Cobalt 60
Radiator
by Joey Ammo
I ‘ve heard it said that “nobody kicks a dead dog.” I’ll have to admit that the press has handed out it’s share of shit to Cobalt 60 in the past. I wonder why that is. Well, let’s take a look at the facts.
When Zug Zug vocalist Keith Smith, Big Catholic Guilt drummer J. Potts, and Shoot That Dog guitarist Dan Mullin, and bassist Andrew Padua decide to rock together, they put quite a bit of buzz into the same band. In a relatively short time, they won the WBCN Rock and Roll Rumble, the Boston Music Award for Best Local Band, and landed themselves on the national releases Walden Rock For Wood CD with their song “Fix” and Live for Landsdowne CD and Video with a live version of their song “Cool.” Also to their credit is the fact that they pack every room that they appear in and subsequently eat the house alive. Perhaps we should ask a member of the SRO audience or any local club owner what their opinion of Cobalt 60 is.
To me, this is a band of the people, for the people. Much like Aerosmith. The critics buzz around them like flies, but the fans keep coming. Unfortunately for the critics, they have definitively stated their artistic credibility on their first independent release, Radiater.
The sampler-oriented five song CD-only release was produced with Drew Townson (“one of our Rumble prizes,” admits Andrew) and displays how their psycho-thrash sound can be honed into a razor sharp vision of urban nightmares and introspective realities. I was singing along with the anthemic lead-off track, “Oh Yeah,” after one listen. Keith’s innate lyrical prose at the end of “Hit” plays like a confession in the dark to an unknown god. The live track “Denied” proves the power and authority of their stage command. Perhaps the best (so far) unsigned draw in Boston, you can hear the control they demand over the packed Landsdowne house.
Finally, lest you think that this is just a bunch of egomaniacal, self- absorbed headbangers, let me shed some light here. I recently interviewed the guys at their humble studio on Wareham Street and found them to be not only down to earth but boyishly charming, especially body-slamming vocalist Keith, whose gap-toothed smile got us relating head-on straight away. After talking to these guys for awhile, I came to realize that nothing has been handed to them; they have worked long and diligently to get the buzz they currently possess. Still self-managed, their friendship and fun is still foremost to them and they walk into the future together with eyes open. Then again, perhaps they are Radiaters…
The building caught fire at the end of the interview.
