hey.

Hey out there in bloggity land! This is Jesse. Right now the band is having some down time in Durham, NC while we’re waiting to play a show with State Radio tonight.  It’s actually sunny here, which is wonderful, because it is a crappy dark snow mess in Chicago right now.  We now have this amazing new website (thanks Mattdotcom.com) and I have CONTROL over my own blog! CoBlog.

So I’m Jesse Alexander.  I use the pronouns ‘he’ ‘him’ and ‘his’. I’m a Sagittarius.  I play drums and sing and write songs for Cobalt & the Hired Guns.  I’ve been writing and playing music since I was 12, and started playing drums when I was 16.  My first band, spoont., was a power pop indie project in DC, and we fucking killed it for 3 years in the DC/MoCo high school touring circuit. In 2003 I went to Oberlin College in Ohio to study Biology and Comparative American Studies.  I also helped to run the Oberlin Bike Coop, and co-started ‘Women and Trans Night’ for women and trans and gender variant folks to come learn about bike mechanics. Among many other fun things, fall of my freshman year Tom, Matt, and Mike, and I formed Cobalt. There are some other less abbreviated versions of this story all over the internet…specifically in this awesome interview on Maybehip.com. Over the course of 4 years we played and wrote songs and toured the US twice (and got college credit for it) and eventually decided to all move to Chicago together to become a big kid band.  So in June of 2007 I moved to Uptown, started working at the Cycle Smithy, and got an Illinois drivers license.  After a bit, I got a ‘big guy’ job working as a Research Technician (III) in the Allergy/Immunology department at Rush University Med Center (RSLPMC for those who like acronyms). This was an awesome Molecular lab science experience for me, and also a great 18 mile round trip bike ride, but in July of 2009, taking vacation time to go on tour was not something I was able to do anymore.  Rush is generous with time off, but not 5.5 weeks in 2 months generous. Cobalt & the HGs booked a major US tour during July and August 09, and I left my job.

And thus it was major transition time.  A new phase of life.  No job to wake up for. No bike commute. No health insurance. Sleeping past 7am. Daytime band rehearsals.  Woah. I also started going by a new name, using male pronouns, and beginning my life as a male-identified person.  Sweet!

I think that pretty much brings me up to today, February 26, 2010.    This post has actually spanned two days, so now it’s the future of the first paragraph. Or something.  The point is we played another show with State Radio and Big D and the Kids Table last night, and it was a grand time.  Cat’s Cradle in Carborro, NC is a gem of a venue; all the staff are extremely friendly and welcoming, and it was a pleasure to play there.  I also really enjoy playing with bands for more than 1 night… I feel like it gives me an opportunity to actually get to know the folks we’re playing with.  We play a lot of shows with a lot of bands I’ve never heard or met before, and  sometimes show situations are stressful and people don’t want to hang out with people they haven’t met before, or whatever….there isn’t usually a lot of inter-band mingling.  Being on tour and hearing a band do their thing on stage in different cities and hanging out with them before and after the show is a cool dynamic.  It’s like having a little bit of history together.  It’s great to make friends, have beers, pack up and be able to say, “k, see you in Durham next week!”.  As we play more shows in Chicago with bands we know, I’m noticing this is happening more.   The Chicago Roots Collective is doing some cool things to try and build some community in the Chicago scene we’re a part of.  Nice dudes. I’m getting off topic.  I’ll come back to this another time.  Check out the CRC website. Good bands.

Moving on… I’ve compiled a lot of digital Cobalt documentation over 6 years.  Some of it will stay that way, as it should, but in the coming months I plan on providing you with lots of never-before-seen footage of the band. Featured content will include things like this awesome lunch I ordered while we were recording the Double Single at Chicago Recording Company, and this photo of Larry waiting for AAA to bring us a tank of gas after we ran out 3 miles after leaving a show in Indianapolis.

AAA to the rescue, as usual

lunch.

Good times.  I’m looking forward to being more present here in blog land, so stay tuned for the future. I’m on twitter and facebook and myspace all @ jesseleft.  So…holler at a boy. TTYL.

<3 Jesse

The funniest one was probably our spot with Ryan Manno and Fearless Radio - playing some tunes and answering some questions. This one was just Jesse, Matt, and Larry.  Listen in to find out why:  Cobalt & the Hired Guns on Fearless Radio

Double Single was the perfect way to kick off a Chicago summer.  You Left Your Sweater is a boot stomping anthem about the transitory nature of summer love and Of Chicago is a Jason Mraz meets Dashboard Confessional anthem.  The addition Alexander’s sweet vocals on Of Chicago is delightful and fills the track with the sort of tension that tugs at your heart strings.

TD: Things are starting to blow up, that’s exciting! So, would you guys say you have an over arching musical, performance, band philosophy you are working with?

TF: Love and fun. We love each other, we love what we’re doing, we love the people that come to the shows.  We love playing the venues.

MH: I mean, you’ll see, like when we play, it’s all about having a great time and not pretending that we’re not.  We’re doing exactly what we want to be doing. So we try to share that.

Jesse also managed to get some choice video footage of us hanging out below Schubas in the green room after the show. It’s very important. It involves cake and Sesame Street.