Cold War Kids Loyalty to Loyalty

Embracing influences as diverse as Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Jeff Buckley, and the Velvet Underground, Cold War Kids grew from blog darlings into a band with a contemporary yet classic sound. Founding members vocalist/guitarist/pianist Nathan Willett, bassist Matt Maust, drummer Matt Aveiro, and guitarist Jonnie Russell began crafting their soulful, blues-inflected take on indie rock as Cold War Kids in 2004, recording demos in Los Angeles soon after they formed. After signing to Monarchy Music, Cold War Kids released their debut EP, Mulberry Street, in spring 2005. The band's unique sound and impassioned live act generated a buzz – particularly from bloggers – that grew with each tour and release. Maust's clean but eye-catching designs for EPs like With Our Wallets Full and Up in Rags, and the group's website, also added to Cold War Kids' mystique.

Since their modest beginnings as four guys who drove around southern California with their gear in their cars, packing whatever they could steal a space, Cold War Kids have always exhibited two qualities in their music, intense passion and emotional truth. Lithe and percussive, roaring and tuneful, the soul-punk on the Long Beach quartet's first two albums Robbers & Cowards and Loyalty To Loyalty emerged like miniature goth novels. Singer Nathan Willett channeled taut dramas of men on the edge, families in peril, and crises of faith. The musical literature of these four tight-knit friends-Willett, Jonnie Russell, Matt Maust and Matt Aveiro was a sound that augured something bigger, something more universal.