The Box Tops - The Letter (Upbeat 1967)

My rock and roll life has been shit lately. I have a new band called trouble Cuts and they're really good, practicing and recording, occasionally playing gigs. Trouble is, my spirits are down due to the overly work-centered-ness of my life. Where did all my time and energy go? How did I get sucked into the career vacuum? I think survival has something to do with it. I have no shows to announce. I'm in the process of moving into a new house. I've been listening to lots of Alex Chilton; I just read a biography on him ( Man Called Destruction) and it was really good. What a random person, he really let it all hang out and never really gave his fans what was expected of him. I like it when he sings blue-eyed soul songs ala the Box Tops. This is my jam lately.

Summer Rockin at the Slam Bondage with Hugh

I had a fun gig in Eugene last Saturday at Sam Bond's, opening up for 70s alt rock legend Hugh Cornwell of the Stranglers. It was a blast! I had a great trio of musical friends backing me this time - the Dubious Three: TOny Figoli, Billy Barnett and Amy Danziger. We played a 10 song set of old and new Ed Tunes and it was a total dream.

Hugh was a cool guy, very friendly and talkative. We spoke a bit about the unnaturally warm temperatures and the effect it has on certain food crops such as tomatoes and apples. He has a keen interest in chemistry. Unfrtunately his drummer had recently died. He had a great substitute from a PDX band whose name escapes me, but man, the guy was really good. The bassist was the same fella who played with him a few years back at Luckeys. They opened with this song and then went on to play about 1.5 hours of music, maybe more. It was kind of like a practice for them since there was only 30 or 40 people there, so they seemed at ease and casually rocked the house. Ok, on the the vid: (which features the awesome Clem Burke from Blondie on drums):

Weekend of ROCK

I had an awesome time in Eugene last weekend. It's funny that I moved to Portland to do more music and yet I keep heading back to the Emerald City to the South to play in various configurations with my many friends there. Go figure. I was lucky enough to land a gig opening for Hugh Cornwell of the Stranglers at Sam Bond's Garage on June 6th. My regular rhythm section being unavailable that night, I enlisted my good friends Bill Barnett on bass and Tony Figoli on drums and Amy Danziger on the mello cello to work up a set for just this show. Bill of course played with me from 2002-2005 in the College Girls of Tora Bora and we have a good amount of learned material between us. This show will feature some old stuff as well as new and with the cello it sounds awesome. I love having string players! Wish I could just have my own string section all the time, would make the ultimate easy-listening soundtrack for ya'll/ Here's a Hugh Cornwell song I've been digging:



I'm  a fan of late 70's power-pop, post-punk stuff. Hugh's jagged riffs and tongue-in-cheek songwriting has kind of hit the spot for me. Looking forward to seeing him live this time 'round. I wonder if he still has Clem Burke from Blondie on drums?

Shizz, after my rehearsal with Bill, Tony and Amy I grabbed a quick bite to eat with my son Cosmo and then hit a practice with the Underlings. We rocked out with our rocks out and helped open up a show for the legendary PIERCED ARROWS along with our best friend band the Soothsayers. I wish I had been able to stay and catch all of Fred and Toody's set, but of course I had to work early like a dork and couldn't quite muster the energy to rock any more after playing 3 sets of music and several beers. Here's a little pic I took of the Soothsayers:

Slow Companion at your service

God I'm such a dork. I can't stop making tapes of my 4 track songs, something I've been doing since I was 12. I liked making my CD, but making a series of new songs for a tape release, recording on the 4 track in the basement, going fast and writing all kinds of wacky stuff and then assembling a little tape of it all - that's my forte', that's what I have to offer the world. That being said, I made a pile of copies of my Slow Companion tape in anticipation of my show this Saturday at Kelly's:

I hope to see you there! ttfn, Ed

April showers bring...gig flowers?

Holy moly, after weeks of dreary rain and gloomy grinding at work, the sun finally came out in Portland and I couldn't be happier about it. I may even drag myself down to Music Millennium for record store day and try to find a couple of discs I've been looking for. PLus...DEAD MOON at 8pm for free. Do you think it will be crowded? Maybe I'll bring some Night Train in a brown bag and hang outside with the local homeless and listen from the sidewalk instead...
A few weeks back on March 27th I had a wonderful gig at Sam Bond's for my CD release. So many friends came out, it was a blast. Testface were having their lp release for Sun Ghosts, probably my favorite music Dave Snider has come up with thus far. They killed live, an amazing line-up this time around with Jake Pavlak on guitar, James West on drums and Dave Snider bassing and singing, plus special guests Ryan Tochini on keys and Brian Gardiner on snare drum for one song. The ladies liked it and the guys did too.
Here is my favorite photo from Mr. Random's flickr set, of Ed Cole and the Chemtrail Riders:

More pictures from the night can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrrandom/sets/72157651658695121/
Talk to you soon, Ed

Testface/Ed Cole double CD/LP release party at Sam Bond's 3/27!

Holy smokes, after months of prep and frantic creative work all week long, tomorrow is my official CD release at Sam Bond's Garage in Eugene. Testface, for those who don't know, is my good friend and design guru Dave Snider. He makes melancholy indie rock that also rocks in a 70s metal kind of way with tinges of gloom and hope. He made the poster and he also made this great video:


the thickness from David Snider on Vimeo.
I had the week off from work, so I used my time for the manic creative pursuit of making a 10-song cassette release, Slow Companion, the idea being that the songs were recorded normally and then slowed down to give the whole set a droopy feel. Dig it! Here's my favorite song, Melted Wax:

A wholesome review embiggens the most ignoble heart

AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaand... I've been busy with Tina preparing crazy merch stuff for my CD release show at Sam Bond's Garage next weekend. We've been making keychains, magnets, cassette tapes and much, much more. We will have CRAP FOR SALE to support our poor asses after I spent the entire 2015 fAMILY Vacation budget on releasing my CD, Interim. My good friend and old band-mate Justin at Mustard Relics wrote this great blog post about it: