The Cold Stares is often endearingly referred to as a “Southern” band in the press and by fans, despite being a modern blues-rock power trio based out of Evansville, Indiana. Yet, there is an elusive southern quality to the three-piece band’s music and storytelling song-writing. Maybe it’s because guitarist-singer Chris Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins are from Western Kentucky. Though the guys have never shied away from their heritage, on their aptly-titled seventh album, The Southern, out September 6th on Mascot Records, The Cold Stares explores what it means to be Southern through delving deep into themes of resilience, redemption, and the enduring power of personal and musical legacy.
Initially formed in 2012, The Cold Stares began its career as a duo, but expanded its sonic firepower with the addition of bassist Bryce Klueh in 2022. Though the trio has below the Mason-Dixon Line origins, the group mines a woolier sound than expected. Fuzzed-out guitars, Zep-style riffs, and fleet-fingered Cream-style improvisations abound, as do nods to Delta blues. The group has been praised by Classic Rock Magazine, No Depression, and American Songwriter, among other outlets; reached #1 on Amazon Music’s Blues Rock album chart; earned prime sync license placements in commercials, on major network television, and on sports games.
“Our version of the South is different,” says Tapp. “When Brian and I were young, we would sit in with these old guys at the local lodge, at the time they were still playing the old hits by Bad Company, Robin Trower, and AC/DC mixed in with country and southern rock – artists like the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. When I heard Free’s “All Right Now” I thought they were from Georgia!”
Drawing from the wild tales his grandfather shared with him, Tapp’s cinematic song-writing weaves narratives as vivid as the Western movies they watched together. These stories of crooked cops and outlaw heroes, and local legends like “Hoppy” who tapped out rhythms while shining shoes, infuse the album with a rich, narrative depth. It is thus fitting that one of the standout tracks is titled “Coming Home,” a song that encapsulates the essence of these tales and the sense of returning to one’s roots. “We are so proud to tip a hat to Kentucky on this album, and embrace being ambassadors of the South,” Tapp concludes, bringing the journey of The Southern full circle—a heartfelt tribute to the land and stories that shaped them.
Horse To Water opens the song-set, a true sculpting of modern blues-rock. A heavyweight staccato rock riff intertwines with a punchy vocal from singer Chris. Its got a fresh, contemporary feel to it, thoroughly listenable with a touch of Paul Rodgers, maybe a hint of Bryan Adams… and more than a whisper of Phil Lynott! It’s how the blues needs to be delivered – with passion, musicality, verve and control. Crisp percussion also nails it beautifully. Coming Home, follows, it’s the latest single from the album, a plaintive, bluesy number played on dobro, echoing the depth of Southern familial ties and personal resilience, perhaps the band’s most ‘rootsy’ song to date. There’s a raw emotion to the story-telling that cant fail to grab you.
Looking For A Fight is next, this opens with a suitably up-beat, fuzzed-out but bouncy vibe that instantly captures that sense of bar-room blues and brawl. Halfway through it bridges with a full-on four-bar-rock section, replete with Bad Company-esque no-nonsense riff! Blow Wind Blow has an ominous classic rock feel with lyrics inspired by Dust Bowl-era Oklahoma, vocals that echo Hendrix, Rodgers and so many other greats – and that’s my point, Chris Tapp’s singing is of the very highest pedigree. A simple but tasty riff-and-rhythm arrangement hits the button for me big-style, the song expressing how hard times can push somebody back into your arms so that you can help them. There’s a real minor chord poignancy to this number.
Confession continues in much the same vein, it starts off less punchily than some of the gems in here, but develops a really spaced vibe, the middle section has some distinctly Hendrix-like or Robin Trower lead licks and the whole whirls around my headphones most satisfactorily! The vocals for Level Floor Blues could again be Phil Lynott, allied to a sparse but crisp blues backing arrangement. Nice…..Seven Ways to Sundown is another fine example of taut modern blues yo-yoing with classic rock, it’s a tasty overall mood, mixing some really heavyweight riffing with crisp percussion, clean lead notes and above it all that voice.
No Love in the City Anymore does sound a bit derivative, very Thin Lizzy at times, it again reminds me how the challenge of providing variety can be a particular issue for rock trios – no matter how good (and I include Cream in this theory!) Giving It Up ups the ante pace-wise, coming at you like an express train, for me it again has a distinct sense of the Jimi Hendrix Experience? Woman reverts to full-on stoner/fuzz, or the kind of proto-heavy metal that worshipped the fuzz pedal around 1970 – it’s that drenched in “Full Rock Ambience”
And then we have the album’s closer, Mortality Blues. It’s an eerie modern Delta blues number played on Tapp’s resonator guitar, rife with haunting Southern imagery and thematics, including a thread about mythologized blues guitarist Robert Johnson. Maybe not the most uplifting end to a song-set, but Tapp is a cancer survivor, and it’s hard not to read into some of the lyrics on Mortality Blues and not think of his brave journey – Bless ‘im!
All in all, not at all “Southern” in the conventional sense, much more a blend of fresh blues welded to some classic hard rock vibes with so many hints of influences – I was surprised and fascinated!
