Discover The Undiscovered: Cold Blue Kid
By Staff on July 12, 2011
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Filter Magazine is excited to introduce our next installment to the Discover The Undiscovered family; please meet Cold Blue Kid. Hailing from Chicago, the 5 piece band fronted by Alex Longoria creates a beautiful blend of guitars, effect pedals, drum machine beats, with a collection of poetry and a whole lot of imagination. Since Cold Blue Kid’s opening show at the Double Door in March 2011 they’ve grown as artists and continue to strengthen as a band. Cold Blue Kid draws upon various influences from: Fleetwood Mac, Joy Division, Wilco, Broken Social Scene, Cure, Neil Young, Smashing Pumpkins to name a few.
Click here to download “Stay Alive”
Who are your main influences?
Making airplanes with our hands as we cruise down the road, Alex's 7 year old daughter; dreaming under water on a sunny day, biking through downtown Chicago on a warm summer night, vintage painted signs, slow dancing and heartbeats.
How did you meet?
Alex contacted his friend and now band mate Sarah Gallagher to join him on this musical journey. Sarah brings a pocket full of attitude and a lot of funk on bass guitar. After posting various ads on Craigslist, Alex found an amazing drummer by the name of Andrew Sole. Andrew is a talented drummer with credentials in numerous bands and over 20 years of experience. They say as one door closes another door opens; this is true in the meeting of Evan Holmes who adds an amazing lead guitar to the dissident sounds of Cold blue Kid. Through Evan, Alex came into contact with Jen Romero. Jen Romero is a talented pianist with an amazing set of pipes. Her vocals add a refreshing sound of light to the sometimes dark overtones of Cold Blue Kid.
What is your biggest achievement as a band to date?
I am so grateful for all of the accomplishments that we have accomplished. In the short amount of time that we have been playing out we have accomplished so much including numerous shows around the Mid West, radio play and a solid fan following.
Where did the band name originate?
Cold Blue Kid's name originated from a near death experience that happened to Alex when he was just 6 months old. – I was born a sick baby. I spent a decent amount of time in the hospital until I was 5 years old. When I was 6 months old, I acquired pneumonia. Supposedly the doctors told my mother to go home and get rest but she refused to leave. After several requests by nurses and doctors she attempted to head home. When she was about to get in the car to go home something in her gut told her to go back and check on me. Upon entering my room she found that my ECG displayed a cardiac flat line. As she screamed for help nurses and doctors rushed into the room screaming "Code Blue”.I was pronounced dead for several minutes before they were able to bring me back to life. According to her my body was blue as the sky and my skin felt cold as ice, so growing up she always told me that I turned "Cold Blue". To me, Cold Blue Kidis a constant reminder that we have to live everyday like it's our last; surviving adversity and misery and being able to create and tell your own story.
Favorite Bands?
We have so many but here are a few: The Sea and Cake, The National, Tegan and Sarah, Joy Division, Cure, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Nina Simone, Chet Baker, Midlake, Rolling Stones, Beck, Eagles, The Knife, Doors, Broken Social Scene, Wilco, Hum, Smashing Pumpkins (Pre- Ava Adore), Pavement, Sonic Youth, Stars
Plans to Tour?
After touring around the Midwest for the last 5 months we are going to play a few more festivals and head back to the recording studio.
Plans for next release?
We plan on recording our Sophomore album at Chicago' King Size studio in August/September. We hope to release the new album no later than November 1st.
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