With the release of their blistering new single “Hard Times,” the Indiana based blues-rock duo The Cold Stares (guitarist Chris Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins), offer the first taste of their new set of material, slated for release in late 2021 via new label partner, Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group. The band has amassed a rabid fanbase in recent years, including stars like Joe Bonamassa, who called the band his “favorite musical discovery.”.
"I had written ‘Hard Times’ in December of 2019 right before the world kind of collapsed,” said Tapp. “The song is about the feeling when you just can't get on your feet no matter how you try. I had originally recorded the vocals in February, but after listening back to the track in October of 2020 I felt it was right to re-sing it. After a year of covid, elections in the US, seeing friends losing loved ones, small businesses being closed, I had a new empathy for what ‘Hard Times’ can really mean. I re-recorded the vocals with that in mind, and I think the song was directed from even more of a real place of despair. To me it's always about capturing as honest of a sentiment and vocal as possible.”
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For some reason, what I previewed and the real songs was somewhat different - maybe because of the cover art?
But I definitely don't regret something more spacial than expected. The recent Ocean drifting in space. frankwurst