Check Out Cole Kaluger’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cole Kaluger.

Hi Cole, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
This band started as something our guitarist, Cole, had always wanted to put together. While in music school, he had been writing music on his own while playing in cover bands, performing at school, and working as a musician for hire. When he was out, the focus shifted towards starting an original band, which inevitably became what we are today.

Originally, Cole had gone out to the Los Angeles area around 2017 to pursue it, but things didn’t pan out the way he’d hoped, so he decided to come back to Ohio and try to put the band together here in Columbus. It took a little time to get a full lineup, but Cole had brought our bassist, Matt, on board, and together they started writing more music while Cole had taught Matt what was written beforehand.

After a few months, our other guitarist, Aaron, was in, and he helped us get our first vocalist, Sergio, as well. The two of them had a band before this one, and towards the end of that, they suggested we audition a drummer named Nick, who had auditioned for them right before the decision was made to stop that previous band. At that point, we had a full band, and we continued to write and record our first songs.

We started releasing singles in 2019, we did our first music video for a song called “Vampire,” and we played our first show in June of that year, opening for a band called Silent Planet. Not long after that show, we parted ways with Sergio as he was going to school out of state. This was something he had told us long before, so his role was to help us get started with things and leave us in a great spot.

Not long after, we found our vocalist, Chad, who has been with us ever since. Once we got him up to speed, we went back into the studio to record our next single, “Sleepless.” This was the last song we wrote with Sergio, and to this day has been our most successful release.

Since then, we’ve released a full EP called “The Fields,” which just celebrated its 5th anniversary back on March 30th of this year, alongside a lot of singles, too. We’ve released over 20 songs to this point, with more coming this summer. We’ve grown into a regional band, having opened for a lot of national touring bands and played across the Midwest and the East Coast. We just came back from playing in New York City and Cleveland on a weekend run at the end of May.

We joined the CB Entertainment management label last year as we’ve continued to grow as a band. That has opened up a lot of new opportunities for us online and for shows. For example, we’re playing at the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo festival in July up in Mansfield, OH, at The Historic Ohio State Reformatory Prison. This is our biggest show to date, as it is headlined by bands like Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Disturbed, etc.

We’ve been really fortunate to have amazing people in the band who have all supported the same goals we’ve set for ourselves. We did get two more drummers during this time, but everyone we’ve had behind the kit has been another great person to play with and help grow the band. We continue to work with many very talented and professional people in different areas, who help us tremendously.

We have had a lot of amazing experiences and memories so far, and we have a lot of stuff coming that we are very proud of and excited about. So we continue to look forward to growing, meeting new people, going to new places, and connecting with people through our shared love for rock and metal music.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We’ve been pretty fortunate in this area, thankfully. Our struggles were replacing band members earlier on, but each time we knew in advance, so we could prepare as best as we could. We’ve remained good friends with each former member, and to this day, we continue to work with our original drummer, Nick, as he does a lot of video stuff for us.

He’s helped us create some live videos, different instrumental play-through videos, and our big making-of documentary, which celebrated the 5th anniversary of our EP, “The Fields.” Otherwise, things have generally been pretty smooth sailing for us, and we are very grateful for that.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are an original 5-piece modern metal band from Columbus, OH. We are a band that draws from our individual and collective influences to write music that we are very proud of. Our music would be for fans of bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Black Veil Brides, Bullet For My Valentine, Atreyu, ICE NINE KILLS, Killswitch Engage, etc.

In addition to releasing and performing our music, we have a full-service online merch store, and we sell most items at shows too. We are always looking to create new merch designs and offer new products to help give fans a chance to support us if they would like to do so.

We are most proud of the collectivism of our work to date. We’ve been very fortunate to build a fanbase that supports us in so many ways. We are always so grateful for everyone who checks out anything from us, and for anyone who takes the time to talk to us in person or online.

What sets us apart from other bands is the kind of music we’ve put out. We’ve been able to always write and record things that we loved without paying attention to what the popular thing was at the time in our genre. We’ve been able to write a lot of different styles within the metal umbrella while always maintaining our sound and elements that make us, us.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Right now, the 2020s have been a hotbed for anniversaries of iconic bands and albums. It’s been amazing to see things get introduced to a new generation of people and see how that helps grow the music. We think there’s a shift happening back to styles more akin to the 2000s now, which is cool to see happen again. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, and it’s going to be interesting to see how that helps shape what’s to come in rock and metal.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see bigger bands opt to go down the route of being an independent band, whether that be not having traditional management, record labels, etc. With technology, it’s becoming increasingly easier to do more things in-house or even work with top-notch people who are just out there wherever. With the cost of live shows, touring, advertising, and all of the creative parts of being a band going up, any chance you get to save money will continue to be vital.

It’s almost like going into a golden era, if you will, where any artist can have the ability to put out professional-quality music, videos, shows, and content, and have a legitimate shot to make it where they’d like to. That’s good for everyone in general.

Contact Info:

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