The Common Cold will be playing in Greensboro at The Corndale House on Janaury 19th. They are said to put on a hell of a live show and the music I have heard from them is great. Check it out.
First and foremost let's talk about the robot on your website.
What is up with that robot?
Sean:
A while back. I was in the habit of drawing robots, it was about
the
time we were setting up the design for the web site. We also used the
robot
for a flyer once, originally it had a background, with mountains and
trees,
and I really wanted the robot to ski off the jump and do a flying spin
off
the screen … on fire. We never really got that far with it though.
If your band ended this week, what would be the best
band-story to tell the grandkids?
Sean:
A cat peed on me while I was asleep. I remember waking up,
earlier,
feeling kind of wet, but I didn’t thin much of it, so I then went back
to
sleep. I guess the idea of a cat pissing on me never registered, until
I woke
up.
Greg:
Its owner left for work at 9am, and noticed it sitting on him,
and
announce to the room, "I think the cat just peed on Sean," and then
walked
out the door. I remember promising myself to tell him when he woke up,
and
then I went back to snoozing.
What was the first Common Cold show like?
Greg:
We played in a completely white room, cement floors, it looked
like the
set of THX-1138.
Sean:
It didn’t sound too great either, real low ceilings and all
cement
walls. At the time we were all shy and we never turned around once,
except to
say hello and goodbye.
Greg:
Somebody took pictures of the show, and all you can see is our
backs…
What has been the best show you have had?
Kevin:
I guess I would say all of the shows where we didn’t expect
anybody to
stick around to watch us, or even show up, but we wound up getting an
enthusiastic response. These were usually also shows where we had
friends
show a lot of support.
Greg:
We played one show at a bar in Boston where everything seemed to
be
going wrong. The drum platform started to separate into its
constituent
parts about 1/3 of the way through the set. The legs of Kevin’s cymbal
stands kept falling into the resulting cracks, and he had to keep
pulling his
ride out of the hole, mid-song. At the end of our performance I saw
him
throw something over his shoulder, and realized that his floor tom was
gone.
We got really frustrated and knocked every thing over. We were pretty
disgusted with our lack of professionalism. As we pulled our shit off
stage,
people told us it was one the best shows they had seen in a while. So
we
kind of changed our opinion of that particular performance.
What bands are really impressing you these days?
Helms and Officer May are both great Boston bands.
What's on the Common Cold's playlist?
Sean:
Aerial M/Papa M, Mogwai, The Marquis de Tren and Bonny Billy,
Greg:
Aereogramme, Enon, Wire,
Kevin:
Son volt, the And/ors, Atomsmasher
In the van, the hits are Helms, Don Caballero, Isis, Golden, Nirvana,
Shellac…
Finally, sum up the band, your music and your live
show in one word. Just one.
Frustration