Cold Heart Revival began with a fateful encounter at an open mic night in Colorado Springs.
"I'm originally from New Jersey, and my job had moved me out to the Springs," says guitarist and lead vocalist Stephen Masi. "I'm really bad at meeting people so I was like, 'I'm just gonna play a bunch of open mics and try to connect with some folks.'"
Guitarist and singer Bret Larson happened to be at one of those performances, and after hearing Masi play some original songs, he knew he wanted to collaborate.
"We got together," recalls Masi, "and I think we played, 'The Boxer,' by Simon and Garfunkel for the first time, and we just locked in. We were like, 'yes, this is going to be great.'"
From there, a creative partnership was born. Masi and Larson began writing and performing harmony-rich folk songs as Cold Heart Revival, and were soon joined by keyboardist/vocalist Audrey Bussanich and bassist Dylan Teifer. The group has since played shows and festivals around Colorado, and just this summer released their debut album, Over the Water.
In just the last few months, however, the band has had to adjust to a new reality - Masi relocated back to New Jersey and Larson will be leaving town soon as well. Nevertheless, the band members insist that their musical bond is as strong as ever, and they plan to continue writing, recording, and performing together whenever possible.
For this segment of the August episode of Air Check, we were lucky enough to get 3/4 of the members into the studio to talk about their music and treat us to a lovely performance of their songs, "Behind the Scenes" and "Your Island."
Listen in the player above.
