Cold Comforts - Interview - PETE'S ROCK NEWS AND VIEWS.COM

Interview with Kieran Murphy (Bass/Lead Vocal) of Cold Comforts and Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)

PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?

KM: We are Cold Comforts – an alt-rock power trio, funnelling our woes and worries through our music.

PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.

KM: We all met at university in Manchester and bonded over a love of similar music taste. From there it only made sense to make music together.

PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?

KM: I think Neil Gaiman sums it up pretty well – “Make Good Art”. We obviously draw influence from a variety of different artists and creators from many different art forms, but primarily our songs feel like a necessary expression of ourselves and our experiences. It’s like a type of really fun, really loud therapy.

PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?

KM: To own a solid gold toilet? On a more serious note, mostly we just want to make art we’re all really proud of at the end of the day, for as long as it remains fun. And if that happens to connect with someone? Absolute bonus.

PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?

KM: There’s been a lot of really memorable moments, but our debut album launch show in Manchester is definitely up there. Surrounded by friends, fans and family, playing our little butts off to celebrate the release of our first substantial body of work. You can’t buy that shit.

PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?

KM: Well, we are one of those artists emerging from a home studio… So, sorry for adding to the over saturation of the market everyone!

But we love it, there’s so much cool music being made and it’s even more accessible than ever.

It’s weird to think about trying to “fight” through the crowd of other artists releases, but everyone is so different that it doesn’t really matter. If you do something you’re truly proud of then the right audience will find you eventually. Just got to keep the faith and keep creating.

PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?

KM: We have a big, nasty, incredibly messy spreadsheet. Infact we’ve got quite a few for lots of different things. When it comes time to book a show/tour we start ringing numbers, sending emails, the usual biz, until eventually a show/tour is sorted.

And promoting, the usual avenues of social media and then battering our friends in those towns/cities with messages until they buckle and buy a ticket…

Our next two shows (to celebrate the launch of our new EP) are:

17th Oct – Water Rats, London

22nd Oct – Night & Day, Manchester

PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?

KM: Do people still download music anymore? Think I’d assumed that had faded a bit with the rise of streaming. I (Kieran) certainly did my fair share of downloading music when I was younger (not always in a totally legit manner, oops).

But it’s great for discovery certainly. Will it last forever? No, of course not. And it’s definitely not a reliable source of income for artists, but at least merch/physical sales can fill that void a little.

It’s all just another medium/platform/tool. Use it sure, but don’t let it be your only way of experiencing music, you’ll be missing out on so much fun! Go to a gig! Buy a record! Then sure, stream the album on your way home because you just can’t wait to hear that great chorus one more time.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

KM: Not sure I (Kieran) have one to be honest (sorry I know that’s a really boring answer). If it’s a song I wrote then it’s a part of me. If someone else wrote it and I connected with a part of them then that’s a beautiful thing too, why would I want to take that from them?

But also, Feeder – Buck Rogers I guess, because it’s a big fucking tune.

PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?

KM: “Hustle” culture, have a day off every now and again people. It’s fine, the world won’t end.

PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?

KM: Currently we’re doing all the pre-release work for our upcoming EP “Kill the Momentum” (out Oct 20th) and getting together to rehearse the set for our launch shows in London (Oct 17th) and Manchester (Oct 22nd).

Other than that, we’ve recently launched our own record label Relative Obscurity Records (https://www.relativeobscurityrecords.co.uk/) which we’re really excited about!

And album no. 2 is in the works at the moment, going off of what we’ve already got it’s going to be pretty damn special…

PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?

KM: You can find us on the usual Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Tiktok/Bandcamp/Spotify/etc, follow this link to find more: https://linktr.ee/coldcomforts