Cold Steel from Strasbourg, France offers hardcore that is deeply rooted in the 90' sound of bands like Next Step Up or Bulldoze. I know a lot of you have a sentiment for these old times and pioneer bands that were tearing shit down back then. And if you remember that France was producing bands like Stormcore, Drowning or mighty Kickback, you know these guys have mosh in their blood and the outcome sound is never less than compelling.
For those unfamiliar with the band - what do you want people to know about the band and your music or message?For us it’s easy: friendship, open minded lifestyle and passion are what it is all about.
Friendship is what keeps us stuck together since day one. It’s been almost 10 years so far that we’re all playing music in different bands together.
Open minded life style is because one of our most important struggles is to be open to new points of view, new perceptions and to diversity. We believe in changes, in alternative ways to act and live. Some of us are really into travelling for instance.
Passion because it is the most powerful engine. Passion is definitely what drives us. We don’t only mean passion for hardcore. We mean passion for music in general. We believe that it’s a chance for us that most of COLD STEEL’s members are not only into hardcore music, and all the other influences we have do influence the songs we write.
That’s about music; let’s talk a bit about the message. We’re absolutely not into politic nor into religions. Mostly the message which is to be understood in our songs is about the most valuable thing we have in this world, which is the present moment. We believe in human relations and exchanges rather than in material possessions. We believe in the power of now rather than in past memories or unknown future.
How did you all meet and how long have you all been a band?
As we mentioned earlier, we have been knowing each other for almost 10 years and we met in our local underground music scene in STRASBOURG (FRANCE) as we were all starting playing in bands. (we started with bands such as SOLSTIS, BATTLING SIKI, SPITFIGHT you should check them out on MYSPACE). Then we started COLD STEEL like one and a half year ago when some of our bands splitted up.
What's KEUS LIFE CREW about?
KEUS LIFE CREW (KLC) is our local crew. It’s the informal part of our local activism. We’ve got our musical association called ACTS NOT SPEECHES as well for organising shows, promoting bands and realising stuff. KLC would not really mean anything in English, but it’s a mix of English with some French slang. It’s roughly a way to tell that we don’t give a shit about judgements; we don’t pretend to be better than anyone; we don’t say we’re some kind of musical geniuses (haha). We’re just people, friends, a family who want to share great times, have fun playing shows and backing us up anytime.
For those who have not heard anything from you how would you describe band's playing sound?
Well, it’s sometime kinda hard to describe the music you’re playing but we would say that it’s a kind of mid 90’s mid-tempo hardcore. That means there are also quite a lot of metal parts played with a single guitar. Even if we got a lot of respect for all what’s going on today, and in Europe moreover, we don’t want to play something that you can find on any MYSPACE band page.
Your first demo has been released recently. How the response has been so far?
The response so far is positive. We only burned a few copies for free promotion and people seem to enjoy something that is not so common these days.
We would like to make clear that as well as our latest video clip (HARD COMMITMENT check it out), this demo is 100% DIY shit: we recorded, mixed, designed and released everything ourselves thanks to everyone’s effort in the band.
Who are your strongest musical influences and why?
Our strongest musical influences are like we said earlier:
- Mid 90’s metal hardcore crossover, think about bands like NEGLECT, ALL OUT WAR, NEXT STEP UP or CONFUSION because this is what we are listening the most to.
- We’re also big fans of trash metal from SLAYER to PC DEATHSQUAD for the evil metal touch!
- Hip Hop as well, cause it’s such a good way to get inspiration for powerful punch lines! We would mentioned artists from DUCK DOWN RECORDS, or PSYCHO REALM for example.
- But also some jazzy, blues and soul music for the intensity and intimacy we find in it. By the way we are currently working on a BILLIE HOLYDAY cover, stay tuned…
And where do you draw your inspiration from when it comes to the lyrics?
The inspiration when it comes to the lyrics mostly comes from our personal experience, lives, aspirations and determinations. We got a bunch of positive songs which are to be heard as a spiritual help when the tough moments show up. They deal with friendship, partying, street life, love, travelling…
But as well we got some really dark and negative songs which reflect the inner dark passenger we try to cornered most of the time, but who sometimes reaches the surface, poisons our lives and distorts our perceptions. We think this dark part exists in every single one, but we also assume there are ways to get rid of. Our own way is to release those dark and shadowed songs.
We write down quite a lot thanks to the two singers together, and we’ve got something like 5 or 6 songs already written and ready to be used!
Who should start a hardcore band: Dirty Harry or Donnie Darko?
Haha, definitely Dirty Harry!! Even if Donnie Darko is pretty smart, he’s way too negative and too lazy to play any good music. And how could his friend, a gigantic rabbit play drums??
Stormcore vs. Kickback?
First of all you’ll have to know that we love both of them, from a musical point of view. They both released some masterpieces (think of TO THE POINT and CORNERED), and they’re both French so…! We believe they did a lot in the French underground music scene and we can only be respectful for that.
Maybe we should ask every member which one of these bands they would prefer, but this is not really worth it.
Tell us what you have coming up that we can check for. Plans, gigs and releases planned for the upcoming months?
Yes of course! We’ll play a show in AUGSBURG (GERMANY) in March for some good friends we’ve got there. We would love to play anywhere so if promoters are interested, get in touch with us. We hope to start touring in 2011.
Early in 2011 we also plan to hit the studio in order to record a 7 tracks MCD with a selection of our finest tunes. We still got some shirts and are currently working on a new design.
Any closing thoughts?
Well, first of all thank you very much for the interview and the support! We hope it will help people to know more about us and to get in touch with us for anything. We’ll be more than happy to share cds, stages, beers, parties, BBQs or any constructive thoughts with cool people worldwide.
Last but not least: never forget we’re only tenant of our organic shell, we don’t belong to any flag, any country or any continent. We belong to the earth as a part of it. Whatever happens we survive, we move on, and we overcome.
