Coldest Night of the Year

Coldest Night of the Year, a Regina-based indie rock four-piece, are set to release their debut EP this Friday, April 5, at The Exchange.

Comprised of several familiar Queen City scene veterans from bands such as Library Voices, Geronimo and This Machine is a Fountain, Coldest Night of the Year have been steadily playing shows throughout the province, and have been included in the recent Gateway Festival line-up announcement.

Despite their chilly name, Coldest Night of the Year is a heartfelt, blue-collar rock group whose business is crafting warm-blooded, rough-hewn pop songs. With their EP being both anthemic and danceable, this Regina group have crafted a formula that explores limitless possibilities paired with a simple mandate to pound out the jams.

Appearing with Coldest Night of the Year is Nick Faye & the Deputies and Gunner. Additionally, Miss Planette, who did the art for Coldest Night of the Year’s shirts and EP, will have prints of her other work for sale that night as well.

- Omniocity

Half a year ago, Regina band Coldest Night of the Year didn’t exist. Yet, since their inception in November, they’ve become one of the most talked-about bands around town, and they have a record ready to be released. On April 5, the six-song, self-titled EP will be made available at the band’s record release show at the Exchange.

While still a relatively new band, the idea is something guitarist/frontman Chris Matchett and bassist Wolfond have been thinking about for some time now.

“Me and Jon had been talking about getting a band together for a long time, and it just never really worked out … then, one night, I was playing a show opening for Everlast at the Pump, and I wanted to get a band together,” said Matchett.

Wolfond also said the band has been able to churn out material as quickly as they have because “it’s really easy to write with these guys.”

Although, not everyone in the band has found it to be as easy as Wolfond.

“It hasn’t been easy. It’s been manageable, but I think it’s just chemistry. We’re all good friends and have known each other for years and years. It was something we were all looking for; Carl [Johnson] wanted a break from what he was doing with Library Voices, and I just wanted to do something with somebody else,” said Matchett.

Along with the inevitable hard work that goes into playing in a band and writing a record, Matchett said the collective experiences of the members’ playing with different groups throughout the years has also made things come together as smoothly as they have.

“We’ve been working really hard getting the songs down, working hard in the studio,” Matchett said. “We’ve all been doing this separately or together for a long time, so we know what’s up. We took all of our combined experience and put it towards a single goal.”
Save one song Matchett had written prior to the band’s existence, every song on the EP “is the product of us writing together as a band over the last couple of months,” said Matchett.

“Most of the songs on the record are the first songs we wrote, the first couple of jams,” Wolfond added. “We’ve only been a band for five or six months, but we haven’t had to toss a song away yet. Everything we write we feel strongly about.”

Even during the interview, both Matchett and Wolfond seemed a bit surprised with the pop hooks permeated in the band’s tunes.

“We want to move units,” Matchett said with a laugh. “Art for its own sake is good, but…”

“We never had that in our minds when were writing. We never thought we were going to write something for a specific group of people or anything, but that’s how it turned out,” Wolfond added.

It seems terribly far away with the amount of snow that’s still outside, but Coldest Night of the Year already has some plans for the summer, including more shows and prepping their next release.

“We’re going to spend the summer doing gigs and writing, and we want to do a full-length in the fall,” said Matchett.

“We’re hoping to go out west, hoping to do some festivals,” Wolfond added.

Coldest Night of the Year’s EP release show is at the Exchange on April 5, with Nick Faye & the Deputies and Gunner opening the show. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the doors, which open at 8 p.m. - The Carillon

Chris Matchett has seen some tough rooms playing acoustic shows.

“Towards the end, I was getting worn down by playing rooms where people were talking over the music,” says Matchett. “Now, I’m back in a four-piece band; I don’t have to worry about hearing that anymore.”

The four piece in question is Coldest Night of the Year. They’re a Regina band Matchett formed this past fall. The impetus? An opening slot for an Everlast show at the Pump that Matchett didn’t want to play solo.

Actually, he didn’t manage to get a group together for that show but he still started jamming with bassist Jon “Bronco” Wolfond and former Geronimo drummer Garret Matheis.

All three agreed: they needed another guitar player.

“Lo and behold, Carl Johnson [from Library Voices and College Kids] was back in town from Edmonton and all points beyond and he texted me asking me about jamming and getting something going, so we all got together one night at the jam spot and wrote three songs,” says Matchett. Next time we got together, we wrote another one. We started to click right away.”

In fact, the four musicians clicked so much, they were already in the process of recording a six-song EP when I talked with them. With the help of producer Luc Hart of Agonal, they hope to have the record ready for release in a few months.

Matchett’s a busy man but he’s enthusiastic about the process of recording.

“I’m working full-time at the casino, plus I’m part-time at the pub [O’Hanlon’s, where he toils under his ironic nom de bounce, Tiny]. But I mean, I’m getting up there where this is pretty much my last kick at the can. This is number one for me right now.”

- Prairie Dog Magazine