Cold Chocolate is a genre-bending Americana band that fuses folk, funk and bluegrass to create a unique sound all their own. Led by Ethan Robbins (vocals/guitar) and Ariel Bernstein (percussion), the Boston-based group released their third full-length album, Down The Line, in the summer of 2020. “We're growing as a band and as individuals, and I think that shows in our songwriting,” says Robbins. “I see this album as a leaping off point for many more new albums to come, and that's an exciting prospect.” Bernstein adds: “I think this album is the best representation of who we are as musicians to date. We had so much fun putting it together and felt no restrictions or expectations on the songs we wrote.”
Punctuated by tight harmonies and skillful musicianship, Cold Chocolate has quickly gained recognition for their original music and high-energy shows. The band has shared bills with Leftover Salmon, David Grisman, and Angelique Kidjo, and regularly performs at venues and music festivals up and down the East Coast. Jason Verlinde of The Fretboard Journal who covered the band’s FreshGrass Festival set noted “there were plenty of magical moments…I will never forget [watching] Cold Chocolate perform…” Kathy Sands-Boehmer of No Depression raved, "[Ethan] feels the music in his heart and soul and it shows when he plays. Ethan becomes the music on stage. There’s an almost mystical connection between his guitar and the notes that flow out of it."
The album’s lead single and title track opens with a growling organ, contains a slinky guitar solo and a resilient chorus. It’s “a song about learning from your mistakes and using past failures in order to bolster future successes,” notes Robbins. “The line in the chorus says, ‘My history needs to stick with me as a road map, a guide / Stay with me on down the line.’ I think we can all relate to this idea; that our past is accompanying us on our paths into the future. It definitely resonates with our personal journey as a band.”
Simon Waxman of The Boston Review, outlined that Cold Chocolate “sounds softer than the dew on the mountainside, harder than a Harley pushing back red dust, sweeter than true love." John Lawless of Bluegrass Today offered that “the band’s approach is decidedly modern, with as much an influence from folk and swing as from hard-driving bluegrass.”
“Gone,” another standout from Down The Line, contains an uptempo ‘50s rock ‘n roll vibe grounded by an acoustic bass thumping along. “‘Gone’ has a similar vibe to our previous recordings,” says Robbins. “So, I think our listeners will be able to follow the thread from our previous music and find themselves at home within our current sound.” “Follow Far Behind” launches with a chugging groove and is elevated with a spirited guitar solo from Robbins. “The idea for ‘Follow Far Behind’ really started in a moment of anxiety as the due date of my daughter rapidly approached, recalls Robbins. “In anxious moments I like to write lists, and this song began as a list of life lessons that I hope to pass on to her. Writing that list didn't quell my anxiety in that moment, but it did transform into the lyrics for this song which has since become one of my daughter's favorite songs.”
Robbins began his bluegrass career at Oberlin College, where he started to explore how this hard-driving fast-paced genre could be stretched. A classical violinist from age four, he fell in love with the guitar when he turned fourteen and his father bought him five quintessential albums: The Band’s Music from Big Pink, Bob Dylan’s Bringing it all Back Home, John Hartford’s Steam Powered Aereo-plane, Hank Williams Live at the Grand Ole Opry, and the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead. Ever since, Robbins has attempted to bring those raw, rootsy sounds into his own original material.
In 2012, Robbins met percussionist Bernstein at a mutual friend's gig in Boston. Like Robbins, Bernstein also studied classical percussion in college before moving to the drum set. A master of restraint, the loose-wristed Bernstein brings a light and tasteful groove to Cold Chocolate’s tunes, filling out their sound and heightening the band’s live energy. In addition to playing in Cold Chocolate, Bernstein can often be found as a sideman in The Ballroom Thieves, as well as at Dimension Sound Studios in Jamaica Plain, working on the records of many of the scene's finest acoustic musicians, including Josh Ritter, Darlingside, and Mr. Sun.
As for the band’s intriguing name and the story behind it, “it came from a childhood memory of mine,” says Robbins. “When my brothers and I used to visit my Grandfather in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, the whole drive there from D.C. we'd be in the backseat talking about the frozen Milky Way bars that awaited us in his freezer. I still remember pulling into his driveway after a six-hour drive. He'd come out to meet us—arms wide open for a hug—and the three of us would shoot right past him, headed straight for the freezer, where awaited us the King Size Milky Way Bars. So, in some ways, I dedicate the band name to my Grandfather's memory.”
For 2020’s Down The Line, “I hope people have as much fun with it as we had making it and that they will want to continue with us as we continue to grow as a band,” concludes Bernstein. Adds Robbins, “We're trying to play the music we like and tell our story at the same time.” The band is due to announce a packed itinerary of tour dates soon.
Simon Waxman of The Boston Review, outlined that Cold Chocolate “sounds softer than the dew on the mountainside, harder than a Harley pushing back red dust, sweeter than true love." John Lawless of Bluegrass Today offered that “the band’s approach is decidedly modern, with as much an influence from folk and swing as from hard-driving bluegrass.”
“Gone,” another standout from Down The Line, contains an uptempo ‘50s rock ‘n roll vibe grounded by an acoustic bass thumping along. “‘Gone’ has a similar vibe to our previous recordings,” says Robbins. “So, I think our listeners will be able to follow the thread from our previous music and find themselves at home within our current sound.” “Follow Far Behind” launches with a chugging groove and is elevated with a spirited guitar solo from Robbins. “The idea for ‘Follow Far Behind’ really started in a moment of anxiety as the due date of my daughter rapidly approached, recalls Robbins. “In anxious moments I like to write lists, and this song began as a list of life lessons that I hope to pass on to her. Writing that list didn't quell my anxiety in that moment, but it did transform into the lyrics for this song which has since become one of my daughter's favorite songs.”
Robbins began his bluegrass career at Oberlin College, where he started to explore how this hard-driving fast-paced genre could be stretched. A classical violinist from age four, he fell in love with the guitar when he turned fourteen and his father bought him five quintessential albums: The Band’s Music from Big Pink, Bob Dylan’s Bringing it all Back Home, John Hartford’s Steam Powered Aereo-plane, Hank Williams Live at the Grand Ole Opry, and the Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead. Ever since, Robbins has attempted to bring those raw, rootsy sounds into his own original material.
In 2012, Robbins met percussionist Bernstein at a mutual friend's gig in Boston. Like Robbins, Bernstein also studied classical percussion in college before moving to the drum set. A master of restraint, the loose-wristed Bernstein brings a light and tasteful groove to Cold Chocolate’s tunes, filling out their sound and heightening the band’s live energy. In addition to playing in Cold Chocolate, Bernstein can often be found as a sideman in The Ballroom Thieves, as well as at Dimension Sound Studios in Jamaica Plain, working on the records of many of the scene's finest acoustic musicians, including Josh Ritter, Darlingside, and Mr. Sun.
As for the band’s intriguing name and the story behind it, “it came from a childhood memory of mine,” says Robbins. “When my brothers and I used to visit my Grandfather in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, the whole drive there from D.C. we'd be in the backseat talking about the frozen Milky Way bars that awaited us in his freezer. I still remember pulling into his driveway after a six-hour drive. He'd come out to meet us—arms wide open for a hug—and the three of us would shoot right past him, headed straight for the freezer, where awaited us the King Size Milky Way Bars. So, in some ways, I dedicate the band name to my Grandfather's memory.”
For 2020’s Down The Line, “I hope people have as much fun with it as we had making it and that they will want to continue with us as we continue to grow as a band,” concludes Bernstein. Adds Robbins, “We're trying to play the music we like and tell our story at the same time.” The band is due to announce a packed itinerary of tour dates soon.
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