Minneapolis, Minnesota rock band Cold Kingdom is proof that with music, all things are possible. After having their gear stolen in late 2015, they continued to persevere with borrowed or donated instruments. All of their members work 9-5 jobs when they are not performing and spreading their sound around. They are hoping to head back to the studio in early 2016 to record their second, full length album for a later release. We hope you enjoy this week’s Indie Band of the Week, Cold Kingdom!
Who are you and what is your role in the band?
My name is Zac Boyd. I play guitar in the band. I also try to be the best looking of the band, but that rarely happens.
How did the band get started?
Our lead guitarist, Evan started writing songs in hopes of licensing them for TV and film and the such. Once he started working with our producer, Ian Combs and laying down the tracks, it became very clear that there was something special in the songs. Ian kept pushing Evan to take these tracks to other musicians and start a band. After some extensive searching, Evan constructed a band and started working on new material to be able to have a full set put together and play shows. The rest, as they say, is history.
Who are your influences and how do they play a role in your sound?
Wow. That’s a question that could take a plethora of time to answer! We all have different influences and musical interests. Me personal, I’m a big hardcore fan. I love bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Glassjaw. I’m also super into the more mellow stuff too. Artists like Iron & Wine, City & Colour, Alina Baraz and the like. Others in the band are more into the mainstream side of things. Bands like NothingMore, Breaking Benjamin, Alter Bridge, etc. If you were to go through our personal music on each individual iPod, you’d probably laugh! I think that’s what makes our collective efforts of writing so special and unique. We all bring a completely different taste into our personal writing and it keeps things from getting stale and typical. While we’re able to write catchy material that the masses are able to consume, we’re also able to dig a little deeper into our bag of tricks and throw a wrench into the ol’ expectation machine. I think we’re all very good at reeling one another in when things get a little too out of sorts. No one in this band has an ego when it comes to song writing. The general concept is, “Whatever makes the song better”.
What has been your most meaningful experience being in this band so far?
We’ve had the very distinct opportunity of playing a number of festivals last year. Being a band of only a year, it’s a pretty amazing feeling to stand in front of 3,000+ people and get to do what we love most. Playing festivals was definitely an amazing feeling. It’s all about meeting new people and hearing the way that our music has connected with them. If we could travel around the country and simply have the opportunity to meet new people and create those new friendships, we’d be all about it!
Besides that, being invited down to NAMM in Los Angeles was a hell of an experience as well. We were fortunate enough to have done promo photos and videos for Electro-Voices new line of microphones. They invited us down to come hang out and check out their booth while they were down there. Showing up and seeing our photos all over their promo stuff as well as a video on constant rotation exhibiting our footage for a full four days was something that most bands don’t get to experience. Talk about the feels!
Favorite memory from a show you’ve played or a place you’ve travelled?
We most recently played a series of shows in Iowa and Wisconsin. On our way out to our first show, our van started acting up about an hour away from our destination. We pulled over to hopefully give it a chance to take a rest and see if we would be able to make it to our first show of the weekend. After hanging out for a bit, we tried to start the van…but to no avail. Luckily, we had parked at a rest area and a casino was just in front of us. We called a tow truck to get us to the show. While I waited in the van for the tow, the other 4 made their way to the casino to try their luck. Dani, our vocalist, was the only one who came back to the van on top. It was her first time stepping foot into a casino. She chose the OMG Kittens! slot machine and ended up winning $8. You’ve never seen excitement the way the other 3 did when she saw she won “all those credits!”. After coming back out to the van, the tow truck showed up, put our van on the flatbed, hooked up the trailer to the back end and drove us directly to the venue. We unloaded our gear and ended up playing a blast of a show. The fuel pump was fixed on the van the next day and we were off to our show in Wisconsin. I’ll never forget how calm and collected the entire band was while dealing with such a crummy situation. It definitely served as a testament to how this band deals with obstacles that get in our way!
What do you hope to accomplish with your music?
Well, I mentioned how amazing it was to watch how our music connects with people. I think that’s the most incredible feeling in the world. To be able to tour extensively, support ourselves financially, and be able to constantly move forward with what we’ve been building as a business would be the ultimate goal. Like any band, we would love to sign to a record label and be able to work our way up the industry ladder, but we’re all realistic too and know that’s going to take a lot of hard work. Building a team that supports us and that we’re able to get behind is our number one goal right now.
Something about you that no one knows?
Oh boy… That’s a can of worms. Some may know it; others may not. I’m a closet Ke$ha fan. I’m such a nerd for POP music it’s ridiculous. If you ever see me at a wedding reception, you’d understand. I’m that idiot going nuts on the dance floor to every cheesy POP song that the DJ spins. Go ahead, challenge me to a dance off. I’ll eat you alive!
What is next for the band?
Well, we are currently hard at work recording our follow up to “The Moon & the Fool” (debut record). We’ve been feverishly writing, re-writing and structuring what we feel is going to be our best work yet. All the while, we’re also working very closely with our booking agency at new opportunities that arise damn near every day. Along with the booking agency, we’ve been talking to some pretty amazing folks with a management agency that we’re very excited about. Putting that team together that I spoke of earlier is a very time extensive endeavor. We do our diligent research and make sure that we’re not diving into something that won’t benefit us in the long run.
Anything else you want to add?
We’ve had a lot of hardships to deal with in the past six months that hopefully no band ever has to deal with. However, knowing that there are so many incredible individuals out there that support us and are willing to do everything in their power to help us continue doing what we’re doing is humbling. We don’t get many opportunities to be able to personally say “thank you”. Having an opportunity to do so means the world to us. To everyone that has ever assisted with the band in any which way shape or form, we want to say a huge THANK YOU. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU. You keep this train on the tracks and without you, the trials and tribulations we’ve had to deal with would be 100% unbearable. There are big things on the horizon, and we couldn’t be more excited to share this adventure with all of you. Come say hi at a show. We love to chat!! A huge shout out to our peeps over at Coldcock Whiskey and Electro-Voice as well!
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