170 Russell (Melbourne)
Sat 26 Mar - Metro Theatre (Sydney)
