The Cold Stares, Voices, album cover

The Cold Stares, Voices

Indiana blues-rock outfit The Cold Stares have announced ‘Voices,’ their new full-length album, out March 10th via Mascot Records.

Recorded over the course of just two days with producer/engineer/mixer Mark Needham (Taj Mahal, The Killers, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon, Fleetwood Mac), Voices stands as the band’s most mature, eclectic collection yet, balancing gritty muscle and tender emotion in equal measure. 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.

A musically innovative trio, The Cold Stares take their sound into new sonic territory with “The Joy.” It’s a deeply meaningful song that contrasts a dissonant, angst-filled verse with an expansive, melodic chorus that will open your heart wide. It’s emotive, almost psychedelic, and will find favor among survivors of all kinds. Chris Tapp’s vocals are more real than ever and his guitar work shines with Gilmour-esque grit and brilliance. This track is a fresh artistic level for The Cold Stares and will likely spread their fame to countless new fans. Spin it and you’ll become one of them.

“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.”

Watch “The Joy”

 
Pre-order Voices Here

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.

The Cold Stares, photo

The Cold Stares by Jim Arbogast, Voices

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.

“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.”

‘Voices’ by The Cold Stares
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

The Cold Stares website