February is the month that has been deemed by greeting card companies as “The Month of Love” but, more importantly, February brings us something we truly love, The Zone’s Band of the Month.
Cold Fame, an indie-pop rock group out of Victoria, has been steadily picking up steam over the last year with the release of several singles including If That’s Love, Cherry Kiss on Ice and Tuesday., featuring Band of the Month alumni Xana. It was only a matter of time before they were selected as The Zone’s Band of the Month themselves.
The band originated as a project with the producing duo of Damian Anthony and Cody Dalman, but has quickly grown into a full band. With the addition of singer-songwriter Jodi Pederson and drummer Skye McLean, the band is ready to break hearts on the dance floor.
After a night of untangling strings of flowers for their photo session with Rocktographers, Tyson Elder had a chance to catch up with the band in his secret studio.
Tyson Elder: Cold Fame, congratulations on being The Zone’s Band of the Month for February.
Damian Anthony: Thank you!
TE: How does it feel to being new to the music scene in town and already being honoured with this?
Damian: It’s great. We are are so excited about it. We’ve all been doing our own thing for a while, but this is the first big thing for Cold Fame and we’re really excited about it.
TE: You’ve been in the industry for a long time. I knew Skye and Damian when they were in Vaultry. Jodi, how about you?
Jodi Pederson: [laughs] Yeah, I’ve been doing it for a while. I started out as Jodi Pederson and then as Royal. Now I’m back to Jodi – but in Cold Fame.
TE: How about you Cody?
Cody Dalman: You know, I’ve really just been doing a bunch of stuff really. [laughs] Lots. All over the place. [laughs]
TE: I know that Cold Fame started as Damian and Cody with the project being just the two of you and your first single Tuesday. featured Xana. How did Jodi get worked into the group?
Damian: It definitely started out with Cody and I just making beats, writing music and kind of doing a little producer duo thing. We weren’t even thinking about being a band. We were just like, “let’s make music.” We got Xana on Tuesday. and we were like, “let’s just get a different singer on every single song.” We’d been working with Shane producing our tracks and I told him “we need more people and to send us singers.” He sent me a list of five different artists, and Jodi was right on the top. I played her music and was like, “forget everyone else. Let’s get Jodi on a song.” [laughs] It went well and we were like, “let’s do another one and another one” and then, “Screw it. Let’s be a band!” [band laughs]
TE: That must be difficult because you [Jodi] don’t actually live in Victoria. You live in another city.
Jodi: We make it work. [laughs] It’s not bad… there’s Zoom. We started off on Zoom during the pandemic and now I’m here all the time anyways, so it works.
TE: Your single, Lions, is your feature on The Zone. It came out the same day as your sold-out Lucky Bar show. Could you tell me a little bit about Lions?
Damian: I’ll let Jodi take this one because she wrote the lyrics for it. [laughs]
Jodi: We call it the party song for introverts. Yeah, I know it sounds weird [laughs] but I’m an introvert. I also just have a lot of social anxiety so we wanted to write a song about that and we made a fun upbeat one.
TE: And I’m forcing you to do an interview which is great for introverts, right? [laughs]
[cheers and laughs about social anxiety from the band]
TE: I mentioned your show at Lucky Bar. It was your first show as a band… ever. As we’re recording this, you haven’t played the show yet, but it’s sold out. Can you tell me what’s gone into putting the show together?
Damian: It’s been a lot of fun organizing the show. I haven’t played since pre-pandemic and I know Skye hasn’t played a show since we were in Vaultry years ago. It’s been quite a few years for all of us. We were just ready to hustle, ready to work hard, and Nate [Sleepshake] was helping me out. We were like “Let’s just put on a show and let’s sell some tickets.” Now it’s a week before the show and it’s sold out.
Skye McLean: Yeah, we’re pretty excited. [everyone laughs]
TE: Thanks Skye.
TE: That’s fantastic, guys. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat and making us build these elaborate set pieces. [laughs]
Damian: We helped so much. [laughs]
TE: Congratulations again on being The Zone’s Band of the Month.
Cold Fame: Thank you!
Tune in to The Zone @ 91-3 all month long to hear Cold Fame’s banger of a single, Lions. Find out more about the band and listen to more of their music on their Band of the Month microsite.
Rocktographers is a proud supporting sponsor of The Zone’s Band of the Month program.