Seven albums into their career and Indiana-based heavy blues bruisers the Cold Stares just seem to get better and better, the period since signing to Mascot Records in 2021 for their Heavy Shoes album proving to be a bit of a purple patch in terms of quality and development. Originally forming in 2012 as a duo of guitarist/singer Chris Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins, the addition in 2022 of bass player Bryce Klueh for last year’s very fine Voices album has turned them into a classic power trio to be reckoned with.
Their upward trajectory continues with The Southern, so named because Tapp felt it would be interesting to lean into the southern rock label they often get tagged with and allow his and Mullins’s Kentucky heritage to form the impetus behind their next batch of songs.
