This week in 5 Questions, I have a special treat for you. Kind of. Cold Sneer is a hardcore band from Keene, New Hampshire, who seem as hellbent on making you smile as making you bang your head. The band recently released their debut EP, titled Peer Pressure, for free on bandcamp. I emailed lead singer Nick King a few questions, and he was very kind in answering them. Of course, if he hadn’t, it would have been pretty awkward, seeing as that we lived together for eighteen years. Yeah, he’s my brother. No one else emailed me back this week, what do you want from me? His band is pretty awesome, and you can check out their tunes at http://coldsneer.bandcamp.com/ and check them out live next weekend at Get Better Fest in Keene. Or just come over sometime during the holidays and watch him eat baked beans out of a can. Either way.
1.)Please state your name, your role in the band, and give us a brief history of Cold Sneer.
My name is Nicholas “Nick” King, Esq. I do vocals for Cold Sneer. This band happened because I had an idea for a t-shirt that would be a reference to the Batman movie from 1966. I got my friends Kevin, Eric, and Joe on board, and we wrote our first couple of songs in a rehearsal closet on the Keene State Campus. We have yet to design the t-shirt.
2.)You recently released your debut EP for free on bandcamp, are there any plans to release music in a physical format? How about charging fans for music?
We have plans to write and record five or so more songs in the very near future. We hope to release them, along with our first five songs, on vinyl. We’d probably charge for those, but still put everything up for free on bandcamp. We’re not trying to make a “living” as “musicians,” so we don’t think it’s super important to “profit” from our “songs.” I wouldn’t pay for our music, so I don’t expect anyone else to.
3.)In the past you have been in a band that toured whenever and wherever possible, are there plans to take Cold Sneer on the road for any length of time?
Between the four of us having different work and school schedules, it’s been hard to find a time where we can all hit the road together. We plan on touring eventually for sure, but don’t have any set plans at the moment.
4.) You grew up playing bass, why sing now? Was this something you had wanted to do for awhile?
I’ve been writing lyrics pretty consistently for a long time but haven’t had much of an outlet for it. There’s been a lot of stuff over the past couple years that I felt like it would be really nice to yell about, so I handed the bass off to Joe.
5.) Cold Sneer has a pretty tongue in cheek lyrical bent. What is your aim with your words? To inspire, poke fun or some combination of the 2?
There’s this real tendency in hardcore music today to be macho and red-blooded and serious and it seems kind of silly. It’s not that we’re not angry, we most certainly are, but it’s also important to have fun. We’re definitely sarcastic and we don’t take it all too seriously, but we’re still out to get contemptuous and shove peoples’ noses in their nonsense. Cold Sneer is pissed off and wicked stoked about it.