Cobalt & the Hired Guns » Matt’s Blog

Major News from Cobalt HQ – goodbyes, hellos, and the new record

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:24:29 +0000

Hi everyone! A lot of BIG news:

1) Saying goodbye to Matt…

It’s with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to one of our founding members, Matt Hart, as he moves out to Seattle on April 30th. He’s got a hunger for salt water and topography, and will be broadcasting his experiences diving into a completely new music scene on a new music blog called Mid-By-Northwest.com. Please go check out the articles he’s already got up there, drop him a comment, and subscribe to keep up with him and his future musical adventures in the Pacific Northwest! He will also be retiring his @CobaltMatt twitter handle, so now you can follow him at @MidByNorthwest.

So Tuesday’s big show at Subterranean with Big D & the Kids Table will be Matt’s last big club show with the band for a while – until the enormous Album Release Show in the fall (more on that later) for which he’ll fly back. Also, in case you were worried, the newer songs Matt sings, like “Uptown” and “Wreckage,” WILL be on the new record! Matt will definitely be missed, but we also have a lot of excitement about the next musical chapter in the Cobalt story, and we’ve got some cool ideas brewing for what that’s going to look and sound like.

2) Announcing a new member to the Cobalt family!

As is often the case, as one door closes others open, and we are super-stoked to announce a new member to the band and Cobalt family – Amanda Raber on saxophone. She’s been playing with us at pretty much every show since last fall and we are smitten with her talent, energy, dedication, and general awesomeness. Now we’re making it official! We asked her to prom, er, to be in the band, and she said yes. We’ll be working her in on sax, kazoo, jumping around, and any other instrument she’s willing to try – plus she designed the sweet posters around Chicago for the Big D show! This is going to be awesome…

3) We’ve been making a new album!

If you follow us on Twitter you’ve probably been getting our weird, tired messages about amp-forts and and Lady Gaga. That’s cuz we’ve all been hard at work making the new Cobalt record! We’re adding layer upon glorious layer to six new tracks and we’re learning a lot by taking our time with it. Look for a HUGE release show in the fall. There is also something really special we want to do for a certain Cobalt Super-Fan across the Atlantic Ocean for this show, so keep a lookout for more info from us on that…

Thanks for reading, thanks for your support, and see you soon!

Love,

-Cobalt & the Hired Guns-

Fearless Radio interview with Ryan Manno

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:34:50 +0000

In the week leading up to our big show at the Metro with I Fight Dragons, the Cobalt & the HGs crew was VERY busy with various promotional gigs.

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

Lumino Magazine interviews Tom & Matt

admin — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:54:42 +0000

In the week leading up to the big Metro show with I Fight Dragons, Tom & Matt got a chance to sit down and wax philosophical with Barmey Ung of Lumino Magazine. Here are some clips:

You have to give them props for being so organized and really representing what a music scene is supposed to be about – community. In Cobalt’s music, it comes through, in their lyrics, in their personalities, interactions with one another and with their fans.

Read the whole article and check out some cute pics of the band here: Lumino Magazine: Cobalt & the Hired Guns Get ready for Metro

“You Left Your Sweater…” wins #1 IndiePop song

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:06:09 +0000

Many Much Winnings!

With your help our song “You Left Your Sweater…” was the #1 song in the IndiePop channel on OurStage.com! The song garnered several thousand plays in the month, and people seemed to really dig it

Thanks SO much to those of you who took some time, especially on the last day of the month, to vote for us n the Finals. We didn’t win the grand prize, but can’t be too disappointed considering we did win the grand prize last year for “Up to You.”

If you have never checked out OurStage.com we highly recommend it – both for bands trying to get your music out there, and for music lovers to find hot new tunes!

Schubas w/ The Old Ceremony was FANTASTICO

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:52:14 +0000

We had a fantastic time playing with Nathan Xander (from Chicago) and The Old Ceremony (from Chapel Hill, NC) last Monday at Schubas! The show featured a new Sax-o-licious horn section of Amanda and Jeff, as well as our dear friend Jeff Brown pretty-ing it up on the accordion.Thanks so much to everyone who came out on a Monday night to fill up that great room and rock out with us.

This was our 4th time playing at Schubas since May and it sure does feel like home. So much so that we keep on (Matt keeps on) having very silly moments in the green room. I’m sure you remember the Cake Incident of May 2009, and last night we had some more silliness while hanging out pre-show with the whole gang. Video soon to come…

Also, here are some great pics from Pamela Yasuko Photography:

"Of Summer" wins NY Songwriters Circle honorable mention

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:09:28 +0000

We won a New York Songwriters Circle Honorable Mention for “Of Summer” Check out all the finalists and honorable mentions HERE including Chicago pop sensation IJ Quinn who we met at the NYSC’s event at Schuba’s back in September. It’s a great organization, and we are thrilled to be getting the recognition!

For Facebook users, here are some great pics of that showcase we played in September – we’re featured near the end. Everyone looks so pretty!

“Of Summer” has gotten a ton of love from radio and reviews… keep it coming!

Interview in The Deli Chicago

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:41:27 +0000

Before our big tour-kick-off show at Schubas on August 12, we had the opportunity to sit down with Erin from The Deli Chicago for a quick interview. You can read it all here, but here are some choice excerpts:

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.

Live acoustic rooftop footage from BROOKLYN ROCKS blog

admin — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:05:37 +0000

On the final day of our first tour this summer – July 24 in Brooklyn – we stopped in Crown Heights to do a session with the Brooklyn Rocks blog. We ended up on the roof eating some snacks, drinking some beverage, and playing an acoustic set for anyone who happened to come by… to the roof… It was a ton of fun, and a great way to unwind at the end of a long stretch of shows. You can check out the blog here, and see all the nice things they had to say about us, and check out some of the footage below:

I am also pretty pumped that The Clash “I Fought the Law” is a top related video on YouTube

Introducing the CHICAGO ROOTS COLLECTIVE

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:44:08 +0000

We are very pleased to announce our involvement as a founding member of the Chicago Roots Collective – a group of 10 great Chicago bands working together to build community and get their music heard.It’s a VERY exciting project that has come out of the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival we played last fall – we are really pumped to be working more formally with bands we already know, love, and have been playing with around the city. It has already proven to be a great resource and community for all the bands involved.

Chicago Roots Collective roster:

Cobalt & the Hired Guns – Mole Hill
Goodbyehome – Band Called Catch
How Far To Austin – The Shams Band
Mike Mangione – The Future Laureates
Jackpot Donnie – Todd Kessler

The Collective’s big kick-off festival/show at the Cubby Bear in September was a big success, with all 10 bands playing and over 500 people attending. The Collective has also gotten some nice press on OurVinyl.com and is generating a buzz around the city

Please take a listen and become a fan of the CRC on MySpace and Facebook. For more info, email matt@cobaltandthehiredguns.com

Links for you!

The Shams Band http://www.myspace.com/theshamsband
http://www.youtube.com/theshamsband

Molehill – http://www.myspace.com/enterthemolehill
http://www.youtube.com/enterthemolehill

How Far to Austin – http://www.myspace.com/howfartoaustin
http://www.youtube.com/howfartoaustin

Mike Mangione & His Band – http://www.myspace.com/mikemangione
http://www.youtube.com/mikemangione

Band Called Catch – http://www.myspace.com/bandcalledcatch
http://www.youtube.com/bandcalledcatch

The Future Laureates – http://www.myspace.com/thefuturelaureates
http://www.youtube.com/thefuturelaureates

Goodbye Home – http://www.myspace.com/jacksoncombsmusic
http://www.youtube.com/jacksoncombs

Cobalt & The Hired Guns – http://www.myspace.com/cobaltandthehiredguns
http://www.youtube.com/cobaltandtheHGs

Jackpot Donnie – http://www.myspace.com/jackpotdonnie
http://www.youtube.com/jackpotdonnie

Todd Kessler & The New Folk – http://www.myspace.com/toddkessler ,
http://www.youtube.com/toddkessler82