With the release of their latest album 'New Age Norms Vol. 1', dawns a new age for Cold War Kids.
The seventh studio album for Cold War Kids, 'New Age Norms Vol. 1' is the first instalment of a trilogy that will redefine the band as well as the expectations of their listeners.
“Our band, we've put out 7 records in something like 12-13 years so we like to stay busy; [we’ll] always be working on the next thing,” lead singer Nathan Willett says.
“So many seasons have changed – there's different band members, record labels and a lot of variables always changing, and this feels like a season where. . . it was time to hit the reset button a little bit.
“I think the idea of a three volume, eight-song collection was a way of doing that, a way of restarting it because we didn't want to become a greatest hits band; we didn't want to lean too much on the old stuff and I feel like we still have a lot of room to grow. We just needed to start clean.”
For 'New Age Norms Vol. 1', Cold War Kids found inspiration in albums produced by Kanye West and set out to create a string of releases that fully explores the different aspects of the band's musicality. “Each one of these songs show very different styles and genres, different sides of Cold War Kids,” Nathan says.
“There's some very vintage rock & roll ones, there's very soulful ones, there's more R&B ones, there's a really stripped-down, emotional piano balled one and the last song on the record, 'Tricky Devil', reminds me of a Joy Division, post-punk type of thing. We've never been a band that's all in on one genre, so it's nice to have eight songs that really fit together on a record but stylistically they're very different from each other.”
Since their debut album 'Robbers & Cowards' in 2006, which featured seminal hits 'We Used To Vacation', 'Hang Me Up To Dry' and 'Hospital Beds', Cold War Kids have forged a discography of albums each distinct to one another.
“I think we know who we are and we know that there's certain places we want to go that could potentially bum out some people, but first and foremost we want to keep ourselves interested and feeling like we're growing and evolving, and also I want to expand our audience,” Nathan says.
“I feel like we're in a place where we've done a lot and we've been very fortunate to have the audience that we have, and then also I feel like we've got a long ways to go as well. . . We're still 15 years in and on our way up.”
With 'New Age Norms Vol. 1' released at the beginning of November, plans are now in motion for volumes two and three. “Right now we're still finishing them both and it's just nice that we have the ball rolling with the first one coming out,” Nathan says.
“The second one I think is a totally different sound and it's much more the sound of a full band in the room performing live; a little more rock & roll. Then the third one is taking shape, it's got a whole bunch of songs and we'll see where it all lands. It will come out I think somewhere midway through next year and end of next year.”
