Cold War Kids | 10.18.08 | D.C.

Words by: Eric Zimmermann | Images by: Valerie Nannery

Cold War Kids :: 10.18.08 :: 9:30 Club :: Washington, D.C.

Cold War Kids :: 10.18 :: D.C.

The Cold War Kids have had an uphill battle. Initial blog hype gave way to a series of influential and negative reviews in which the band’s Christian themes were – particularly in the case of Pitchfork’s appraisal – compared to the righteous rhetoric of George W. Bush. Critics made fun of lead singer Nathan Willett‘s soulful yelp of a voice – still one of the more polarizing voices in rock.

But despite the blowback, the band maintained a healthy following, made clear by the sold out crowd at the 9:30 Club. The atmosphere was spooky: a backdrop graphic of a skeleton lowered onto the stage, and the lighting theme throughout the night was a glaring, smoky white.

The slightly cold color scheme fits with the lonely tone of many of the band’s songs. The busted, jangly piano lugged from show to show gives songs a haunted air. “Flashlights go out, stars will light the way/ like Mexican dogs, nobody gave us names,” Willett cried on “Mexican Dogs,” one of the standout tracks from the band’s new album, Loyalty to Loyalty (see JamBase’s rave here). Indeed, the Cold War Kids didn’t smile much, but then again, happiness doesn’t fit with an aesthetic that combines Old Testament fire ‘n’ brimstone with modern anomie.

Bassist Matt Maust has an eerie seriousness about him, prowling around the stage with a shaggy beard and deep-set eyes while jerking his arm up and down the neck of his bass. But Maust’s presence was not simply physical. Songs like “Something Is Not Right With Me” and “Hang Me Up To Dry” featured strong basslines, giving a central role to the lanky and stern redhead.

But Willett is the centerpiece of the band, from his Jack White-like falsetto to his opaque lyrics. Throughout the night, he slid back and forth between center stage and his trusty piano on stage left. Wearing a tucked-in collared shirt and with his hair parted right, Willett looked all business. And from the look of things, he takes performances seriously. He has a habit of physically confronting Maust and guitarist Jonnie Russell, pushing the top of his head against theirs and staring into their eyes.

Cold War Kids :: 10.18 :: D.C.

“This song is about how all your friends’ jobs are better than yours,” Willett said, introducing “Welcome to the Occupation,” a critique of the American rat race. “They don’t want poets/ they want pigeons on a stool/ You’re examining fossils, defending criminals/ I’m clock watching getting dumb,” Willett moaned. Heavy on percussion and light on instrumentation, the song was a bit cumbersome and moralistic.

The band closed with “Hospital Beds,” still their strongest work in my opinion. The opening chords drawing cheers from the appreciative and dedicated audience, Willett launched into the inner dialogue of a dying patient. “I’ve got one friend laying across from me/ I did not choose him, he did not choose me/ we’ve got no chance of recovery/ sharing hospital joy and misery,” Willett cried.

A word of praise is due to opener AA Bondy. Formerly of rock band Verbana, Bondy has struck out on his own. Quite obviously, his sparser acoustic songs were heavily influenced by Dylan’s early work, from the finger-picking and mournful harmonica to the plaintive protest lyrics. But, sincere and good-natured throughout, Bondy proved he was anything but a Dylan dilettante. “Here’s a song we wrote to get onto the contemporary Christian charts,” he said, before launching into not-so-Christian lyric, “Sweet, sweet cocaine, won’t you be all mine.” The audience laughed appreciatively, the joke a critique on the all-too-earnest Christians as well as a self-deprecating allusion to Bondy’s non-status on the charts.

The Cold War Kids are doing fine despite some critic’s best efforts. Willett’s voice can be a turnoff, as can the band’s heavy-handed themes and tone. But, their performance last Saturday was compact and energetic, full of the verve of revivalists preaching to agnostics and fighting a battle against conventional wisdom. Perhaps evangelizing is just what the Cold War Kids are doing.

Check out JamBase’s exclusive feature/interview with Cold War Kids here.

Cold War Kids are on tour now, dates available here.

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