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Cold Blood is Running Again
By Jim Carnes
The music scene in San Francisco in the late 1960’s and early ‘70’s had gone psychedelic. But across the bridge, things were funky. And two bands- Tower of Power and Cold Blood- virtually defined East Bay funk.
With Lydia Pense out front bawling the blues, Cold Blood was one of the most dynamic live bands on the music scene. Pense could take you to church and plunk you into a roadhouse in the same song. Just listen to “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” if you need proof. Now, she’s doing it again, with another version of Cold Blood, although she’s the only original member. Cold Blood released its self-titled debut album in 1969 and its last one in 1976. “God, I can’t believe it,” Pense said in a recent telephone interview for Alameda. “That seems so long ago.” Pense was only 21 when the band signed its record contract and not yet 30 when “The band kinda dispersed…Some of the guys went to work in the other bands, and I just kind of stopped working for awhile,” she said. “I had my daughter in ’81 and concentrated on raising her. Then I started getting antsy.
Pense started performing again in the early ‘90s, singing for awhile with Pacific Brass and Electric, which included Max Haskett, her old band’s trumpet player. But Pense wanted to front her own group again. “I kept working at assembling a band of my own. I wanted to get some people together that I could stay with, and it took a while, but I think we’re there,”
About a year and a half ago, Sacramento’s Dig Music released “Vintage Blood, “a set from 1973 that is the band’s only live recording. “Vintage Blood” features just five songs, but is 45 minutes-which culminates in a blistering “You Got Me Hummin’ ” –sizzle. Pense is working on new material and hopes to release an album with the new Cold Blood by the fall.
Anyone who’s familiar with vintage Cold Blood songs will “feel at home with the new stuff”, she said. “That Cold Blood sound, it’s like R&B with a little bit of blues and jazz incorporated. It’s a conglomerate of a lot of things, and not straight anything. That’s the way Cold Blood was in the beginning,, and this band here, when we play together, we just seem to naturally make that sound. It has a nice edge to it. “Our goal is to keep busy this summer and get really sharp.”
The current band features Steve Dunne on guitar (the first musician she hired for the band – 10 years ago). Evan Palmerston on bass, Donny Baldwin on drums, Dave Kessner on the B3 organ and keyboards, Mike Morgan on percussion and Mike Rose and Rob Zuckerman on trumpet and saxophone, respectively. “I love horns, “ Pense said. “I’ve always played with bands with horns. I love the sound. I would love to have a huge band one of these days, with horns and more horns.”
Pense doesn’t expect to relive the feverish early days of Cold Blood. “To be there at that time and place- it was more than just a turning point for music. Music changed people’s lives. Well, maybe didn’t change their lives in ways I don’t think it did before then,” she said. “When I play now, I run into fans from 30 years ago, and they say, “Wow, you’re still doing this.” ‘Well, yeah. I guess I could let it make me feel old, but it doesn’t. Music stays fresh. I feel like it keeps me fresh. I’m happy. ‘And whatever happens, happens.”
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