Dance-punk quartet Cold Hands goes on hiatus

After a relatively long run, area dance-punk quartet Cold Hands is calling it quits - at least temporarily. The advent of new projects and full schedules proved the end of the longtime local favorite. Hesitant to deem this its last hurrah, the band acknowledges that the potential for reunion exists, but such a regrouping might be a long time coming.

With local acts assembling and disbanding every day, it is rare for a group to last more than a couple of years, but even those with enough promise to make it as far as Cold Hands can write themselves into creative corners. Longing for new prospects and creative outlets, much of the band is already forming new projects. Vocalist Henry Gibson's travels as the new bassist for the Royal Bangs will keep him out of the city and even the country for months at a time. Meanwhile, drummer Gene Priest looks to pursue his solo work in addition to a rumored My Lost Cause reunion show. Bassist Derek Ashe is on the verge of starting a family, and guitarist Zach Land hopes to explore the world of cover tunes.

"We've been doing this for four years now, and we all feel a need to go out and extend our creative tentacles into other things," says Land. If you do anything for four years it gets repetitive after a while. I've been thinking about starting a cover band, only not covering dumb songs, but covering, you know, things that - well maybe they're dumb, but songs I like, not just your Tommy Tutone fare."

"Zach and I are the original members, so we've been at this a while," says Gibson. "My creative tentacles just so happen to be stretched into playing with the Royal Bangs now, which means I'll be spending six months doing worldwide touring and just won't have the necessary time to keep this up."

Cold Hands also admits that in the event of a future reunion, many of its least favorite tracks might get cut from the repertoire to make room for newly inspired material. However, the band's work is still preserved on its two career releases, "Sex, Beats, Romance" and an early EP. These CDs are still available on the band's MySpace page (www.myspace.com/coldhands) which will remain intact. Additionally, the band claims to have a plethora of Cold Hands T-shirts, which it intends to give to the homeless and/or shirtless.

Along with its releases, Cold Hands' legacy of accomplishments includes being featured in a yet-to-be-released film "My Name is Jerry." The film, which stars Hellboy's Doug Jones, incorporates two Cold Hands songs on its soundtrack.

"We were a rock band in the background. Doug Jones from Hellboy is a guy who discovers punk rock and we help him discover punk rock. After performing, I got to say, 'Thank you, good night!' in our scene."

While the collapse of some of Knoxville's most promising bands is inevitable and disappointing, good things can often result. The dispersing of Cold Hands' musicians will likely spawn several exciting new bands, thus completing the local band life cycle. As fans will miss the lively performances that were a Cold Hands staple, the band members themselves have much to miss and reflect upon fondly.

"I'm going to miss being a front man," Gibson admits. "I don't think many bands here did what we did. What that was, I don't know, but I think we stood out."

Cold Hands' final show before its "indefinite hiatus" will be at Sassy Ann's on Friday, Jan. 23. Also on that bill will be One Spy Too Many. Tonight Cold Hands is set to perform alongside a slew of local acts at Barley's "Snow Day," a benefit for Beardsley Community Farm. Other performing acts include the Invisible Giants, Jonathan Sexton and the Big Love Community Choir, Jamie Cook, The BBC Trio, Tommy Bateman and the Thunder Thieves, and Joseph and His Brothers. The event also boasts a raffle with a long list of valuable prizes and a "soup-off" competition between local restaurants. The event kicks off at 7 p.m., and admission is only $5.

n NOTHIN' SAYS LOVIN' LIKE SOMETHIN' FROM THE OVEN: Tonight Big Bad Oven joins Burning Itch for a show at Pilot Light. The show is slated for 10 p.m. and costs $5.

n NOT EASY BEING GREEN: Indiana's Green Room Rockers take the stage at World Grotto tonight along with 7 Step Drop and All Rwanda's Glory. Tickets are available in advance for $7 online (www.worldgrotto.com). The show begins at 9 p.m.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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