Cold Shoulder… Chilled
Interview: Cold Shoulder
Published on April 9th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams
Having emerged from the ashes of Merseyside bands The Black Velvets and The Aeroplanes, Cold Shoulder recently took their bluesy, bitter-sweet pop out on the road in support of Cast, thus presenting Rocksucker with an opportune moment to fire over some questions to the band’s bassist Andy Ashton…
How did your show at Eric’s go?
Very well. We played as well as we usually do and the sound was great. There was a good amount of people there and a good atmosphere too. All round good night.
You must have been excited about going on tour with Cast. How did that come about? Do you know them at all? Are you fans of their music?
Yes, we were all excited about the Cast tour as we got to play at some really god venues and it was nice for our sound to be heard on a bigger scale. The tour came about through word of mouth and pure cheekiness on my part. We do know some of the fellas anyway, not as if we’re best mates or anything but well enough to have a chat to. They are true professionals and very, very good people.
Cast for me – and I can confidently say for Nick [Kilroe, drummer] as well – was such a nostalgia trip as when I very first started going to gigs I used to go to watch them. They are very powerful band live and seeing them now, they’ve not lost it either. I’ve always been a fan of theirs (particularly the rhythm section) and now I’m older it’s only really hit me just how proficient they are as musicians. When I was a kid I was more interested in being blown away by the live energy.
Is there an album in the offing? If so, what can you tell us about it? Do you know when it might be released?
There are plans afoot for a release. Probably not an album to start with, but we’re looking to at least get something out around the summer time.
Will you be playing any festivals this summer?
We will be hopefully, we’re just at the mercy of organisers and promoters right now so we have to remain persistent but there’s been a few offers come in.
There doesn’t seem to be too much info about you guys out there. Can you tell us a bit about how you came together and what you’ve done so far as a band?
We purposefully kept our profile low when we started out as we wanted our sound to develop before any sort of fanbase shaped us into what they may come to expect.
It all came about as Nick was interested in playing his original material in a band scenario as he hadn’t done that since his old band The Black Velvets went their seperate ways and Chris [Kearney, front man] had not long parted ways with his old band The Aeroplanes. They were good mates anyway so decided to team up. I’ve known Nick for years (from the days of going to watch Cast as kids actually!), and bumped into him one night. I was interested in getting playing some original stuff so the three of us had a jam and it clicked pretty much straight away.
As a band we’ve managed to develop a sound which is fairly unique within this city and we’ve been lucky enough to get our own recordings done on our terms without any outside influence. We’ve done some belting shows and have a strong core fanbase. We feel as though we are respected by our peers and really believe we are a band worth seeing. I don’t think anyone would walk away from one of our shows feeling short-changed.
We’re on the verge of signing a deal which I won’t go into right now, and of course the tour with Cast is giving us great exposure. The future looks very positive for Cold Shoulder.
Are there any obscure and/or up-and-coming artists that you’d like to recommend or give a shout-out to?
We played The Zanzibar on August bank holiday and The Sundowners were on. All three of us absolutely loved them.
I also love The Big House, which is Candie Payne and Paul Molloy.
Finally, if you were forced to spend the rest of your days in solitary confinement, but were allowed to bring the entire works of five different artists along to tide you over, whose would you choose?
I’d have to say…The Best of The Beatles.
Seriously though: The Beatles, Frank Zappa (his body of work would take about five years to get through anyway), Fleetwood Mac, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Rolling Stones.
Andy Ashton, thank you.
For more information, including a list of live dates, please visit the Cold Shoulder Facebook page.
Click here to read Andy talking to Football Burp about his love of Everton FC!
About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
