Aberdeen’s COLD YEARS are finally releasing their debut album ‘Paradise‘ today. Is is available across all DSPs now.
The band will finally released their highly anticipated debut album Paradise – a title bearing more than a suggestion of sarcastic snarl to go along with the considerable bite found on the music contained within.
“Our hometown is a sh*thole,” Ross spits, with characteristically direct candour. “The album is called Paradise because Aberdeen is not a paradise. It’s horrible, it’s grey, and it’s cold all the time. We all live and work here, and it’s not very happy. It’s quite morbid when you stop to think about it. But at the same time, it’s home.”
Echoing the infamous, despairing, “it’s crap being Scottish” rant made by protagonist Renton in Irvine Welsh’s 1993 novel, Trainspotting, Ross’ near-nihilistic take on the town where he was born goes further still, almost three decades and a generation later. Rather than succumb to the pitfalls that laid waste to previous generations, however, he poured all of his frustration and all of his anger into the 13 songs that represent his band’s first foray into full-length recording.
Unlike the often-bleak subject matter that inspired them, however, the songs of Paradise burst from the speakers with a ‘clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose’ soul, spring boarding off timelessly vintage-tinged sounds, fuelled by lung-busting choruses and buffed-up with a thoroughly modern-day, blue-collar punk rock sheen. It’s a proud rock’n’roll record, capturing with unflinching honesty a world that offers little reason for hope, even if the songs sound anything but hopeless.
The soulful rock’n’roll 4-piece kicked off 2019 featuring in Kerrang’s ‘Hottest Bands of 2019’ alongside Fever 333 & Yonaka followed by 2000 Trees, This Is Tomorrow & King Tut’s Summer Nights announcements, a UK tour with Philadelphia punk rock stalwart Dave Hause & now ‘Breathe’, the first single from their forthcoming debut album.
Cold Years started in 2014 when Ross Gordon (vocals / guitar) convinced Finlay Urquhart (guitar / vocals) & Fraser Allan (drums) to join a band with him on one drunken night out in Aberdeen by telling each of them the other had already agreed to join. After a couple of self-released EPs Louis Craighead (bass / vocals) joined 2017 the moment Cold Years view as the beginning of the band. The first release with the new line up was 2018s Northern Blue seeing features in Kerrang, Rock Sound & Louder alongside spins from Daniel P Carter (Radio 1) & Alex Baker (Kerrang Radio) and tours of the UK & Germany.
