Saturday, April 28
8:30 pm
Based in Los Angeles, Cold War Kids formed in 2004, soon after vocalist Nathan Willett and bass guitar player Matt Maust met in college and bonded over their obsession with a Blur album. The band also includes drummer Joe Plummer, guitarist David Quon and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Schwartz. In 2006 they successfully released their debut album Robbers & Cowards. The notably darker Loyalty To Loyalty followed two years later, while 2011’s Mine Is Yours introduced a more anthemic element to the Cold War Kids catalog. With 2013’s Dear Miss Lonelyhearts, the band returned to their fierce live sound and offered up their hit single “Miracle Mile.” They’ve had hits like “First”, which spent six weeks in the top spot of Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart.
Released just last April, their sixth album LA Divine, Cold War Kids pay tribute to Los Angeles. Its title is slightly tongue-in-cheek.
“In many ways LA is the least divine city, the most hedonistic and irreverent and disconnected from history,” says Cold War Kids singer/guitarist/pianist Nathan Willett. Still, LA Divine embodies the Long Beach-bred band’s endless fascination with their adopted hometown.
“LA’s so massive, I feel like I’m always finding something new in it,” says bassist Matt Maust. “It’s an incredibly weird place, and I’m happy to have made a record that totally honors that weirdness.”
A feeling of infinite discovery instills much of LA Divine, the band’s most expansive and ambitious effort so far. With Cold War Kids having marked the 10-year anniversary of their acclaimed debut Robbers & Cowards (a 2006 release that spawned their breakthrough single “Hang Me Up to Dry”), the album channels the kinetic energy of a newly revitalized band. “The excitement I have about this new album—it feels so much like the way I felt back when our first record came out,” notes Maust.
Along with elevating Cold War Kids’ songwriting on LA Divine, that ever-renewing sense of purpose continues to breathe new life into the band.
“I’ve seen a lot of bands get burnt out on their own songs after playing them for years, but for me that’s not the case,” says Maust. “I’ve been playing ‘Hospital Beds’ for 13 years, and it means something different to me now than it did when we first started. I don’t know where that spark comes from, but I don’t think I can stir it up on my own. You have to keep constantly showing up—and remember that this thing you created is really special, and you’ve got to do whatever you can to keep it alive.” 
