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Cold War Kids

Rock

Cold War Kids Tickets

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If Nathan Willett followed his usual impulses, Cold War Kids' 10th album might just have been a five-song EP, or an album with entirely different songs than the 12 ultimately chosen here. Instead, Willett took a rare pandemic-era breather to really contemplate what a Cold War Kids album could, and should, sound like in 2023, and how to infuse the material with meaningful discourse about his life specifically and the state of the world more broadly. Clearly, it was worth the wait: the aptly self-titled result is perhaps the strongest and most well-rounded full-length in the long-running California band's ample catalog, and the purest possible distillation of Cold War Kids' nearly 20-year career.

Over the course of nine studio albums and numerous EPs, Cold War Kids have become a major part of the modern musical landscape thanks to deeply personal songcraft and a commitment to forward motion. "First," their platinum-selling 2015 single, named as the most played track at alternative radio outlets nationwide in the last decade, and 2007's "Hang Me Up To Dry" remaining a festival staple. Their current lineup - Willett (vocals, piano, guitar), Matt Maust (bass guitar), David Quon (guitar, backing vocals), Matthew Schwartz (keyboards, backing vocals, guitar, percussion), and Joe Plummer (drums, percussion) - coalesced in 2016 and has released a whopping four albums and five EPs since then.

"If I've got five songs done that I've worked on in a certain way, I tend to want to put them out as an EP and go do some shows around it," Willett says of his mindset during the early stages of Cold War Kids. "Continually as my brain would go to that place, I'd go, no, just wait, and really put together a full-length record. I needed to approach things very differently and work with some new people in a way that was a little uncomfortable. This album is where I've most felt like I was the executive producer of everything."

At first, Willett thought initial work with producer Carlos de la Garza (Paramore, M83) could be grist for another quick EP. Eventually, he realized one song in particular from those sessions, "Run Away With Me," was leading him down a different path. With its funky groove and huge chorus, "Run Away With Me" set the tone for what was to come on Cold War Kids: 12 high-minded, stylistically diverse songs referencing everything from Sly and the Family Stone and Curtis Mayfield to the Pretenders and Elton John to Happy Mondays and Gang Of Four.

"The band started out with four guys who have very specific tastes and styles, and now it's mostly me making the records in a way I love and have always envisioned," Willett says. "The sound of Cold War Kids has always been there, and I wanted this record to be the ideal, best version of all those things we've always been."

Just as the music on Cold War Kids draws equally from the band's blues-and-soul-driven sonic past as well as fresh forays into dance beats and '80s pop/rock, the album's themes of creative life conflicting with domestic realities reflect Willett's increasingly introspective state of mind. There are songs about breaking up with a trusted therapist ("Another Name"), juggling gender norms ("Double Life") and reckoning with a toxic past ("Toxic Masculinity"), the desire to escape stability ("Stray"), and the beauty of surrender and weakness ("Blame").

Committed to pushing himself just as hard to create the album's sound, Willett turned to a handful of new producers and collaborators, including Militarie Gun's Max Epstein,Casey Lagos (Kesha, Wrabel), Ethan Gruska (Phoebe Bridgers, Weezer), Jenn Decliveo (Miley Cyrus, Hozier), and Malay (Frank Ocean, Lorde).

"Like most people, I spent a lot of time at home during the pandemic with my kids, in many ways for the first time," Willett says. "While my partner was working, I became the mother. I had to shed my identity as a musician and an artist and could no longer play the role of best supportive male provider. I wanted to channel all this struggle and soul-searching, because it gave me a window of insight and access to the feminine experience that I needed to grow and ultimately create this album."

Willett singles out the slow-burning, piano-dominated "Another Name" as a turning point. On the day he was scheduled to work with Gruska for the first time, he'd also had his final session with his longtime therapist. "I started telling Ethan about it, which could have been really awkward with someone I'd never met. It's not easy to walk into a room and just write a song with a stranger," he says. "But instead, it was totally natural. The song came out almost fully formed, and it was probably the single best experience I've ever had working with a producer."

As much as Willett is probing his own psyche on Cold War Kids, he's also taking stock of how he interacts with the people around him. On the surface, the Malay-produced "For Your Love" is a universal song about a universal emotion, but in it Willett finds deeper meaning in holding his crying baby daughter in the middle of the night. Elsewhere, "Betting on Us" is both "a relationship song and a self-reflection song, but it's also about being an artist. It's so much easier to be driven by wanting to play your music and show it to people, and so much harder to have to slow down and say, what is the reason for any of this? What do I hope that this does? Do I want success for its own sake, and if so, I need to not (laughs). I already have so much!"

This conundrum resurfaces in album closer "Starring Role," which was inspired by an epiphany Willett had while idly looking at celebrity gossip on his phone while waiting to pick up a rental car. "On one level, Cold War Kids, and the success we've had, is an absolute miracle beyond anything I would have hoped," he says. "On another level, like anybody, I see wrong moves we made or tours we should have taken or opportunities we blew, and I'm like, aaah! I think there's more mountains for us to climb. You have to be honest and at the same time a little crazy to be like, I want more, but I don't want to be narcissistic or greedy."

Ultimately, Cold War Kids is the culmination of Willett and Maust's two-decade creative partnership, and it embodies the realization that said partnership is still truly worth celebrating. "For so many years, we were white-knuckling it and feeling like we were imposters," Willett admits. "I realized, I can't think that way. If I'm not sure I can listen back to something and know that it's great, then I shouldn't be putting it out."

"This group of friends met and were drawn to each other at a Christian college, and we started the band in a strange environment where we realized, what are we all doing here?," Willet says. "We came from a place of growing up, listening to music, and going to shows, and there's a type of sweetness where we were sheltered from the music industry or wanting to be successful at any cost. Maust and I still have that connection, and it's still an important part of what Cold War Kids are today."

Reviews

Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 298 reviews
  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    Cold War Kids killed it!

    by Krisser on 3/26/24The Observatory North Park - San Diego

    What a great band to see live, and the small stage venue of the North Park Observatory is a killer way to see the bands you love up close and personal. So glad I got tickets!

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    Fun show with hits old and new

    by NicDCog on 3/21/24The Observatory North Park - San Diego

    I've loved Cold War Kids' music since they collaborated with Bishop Briggs on So Tied Up", so it was great to hear their songs from the past 20 years and 10 albums. I wasn't expecting a support group, Cold War Kids took to the stage at 9:15pm to 11pm. They are such a dynamic band, their set jumped from rock, punk style, pop and a bit of funk, they also had a jam session towards the end. Nathan, the lead singer is so dynamic, singing, playing guitar and piano and he jumped off stage when the show was finished and chatted with fans and took photos, which I really appreciated. My only critique was I wished the final song was a bit more familiar and something big to close, I wasn't familiar with it, so it lost momentum for me but still a very fun show overall and well produced.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    Great Concert!

    by Falco on 3/21/24The Observatory North Park - San Diego

    This show was great! So many songs!! Great Venue! Highly recommend going to this concert. Good band to see live.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    A good time

    by Sly on 3/13/24House of Blues Cleveland - Cleveland

    Sounded great. Played for a good amount of time and played all the songs you would want to hear. A good time and I would definitely go to another one of their shows

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    Great band…venue not so much

    by Trish on 3/13/24Buckhead Theatre - Atlanta

    Cold War Kids were really great! Venue not so much. Had been Buckhead Theater before but had floor seats and it was an acoustic type artist. However, this time…the balcony (with the only seating for this event) sounds terrible. Won’t get seats there anymore.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    So much fun

    by Jen on 3/12/24Buckhead Theatre - Atlanta

    Great show! Very energetic and engaging with the audience . Would 100% see them again!

  • Rating: 4 out of 5

    $17/ beer seems like a lot!

    by Great show; pricey drinks on 3/12/24Buckhead Theatre - Atlanta

    Cold War kids put on a really good show. Would have loved it to be a little longer, but it was way better than the last time they played in atlanta and the guitarist was out on paternity leave and they played a 1 hour set… Drinks were insane tho. $17 for a 16 ounce beer?

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    Kicking' after 20 years

    by Sunshine on 3/12/24Buckhead Theatre - Atlanta

    Awesome show. Come back soon CWK. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    Worth the wait!

    by Rockgrrrl13 on 3/12/24The Ritz - Raleigh

    Had a great time at this show!!! Moved to front row and was so excited at how many of their songs were played during their set. I’ve waited years to see them, and I was totally worth it for this great opportunity.

  • Rating: 5 out of 5

    20 Years of Bangers

    by Elexus on 3/12/24Citizens House of Blues Boston - Boston

    When I tell you that listening to those bops was exactly what I needed and more, I mean it. Brought my friend who knew nothing about them other than one song and she left a believer. In the words of CWK themselves “what if Heaven were to fall right in your hands?” And my answer to that is “it did and it came in the form of Cold War Kids tickets” (I almost gave it a 4 star because they didn’t play my three favorite songs but bro they literally have 20 years worth of music. They can’t play them all)