IN THE DARK with The Cold Gawd
It's now 2021, and concert venues have been silent for months. The echoes of cheering fans and loud amplifiers are all that remain in our memories of these once-packed halls. We're doing what we can to change that. Back in December, we took over a historic Chicago hall, and invited several area musicians to rip it up on stage. No rules- just an empty venue, a camera crew, and the spotlight.
FRET12 proudly presents, the ninth episode of IN THE DARK, at Pilsen's legendary Thalia Hall featuring Matt Wainwright aka THE COLD GAWD, from Rancho Cucamonga, CA.
While there's no particular style that Matt calls his favorite, he continually jams everything from Nirvana to Silk Sonic to Solange. With a shortage of guitarists in his hometown, Matt decided to make himself handy and learn the guitar so he could get involved in the bands in his local scene. What started with an exploration with the bass guitar eventually got him connected with a friend's Fender Jaguar, which then blossomed into a full-blown love affair with our beloved six string. For Matt, his favorite thing about the instrument is being able to "be really loud, while having it be really pretty." We concur wholeheartedly.
Matt is particularly fond of fuzz (especially of the Electro-Harmonix variety), and whether it was his first Big Muff or his newer Green Russian, it's a sound he cannot live without. "Cold Gawd is nothing without fat fuzz." When Matt took the stage at Thalia Hall, he brought with his Squire 60's Jazzmaster in "whatever blue color they call it," which was the first guitar he bought for himself. This axe is plugged into a smorgasbord of awesome FX: the trusty Big Muff, Cold Gawd™️ "No Cry Babies" Boss Super Chorus, a Phase 90 that is all-too-neglected, a TC Electronic Trinity 2, a Boss DD-20 to handle all of the epic loops; and of course, the Cold Gawd™️ Area 51 PolyTune. This signal chain all goes into a Fender Champion that serves as a head that drives the speakers in a Fender Frontman 2x12.
With all of this great gear, the piece you are hearing in the video is from his album: "The Creative Pursuits of Me and You" - which is all about how relationships can change between creative partners. The song itself is called "The New Sun Will Warm Our Naked Bodies," which is named after a painting done by Wardell Milan. "The song itself takes more inspiration from the name of the painting as opposed to the piece itself but that track deals mostly with the idea of wondering what happens after we’re dead and gone next to the idea of what we actually think is going to happen."
In addition to being a musician, Matt also does a podcast with his good friend Brad Gulli called “...and that’s the thing” -which will soon be picked up by HBO Max (so start listening now so you can pretend you were a day one fan).
If you are looking for some new ear candy, Matt leaves us all with his parting words: "I would like all FRET12 readers to listen to Slow Pulp (from Chicago, just released an album last year called Moveys) and Luster (foogaze from LA, real shoegaze, real foos). Free Whirl."
💥 MATT WAINWRIGHT 💥
THE COLD GAWD // BANDCAMP // INSTAGRAM // TWITTER // YOUTUBE
THE VOID TRADEMARK // WEB // INSTAGRAM // SOUNDCLOUD
AND THAT'S THE THING // PODCAST
PATHOS // BLACK GUILT // JOSHUA BLOOM
