Pennsylvanian hardcore kids Cold World are set to unleash their Deathwish debut later this month, and I have no doubt it’s going to make a lot of readers top ten lists for the year. Nick Woj (Drums) was cool enough to answer the following questions...
Pennsylvanian hardcore kids Cold World are set to unleash their Deathwish debut later this month, and I have no doubt it’s going to make a lot of readers top ten lists for the year.
Nick Woj (Drums) was cool enough to answer the following questions...
By Cameron Chambers
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Can you please tell us your
name, what you do in the band and what exactly does "Cold World"
mean?
My name's Nick Woj. I play drums
and do other duties in the band. Cold World means that shit's real in
the field.
You haven't had much press
here in Australia, so can you give us a bit of a run down on how the
band got together, your current members, what you're doing at the moment
etc…
Alex, Dan and I were in a band
called Magnus years ago. We were a Youth Crew style band. Me and Alex
did little things here and there, but it was a while since we were in
a band that we had creative input in so we decided to scratch the itch.
We've had many lineup up changes but us three are the permanent members.
Scace from Mental/Righteous Jams is our second and last bassist and
Haroun from RZL DZL is our new second guitar player (and hopefully our
last).
A lot of bands sit around and
wait for labels and managers to help them out, but you guys released
"Ice Grillz" in 2005 and hit the road for close to twelve
months. How important was it for you to strike out and go it alone?
Actually "Ice Grillz"
was released by Lockin Out Records and that was our second ep. The debut
ep was released by our friend Bobb Mac's label "Walk All Night".
He put out stuff by Blacklisted, Think I Care and One Up.
What was your initial reaction
when Deathwish came knocking after only twelve months?
It was more like 2 years and they
didn't knock so much. Our friends in Blacklisted put it in their ear
that we were looking for a label to do our LP with because Greg wasn't
going to do Lockin Out as a serious label anymore so they gave us an
offer. We were also talking to 1917 Records and we wanted to find a
way to work with both labels so we released "No Omega" on
1917, which was everything we did to that point (minus the song from
the "Generations" comp) and a DVD of us fooling around on
tour and in the studio. It was cool to know that Deathwish was interested
in us because they're one of the few major players as far as hardcore
labels go right now.
To mark your signing with Deathwish
in 2006, the label randomly sent out 500 copies of a limited press 7
inch, featuring one new Cold World song. That's a pretty inventive way
of getting the band's name out there, who's idea was it?
I'm pretty sure it was Tre from
Deathwish's idea. I'm a vinyl enthusiast so I want to be on as many
pieces of vinyl as possible so I was obviously down with it. We knew
it would be a while until we got the LP ready but at the same time we
were demo'ing material for it, so we decided to put one of the demo's
out on vinyl to hold people over.
Looking forward, your Deathwish
debut "Dedicated To Babies That Came Feet First" is set to
drop in a couple of weeks. Can you tell us about the writing and recording
process? How did it come about that Billy from Biohazard produced and
engineered the album?
It took very long for the LP to
be finished in it's entirety. We wrote the songs here and there, and
mostly put stuff together during the demo sessions. Alex and I would
have ideas for riffs and parts, and I would have lyrics so we'd put
stuff together and see how it'd fit. I also had a few complete songs
in my head, I just needed Alex to make them into real music and not
"jud-jud"s and "jent jent"s. Working with Billy
was cool because obviously Biohazard is a huge influence on our sound.
We were originally going to record with Kurt from Converge but he was
really busy at that time with touring. We wanted to try a place that
nobody we know recorded at before because a lot of the time you can
tell where something was recorded just by listening to it. That can
be a good thing and a bad thing, so we decided to avoid it all together
and work with an influence.
Who are some of Cold World's
key influences, musical or otherwise?
Cold World is influenced by so
many different genres and bands that it's hard to say really. I've taken
ideas from techno songs and made riffs from them. Some of the bands
that we took cues from on this album are Dinosaur Jr., the Stone Roses
and Portishead. There's loads more but I don't want to reveal any secrets!
There's also the obvious stuff like hip-hop, Life Of Agony, Metallica,
and NYHC.
Do you think Billy's presence
on the record had an impact on the songs as well as the quality of the
recording, ie: did he have much of a role in the writing and arranging?
Outside of the overall sound,
he had no impact on songwriting. Almost all of the songs were demo'd
and they didn't really change at all. He would help me and Alex with
our vocal parts and he had a lot of hand in how some guitar parts were
played but he definitely didn't arrange anything.
How do you think the your sound
has developed and progressed since your earlier recordings?
Our goal was to make song parts
more extreme without compromising the song itself. Some hardcore band's
songs just sound like a bunch of parts put together. Although that's
literally how some of our songs are written, we make sure it doesn't
sound like it. The earlier stuff was definitely more straightforward
hardcore while the new stuff is a little more dynamic. We're definitely
still a hardcore band though. There's no doubt about that.
The album title is definitely
a little strange, what does it mean?
It's a line that Ghostface says
in a Raekwon song and it always struck a chord with me. "Babies
who came feet first" just means kids who maybe had things a little
harder or were on their own from a young age.
Deathwish releases are always
a total package in that the artwork compliments the music. What's the
go with the cover for "Dedicated To Babies…"?
The photographs used for the cover
were taken by our friend's dad in Wilkes-Barre during the 70's. We couldn't
think of better imagery to use than fucked up old people and young bad
ass kids in Wilkes-Barre.
You guys have shows booked
up until the end of August, what have you got planned after that? Is
an Australian tour on the cards at all?
We really want to go to Austrailia
and Japan. I will do anything to make that happen. I need some kangaroo
action in my life.
Who are some bands that you
think kids should be checking out if they aren't already?
As far as hardcore goes, check
out Rhythm to the Madness, Bad Seed, True Colors, Trapped Under
Ice, Early Birds, World Collapse and Let Down. I'm sure there's others
that I'm forgetting.
Your most embarrassing onstage
experience?
Aw man, I dunno. Probably one
of our first show's with our old second guitar player, Party Boy, when
he tried to get everybody to clap along to a part.
Best show that you've ever
attended as a fan?
Probably Morrissey at the Apollo
or Cro-Mags at CBGB. I'm about to see My Bloody Valentine next month
so hopefully that'll take the number one spot!
Any parting words?
I don't remember what it was called
but I saw a movie that took place in Australia and the one dude in it
owned a shrimp cart. It was like an RV that sold shrimp. I hope Australia's
full of shrimp carts when I come there.
For more info on Cold World head to the bands Myspace page.