1 NW NOISE #11: Interview with Cold Lake Guitarist James Burns

The Kick Starter phenomenon is in full swing with artists and big thinkers of every medium jumping on the band wagon in hopes of raising enough cash through family, friends, and fans – in order to pay for, or at the very least, financially “kick start” their respective ambitious endeavor or creative idea into reality.

Anything that falls within the art realm seems to be fair game, and as far as I can tell it seems to be a win-win situation, especially for musicians and their fans. Local noise enthusiasts Cold Lake for instance are currently a couple months deep into their respective pledge drive, and have since risen $1,381 towards the recording costs and future vinyl pressing of their much anticipated debut full length. On Kick Starter most artists offer rewards of some kind in exchange for initial monetary support. The big selling point for prospective bidders in Cold Lake’s case is some really sweet limited edition swag including cassettes, test press LP’s, and 7” box sets available to bidders based upon certain pledge levels. (See: Cold Lake’s Kick Starter page for all pledge levels and reward descriptions.)

For those unfamiliar, Cold Lake formed sometime last year and played one of their very first gigs opening for the Murder City Devils at the Showbox in December 2009. Even with that kind of initial exposure, the band decided to take a much more suitable punk rock approach-- frequently grinding it out in Seattle’s best dives and DIY venues. Cold Lake is not shy about wearing their influences on their sleeves and for anyone who gets off on the noise-worthy punk bands of the early 90’s Touch and Go catalog well look no further because they are respectfully resurrecting and viciously paying homage to a sound that should never have faded in the first place.

(Hear: Cold Lake’s paint peeling new demo “Concrete Drugs” and make your own comparisons.)

Consisting of 4 veteran local musicians, Cold Lake is screamer Corey Brewer (Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death), bassist Clyde Peterson, drummer Jeff Mitchell, and last but not least ex-USS Horsewhip guitarist/vocalist, current Police Teeth guitarist/vocalist and a hell of a nice guy James Burns. James was kind enough to answer a few questions for SRG about the beginnings of Cold Lake and the band’s pledge drive towards a debut record. You’ll have two chances to catch James mid-shred at this weekend’s Capitol Hill Block Party as both Cold Lake and Police Teeth are part of the stellar lineup. You also still have 20 or so days to pass a few bucks over to the band and reserve your vinyl copy of their sure to be pissed off debut.

Here’s my chat with James Burns:

N: How did Cold Lake come together?

JB: Police Teeth was on hiatus due to boring personal reasons, and after a couple months, I started itching to do something new. I wanted to focus on playing guitar more, and not worry about being the primary vocalist. I actually posted something to that effect as a status update on Facebook, and Corey, Jeff, and Clyde, whom I've all known for several years, posted comments saying that they were in. It seemed like a lark at first, but after our first practice it was apparent that the four of us had real chemistry, so we've kept at it.

N: The influences are front and center in my mind but which bands would you say have had a hand in shaping Cold Lake’s sound?

JB: The band's sound is shaped by the bands we loved in the 90's when we were teenagers and started getting into punk rock and going to shows. We never stopped loving bands like Unwound, Unsane, Nation Of Ulysses, Karp, Born Against, Drive Like Jehu, and so on, which didn't seem like a style that is well represented in Seattle currently. It wasn't our intention to become a band that sounded like a time capsule, but it was natural for us because it's the music we all cut our teeth on.

N: What are some of the other bands that the members of Cold Lake have played in past and present?

JB: I still play guitar, bass, and sing in Police Teeth. Before that, I was in USS Horsewhip and The Seizures.

Corey also plays guitar in Triumph Of Lethargy Skinned Alive To Death, and was previously in Bright Shiny Object, Good Times And The Virgins, Rox, and several others.

Clyde has been doing his solo band Your Heart Breaks for what must be over a decade by now, and also plays guitar in Angelo Spencer Et Les Haus Sommets.

Jeff had been a pretty notorious drummer for hire during his tenure Bellingham and has played drums in too many bands to mention. The most notable probably being Lago Volunteers, Wizards Of Wor and Camarojuana.

N: What's your view of Seattle's current musical landscape-- Positive or Negative?

JB: There are a ton of great bands and great people, but it can feel like crabs in a barrel at times. I'd like to see more diverse and weirder shows, different types of bands playing together, more cross-pollination.

N: On to the Kick Starter pledge drive. Seems like in this down economy a pledge drive of this nature might be a hard sell? What are your thoughts on the decision to go this route, and the response so far.

JB: The small amount of money we've gotten so far has exceeded my expectations already! People have been super supportive of this band since day one, which is always heartening and surprising for me.

I think going about making a record this way kinda demystifies the process for people who aren't familiar with how it works. Instead of a band and a label magically producing a record out of thin air, they get to see us coming up with money for studio time, booking the studio time, laying down tracks, submitting things for mastering, approving the masters, figuring out artwork and layout, going through the whole manufacturing process, and the price tags associated with each of the steps. People can see that shit and think, "Hey, that's cool. That deserves a dollar." Maybe they're surprised at how much work it is at the DIY shit-eating level, or maybe they're surprised at how efficiently and cheaply a record can be made at that level, too. A lot of great records have been made for a lot less than three grand, but it's still a drop in the bucket compared to even how the larger indies work. Even Fugazi's records cost ten to fifteen grand to record. I think six days is just about the perfect amount of time to make the kind of record we want to make, so that's what we're shooting for.

N: What can fans expect from the debut?

JB: Clyde and I both bought new amps recently, so it's going to sound just that much heavier. Corey's been watching a lot of fucked up foreign art films to fuel his psychosis. It's not going to be the most groundbreaking record ever, but it's going to scratch the itch for those of us who grew up as punk kids in the 90's and miss the way heavy bands did things back then. I know I'm not the only one who does. We have nine songs prepared for the record and each one is a banger.

N: Is there anything Cold Lake won't do for money to make this project happen?

JB: Haha. I made sure that each of the pledge levels were things that the members of the band would all be pretty much comfortable with. We like to play shows and hang out with each other at practice and drink beer, so we tried to think of ways that we could get paid a little bit of money for doing those things. The only thing I could think of is that if somebody pledged at the $1000 level, and asked us to record a cover song that was explicitly racist, misogynist, or homophobic, we would ask them to either pick another song or we'd refund their money. I don't see our friends or fans calling for Rahowa or Buju Banton covers though, so I ain't worried about it.

Cold Lake play Capitol Hill Block Party at 3:00pm on Saturday, July 24 on Vera Stage.

Words and Interview by Nik Christofferson
{Photo by Joseph P. Traina.}