Chico rockers Sesar Sanchez and Brandon Squyres of Cold Blue Mountain shared their views on bar shows and dished on their upcoming tour.
What local venues do you usually play?
Sesar Sanchez: Monstro’s Pizza, 1078 Gallery, Cafe Coda.
Brandon Squyres: There are other places to play that are 21 and over. But most of the time the 21 and over places in Chico, it seems like the people that are there are just waiting for you to stop so they can start dance night. With the little amount of people that are into heavy music in a smaller town like Chico, why eliminate half of them or more by cutting out 21 and over?
What does the name Cold Blue Mountain mean to you?
Sanchez: When I think of Cold Blue Mountain I think of this huge, visceral kind of thing that is bigger than one person. And that is what we’re kind of going for with the sound. It’s kind of a really big kind of sound that kind of encapsulates and captures what we are into, which is heavy riffs, melodic kind of styling, aggressive vocals but also the ability to draw back when the time is needed.
Squyres: I think when people first hear of the name they think we’re a folk band or something like that, but when they see the band or hear the band and see the name, it still fits. It’s neutral yet still heavy.
The band has a U.S. tour coming up on Jan. 28. Can you tell us more about that?
Sanchez: We knew once we released our new album “Old Blood” about six months later we would tour. This tour is self-funded. So we’re basically losing a whole month’s work and a whole month’s rent. But the thing is, if you don’t go, there really is no point to getting your record out on vinyl.
Brandon: That is the reason we’re in bands. And it’s awesome when you go to some place that is on the complete other side of the country playing in front of people that have never seen you and they’re stoked that you came and played. It’s nice to have this thing you have spent so much time into creating and then be able to share it with other people. We appreciate the record label putting our album out for us and in order for us to sell it we have to put it out there.
Any words you would like to say to the readers and fans out there?
Sanchez: Cold Blue Mountain loves Chico. Go out to shows when you can. Play music. Get out of your house every now and then and go see something. Go see a movie, go see a show, go look at some art. Get off the Internet. Get off your phone. Start bands. We definitely need more of them.
Squyres: There has to be something out there that you enjoy watching someone perform. Be it music or plays. There are all sorts of art shows. There are all sorts of stuff here. Get out of your house.
Tom Sundgren can be reached at [email protected] or @tomsundgren on Twitter.
