A New Era for Cold Gawd on Their EP Glory2
For Matthew Wainwright, the frontman behind the California-based shoegaze project Cold Gawd, making music has always coexisted with the mundane, lived-in details of everyday life. Before logging onto our call, he sends a quick message explaining he’ll be a few minutes late because he’s busy packing lunch for his wife to take to work, which is a grounded, unpretentious moment that captures the reality of keeping domestic routines afloat while running an indie band. This is precisely what makes the themes of relentless grind of life on the road feel so stark on the band's latest EP, Glory2.
Wainwright is candid about the exhaustion behind the romanticized version of touring. The endless hours spent sitting in a van, foreign transaction fees leaving his bank account nearly empty, unreliable hotel Wi-Fi, and the constant ache of missing his loved ones all take a heavy toll—not only on the body and soul, but also on the relationships waiting for him back home. These experiences bleed directly into the thematic core of Glory2.
Now, Cold Gawd is settling into what Wainwright calls a “new era.” On Glory2, the band loosened its grip on total control, bringing in producer Max Mercier to challenge their structures and push them past their comfort zones. By incorporating R&B motifs and pop structures into their music, the band wanted to throw a real curveball—wanting people to listen and ask, "What the hell are they doing?" As Wainwright puts it, regardless of what listeners expect, it's about proving they can do more and showing that this is a sound they can pull off.
Beyond the new EP, we discuss with Matthew his now-famous quote to Revolver about wanting to “make shoegaze Black again,” the heavy political climate in the US, and his desire to create something that exists beyond genre definitions. He also gives Tape Wounds an exclusive, detailed track-by-track breakdown of Glory2, revealing surprising and deeply personal details behind the songs.
You know it’s hard to imagine anything is bad when you’re in a packed-out room in Manchester and they are singing back at you, but then the bank account is damn near zero after a foreign transaction fee and the hotel Wi-Fi is shit. Touring is work, sun up to sun down, but through all of it, it’s times I wouldn’t trade for anything.
Let’s go back to the very beginning. How did the idea for the band come about, and what’s the story behind the name?
We can start with the name since that was first. In 2017, I was working at a Starbucks in a mall, and we had this back door we weren’t supposed to leave out of, but we all did anyway. One day I was leaving work and had seen a truck, and on the back where there is usually the acronym for all-wheel drive (AWD), someone had bought additional letters to spell COLD GAWD. I thought it was so sick I took a picture of it and knew I would use it for something someday.
Fast-forward three years later to 2020, and I wanted to record what ended up being The Creative Pursuits of You and Me since I had that sweet COVID money. A lot of the songs had come from my band I had started in high school, and I didn’t want to continue with the old name. I am terrible at picking band names; every band that I’ve been in besides that high school band, the names had already been established, so I was rocking. I tried to name all my bands in middle school, and that was a nightmare, as you could imagine. Anyway, in the search for a name, it finally clicked it was time for Cold Gawd to shine as the name of the project, and I even used the original photo (with some photoshopping) as the cover for the 2020 "demo."
Then comes the creation of the band part, as opposed to being solo when it started. What happened was my wife and I were moving back to California—her to get her master's and me to give Cold Gawd a real focused try. My old bands never toured, never released vinyl, and this was going to be my truest effort in getting that done. With that, I had hit up people that I thought would be down for the same thing. At the time, I believe I had demoed most, if not all, of God Get Me the Fuck Out of Here, and I would send the SoundCloud link to the dudes I asked to join, being like, “Hey, you want to be a part of this?” and everyone I hit up said yes, which was great.
What kind of music did you grow up listening to? What were some of the records or artists that really shaped you?
It’s come and gone in so many stages, but as a real young-in, the first bands I really cared about were Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Slipknot. Anything you could have figured would’ve been on an iPod Classic in 2004/05, I was listening to it. I remember my mom getting "Hey Ya!" and from that point on, I was a big Outkast fan. My uncle put me on to DMX real young, and the older kids in elementary school got me into G-Unit. Then middle school comes around, and you go through your embarrassing scene kid, Warped Tour phase, but even some of that stuff is still good, like Underoath, and the first three albums from A Day to Remember (shout out to my man Jeremy).
But what really changed my music taste and what made me learn about DIY music, touring, etc., was Tumblr. I got Tumblr in 2010/11(?) and immediately found Touché Amoré, Title Fight, and La Dispute. Anything that Run For Cover, No Sleep, or Topshelf were putting out, I was into.
Lastly, I would be lying to myself if I didn’t talk about how influential Kanye West was to me. I remember seeing the "Through the Wire," "Jesus Walks," and "Gold Digger" videos on MTV when I would be getting ready for school, and I fell in love instantly. I’ve told the story before, but in the 7th grade was the Graduation vs. Curtis promo for Ye and 50 [Cent], and I was the only kid in my class to say that Graduation would outsell Curtis. But then it all came to a head when the My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy era started. From the G.O.O.D. Music Fridays to the "Runaway" VMA performance, it solidified to me that Kanye was my favorite artist and I was going to try my best in whatever music I did because that’s the bar, and I don’t think it’s been met since then. Maybe with Brat, but that’s the only album to come close in 14 years.
Do you remember the first time you heard shoegaze? What was your reaction to it?
I believe the first time I heard shoegaze was the Whirr June 7”. Whirr was supposed to open for Touché Amoré in December 2012 at Chain Reaction, and back then I listened to every band before going to a show. So when I saw they were the openers, I went right to YouTube, and that was the first thing to come up. I remember thinking, especially with the song "Sundae," that it was sleepy but ethereal. Pretty soon after, the Around EP came out, and it just clicked. I used to turn all the lights out in my room and play that full blast, and from there I understood the dreaminess, the peaks and valleys, and the sound beds that this genre leans on, and it turned me from a third-wave emo guy into your classic shoegaze revival dude. From that point on, everyone on Tumblr found out about mbv [My Bloody Valentine] and Slowdive, and pretty soon after that, Guilty of Everything came out, and I was sold for life.
You once made a T-shirt that said, “Shoegaze is a prison.” Was that purely a joke, or was there something more serious behind it?
It did start as a joke initially. Back in the old Self Defense Family Tumblr days, they teased making a shirt that said “masculinity is a prison” on the front, and then the back would read “and I’m the hardest motherfucker on the yard.” They never made it, so I thought it would be a good idea to swap the word “masculinity” for “shoegaze,” and I could finally own the shirt I’ve always wanted. Then it turned out printing on the back and front of a shirt was more expensive than I could afford, so I just kept the first line.
After a while, I found some merit to what the shirt says. Like any genre, every listener has a box, and they determine what is or isn’t shoegaze, rap, hardcore, etc. Especially when we came on the scene, it was right when the discourse was “is Deftones shoegaze or not,” and watching people battle this shit out online every day felt like a living hell. I’m all for discussion on music, it’s my favorite thing to talk about, but the way people were nitpicking at every band, saying if they were or were not a part of this thing, felt trapping.
As a kid going to guitar music shows, there were mostly white kids and white people there. I didn’t feel uncomfortable, but damn, it would’ve been nice to see someone with a 'fro doing skramz or something back then.
You’ve talked about wanting to “make shoegaze Black again.” What does that phrase mean to you, and how do you think about the lack of Black representation in the history of the genre?
I can’t remember if I said that exactly or if that was the headline of that Revolver article (shout out to anyone that wrote about us for them, fuck private equity), but that’s not what I was trying to convey. What I meant was I just wanted more people who look like me and my friends to make music and play shows to inspire people who were like me. As a kid going to guitar music shows, there were mostly white kids and white people there. I didn’t feel uncomfortable, but damn, it would’ve been nice to see someone with a 'fro doing skramz or something back then. It wasn’t really until I started going to hardcore shows at Chain and Aladdin Jr’s that I found a good number of POCs going to shows, which was great. Then, when I was over hardcore, was right around when I got into shoegaze, and again, me and my friends were the only Black kids at the gigs. So I wanted to be some sort of representation to get a kid who likes skateboarding, Westside Gunn, and Supreme to go on Fender.com and buy a Jazzmaster to make art with their friends.
In terms of the lack of representation, I can’t really tell you why I think it is that way. Luckily, now there are so many POC bands it’s hard to keep track of—from Soft Blue Shimmer to Luster, Glixen, Glare, Trauma Ray, Stab, and Wisp. So there are so many people to be inspired by to get non-white kids to come in and make art that can change someone’s life. It could just be as simple as those early bands haven’t reunited, so they end up getting lost to time, which is unfortunate. I learned about A.R. Kane from an Instagram post in 2020; I didn’t know who Majesty Crush was until Sweet Jesus came out, and I read a comment saying we gave off their vibe. Huge shout out to Numero for putting out their entire discography. Let’s get the reunion going; I’ll sing.
You’ve also spoken about the assumptions people make about you as a Black frontman in heavy music. It’s 2026, and the political climate in the U.S. is incredibly tense, with a resurgence of racism and fascist rhetoric. How does that reality affect you personally and creatively right now?
Let me start with saying I don’t feel good about it, first off. It’s quite an evil time we live in right now. Being here in LA as the ICE raids were popping off was incredibly heartbreaking to witness. In the midst of that, it feels pretty hard to promote anything you have going on. Maybe it’s because Instagram is the only place we all talk to each other, but it feels bad sometimes to try to “sell” a single, an LP, or a show, meanwhile other people are trying to make you aware of the atrocities surrounding us. Now with that in mind, I do think where Cold Gawd sits is in a place to get you an escape from thinking about that all the time. I'm not saying you should ignore what’s happening by listening to Cold Gawd, but we all need a few hours of the day to enjoy something beautiful in the midst of the bullshit bogging everyone down. There’s beauty in the world still amongst it all, you just have to find it, and I believe Cold Gawd is a part of that.
What kind of impact do you hope Cold Gawd’s visibility has on younger Black kids who are interested in alternative and heavy music? Do you feel a sense of responsibility there?
I don’t think I have any responsibility in regard to that. Mainly because it’s going to take more than just me to get other Black and brown kids interested in this kind of music, and luckily there is that. However, if I am to think of any impact, I hope that a kid who was like me growing up sees me or anyone else in the band doing our thing and thinks, “I can do it too.” I found this sort of music and started creating it without anyone looking like me (that I knew of), but it would’ve been nice. I didn’t find out about A.R. Kane or Majesty Crush until 2020 when God Get Me was kinda finished. I’m curious what anything I make would’ve sounded like if I heard them first.
You’ve said that your ultimate goal is to “move the cultural needle.” Looking back at where Cold Gawd was in 2020 compared to where you are now, do you feel like you’ve achieved some of that? Have you seen the cultural shift you wanted to create?
I don’t think that’s going to be anything we can measure until this “moment” is over and done with. I’d like to hope so, but I really don’t know.
I’ll Drown on This Earth came out two years ago. Since then, how have you changed as a person and as a musician? What has being on the road and living with that record taught you about yourself?
So much has changed. Personally, since then, I got engaged and married in the same year, then I turned 30, which has been quite the turning point. Musically, we did so much touring. On God Get Me, we toured with Mareux in the US once and then some scattered dates here and there, but right before the record came out, we started with two West Coast runs: one with Spiritual Cramp and Ultra Q, and the other with Gouge Away and Initiate. After that, we went to Europe for the first time with Soft Blue Shimmer, then a mostly full US tour with Newmoon, across the US again with High Vis and a bunch of other bands (shout out to Locked Shut), and ended the cycle with a few West Coast shows with Soft Blue Shimmer.
What I’ve learned through all of this is that this shit is hard. It’s hard on the body, on the soul, and on relationships with partners/people back home. You get to go and “live the dream,” which is sick. You know it’s hard to imagine anything is bad when you’re in a packed-out room in Manchester and they are singing back at you, but then the bank account is damn near zero after a foreign transaction fee and the hotel Wi-Fi is shit. Touring is work, sun up to sun down, but through all of it, it’s times I wouldn’t trade for anything. Some days [are tough], but that’s only human.
Let’s talk about the new EP. The press release says it’s a new era for the band. Tell me more about that.
It’s definitely a new era for us in a lot of ways. In terms of the EP, Brandon wrote damn near most of the first half, which is the first time that’s happened. Previously, I wrote everything (besides "Golden Postcard") aside from a few parts or some lyrics, but it was great getting to work with his songs/demos that he brought to the table. Duck had a larger hand in lyrics for this one. "Steel" is pretty much all them, and they did some good melody work on "Miracle."
Also, we all took direction from our producer, Max Mercier. Before in studio settings, we never really had someone produce in terms of changing structure or building out new parts, and I think Max pushed us all to become better at the thing we do. Him and I would get at each other over certain things, but I would say we are like brothers, so that was always going to happen, and I would say every time a small argument would happen it would be because he was pushing me to step out of my comfort zone and make something more interesting, even if I didn’t see it like that in the moment.
Thematically, the record also explores frustration and deep longing. Could you tell me more about those themes?
The frustration of it all really stems from touring. I took this from Patrick Kindlon, but I was like, I’m never going to write about touring, like how obvious of a thing that is to write about as a musician. But also like Patrick, I found myself on the final day in the studio as we recorded vocals for "Grease" thinking, "Damn, this is my Low Beams, huh?" But really, more or less, this EP is about feelings I’ve felt while on the road, whether I’m frustrated with my own brain processes, lack of validation in playing shows, or missing my lady back home or our dogs. You sit in a van 4-8 hours every day; all you have to do is sit and think about every single thing and ask yourself if you’re doing good or bad.
Your last album opened with a scream, while the new EP starts with these much more mellow, R&B-inspired motifs. Was that contrast intentional? What did you want that opening to communicate?
Every Cold Gawd opener has always been a standout to me, like how do I reel 'em in, ya know? For God, it was like, alright, no one knows who we are, let’s hit them over the head quick with these six big hits, and they’ll be locked. For Drown, the scream was to catch people off guard, and this one I wanted to throw a real curveball. With "Glory2," I want people to ask, “What the hell are they doing?” People don’t know that "Steel," which is a big rock track, is going to follow it up. We’re just trying to keep it interesting and show everyone we can do more. "Nudism" was at the tail end of Drown, which I feel could come off as an interlude of sorts, whereas to me, that’s a whole track with a lot of heart. And while I wanted people to know the record was inspired by 808s & Heartbreak, I want people to know that this is a sound we can fuck with, and regardless of what the listener thinks it is, ultimately it’s just a great Cold Gawd song.
On Glory2, you’re pulling from a lot of different places—there is screaming, R&B, pop, and influences like BROCKHAMPTON and Tigers Jaw. Where do you feel the new sound is coming from? And what were you listening to while making the EP?
Right before we got into the studio, I was listening to the Blood Orange album Essex Honey. I’ve always known who Dev was—even made coffee for the guy at my old job—but never really got into the music. One of my old coworkers told me how Essex Honey should’ve come out in the fall, and when we were on those West Coast shows with Soft Blue [Shimmer], we were driving from Oregon to Sacramento, and in the midst of the fog and the trees, the album clicked. Especially the arrangements on that record. They were really inspiring and definitely had some hand in the creation of the songs "Glory2" and "Miracle."
Besides that, I think the other sounds on the record are our best attempts at sounding like eras that inspired us. Take a track like "Bomb Pop"; I went into that one with Cam saying, “This song should sound like if Cold Gawd was from Wilkes-Barre.” Maybe I’m chasing a feeling, but damn do I want us to sound like something I would’ve reblogged in 2014, but of course while still doing our own thing.
I absolutely love the artwork for Glory2. You’ve always had a very intentional visual aesthetic. What’s the story behind this cover, and how does it connect to the themes of the EP?
Honestly, without the cover, the EP wouldn’t exist. We were on the Newmoon tour, and I was thinking about taking a big break and not even touching a guitar for a good while, even though we had High Vis on the horizon. But then I was scrolling Instagram in the back of the van, and our friend Josh Hodges posted his painting of this, and I was like, "Damn, now I have to write some songs so that way more people see this."
Also, around the same time, Solange was doing these events at the Disney Music Hall, and one of them was called “Glory to Glory.” When thinking about the halo on the artwork, I thought the word “Glory” could fit in, but then adding the "2" made this feel like a mixtape I would’ve got on DatPiff from Chief Keef or any of the drill guys back then.
The very last question before we do a track-by-track breakdown is, what's next for Cold Gawd after this EP?
We have a release show on September 3rd with the wonderful Soft Blue Shimmer, but that's really about it. I really just want to stay home and write. I think we've written some great songs, but the next thing I want to do, and this might sound a bit pretentious, is I really want to make a true piece of art. I want to make something that exists outside of genre definitions.
I am a big Kanye guy as I mentioned before. I don't think I'd have the confidence I have as an artist without growing up listening to Kanye West. I was listening to Yeezus and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the other week, and those two things—yes, they're rap albums, or Yeezus isn't even necessarily, but My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the best rap album of all time—I think it's a real piece of art outside of the music. I think Yeezus exists without any genre-confining lines either. People hated it at first. I remember when Yeezus came out, I wasn't even the biggest fan of it, but I got on board pretty quickly. Now that the years have gone by, people say, "Oh, that's my favorite," or "That's my second favorite."
I think that's really what my next goal as an artist is, to make something like that. So whether that happens next year, two years from now, or three years from now, who knows? But I really want to take the time to make something that—to your question before—I know that the second it hits people's inboxes or people get the CD, they think: cool, I moved the needle. Whether people know it or not, I moved it, even if it's just a centimeter, and we'll figure it out from there.
Glory2 EP Track-by-Track Breakdown
Glory 2
The story to tell with that was the writing session was so dope. Originally Brandon had made this track that I wanted to throw at the end of Steel as an interlude, 'cause we wanted to make it feel like a mixtape or like if you were listening to this on the radio. He sent this thing originally, and I was like, "Alright, what if you slowed this down? And then what if you pitched this up? And what if you added strings?" Then our friend Jason—it was me, Brandon, and Jason—they were just like, "Yo, come over. I don't know if we can continue to create this song over text." So I went over to Brandon's house, and me, Brandon, and Jason locked in for two hours and rebuilt the whole song from scratch. On the drive home, I immediately came up with the vocal melody. We were already pretty well into recording the EP. The EP was only supposed to be four songs. Then we decided, "Alright, what's something different besides making a bunch of rock songs?" So we were like, "Yeah, let's throw this in there." The EP was maybe 60% of the way done with the original four, and we were like, "Fuck it, we gotta throw this in there." That song was really urgent, and it was really fun to create. We didn't really think about it too long; we just kept making all this dope shit. That's the one where I just wanted to get my R&B shit off and Frank Ocean type lyrics.
Steel
Brandon wrote it, which was super dope. I remember when he sent me the demo, I was like, "Yes, if this has to be it." I knew that there needed to be a bridge—in the original demo there wasn't. It was just kind of that verses and chorus melody the whole time. I was like, "Yo, we gotta do something to break it apart." But the second he sent it to me, I was like, "Yeah, this is what we're gonna use." Which was really fucking dope. Duck wrote the lyrics to that one. I think I just helped with some formatting. I honestly didn't write much of that one except for the bridge. So again, new era of everyone else contributing.
Grease
Grease is just a bop. That was the one where once I was coming up with the track listing, I was like, "Alright, this has to be sticky, there has to be something about it that gets people in immediately." That is probably one of my favorite songs I've put together. Just being able to write something so poppy and earworm-y to a point... I just love doing that sort of thing. Grease was the last song written lyrically. It was our last day in the studio, and I was like, "Well, I gotta come up with the lyrics." The only thing I could think about was, as much as I've tried my best—I took this idea from Patrick Kindlon where I was like, "Oh, I never want to write a song about being on tour, that just feels so obvious for a band." And then this one, I was like, "Alright, well, this is what it's calling for."
Bomb Pop
Bomb Pop was remixed, remastered from the original session. I thought it would just be cool to add that 'cause I think Steel into Grease into Bomb Pop just feels like such a solid rock block. Fun before getting into the more somber side of the EP, I guess. Max did a killer job remixing it. It sounds like a completely different song. Like I said before, that one's just about getting engaged in London, which was a super fun experience. And we did it on tour, so keeping in theme with that.
Miracle
Love song joint. I won't say specifically what Beach House song, but I was listening to a lot of Beach House with that one. I was like, "I just want to write something pretty and something that maybe has some drum machine on it." Those are real drums on there, but the way that we recorded it—'cause Max played the drums on that one—how he was able to edit the very little he did kind of sounds like it came off of a drum machine. There's three different synths that are on there, there's acoustic guitar. Right before we got into the studio too, I started listening to a lot of Blood Orange, and his arrangements are so fucking cool. I really got into him on the last record, the Essex one, I fucking love it. But I've known about him forever, and he used to come into my old coffee shop, and I would just hook him up, never say anything to him. But now that I love what he does, I'm like, well, that was a wasted opportunity! I should have said something. Neither here nor there, but I was like, his arrangements and where they decide to pluck—where he puts in a sound that maybe happens once and then doesn't come back again. Our producer Max does that a lot with his own music, so I knew him and I just went in and did that one. I knew he was gonna add sounds that weren't in my brain but were in his 'cause he's such a maximalist. I thought we just ended up making something that sounded super—finally, I think the goal with that one was to make something dreamy. I think we have songs that have that feeling or some sort of etherealness, but I think we finally made a dreamy song, which, if we're talking about the genre still, fits perfectly within the canon.
Glory
And then the last song, Glory, is about a dog, her name is Sophie. She passed right before we went on tour with High Vis. That dog was one of my best friends. That was my wife's dog, her family, and I remember the first time I went to her house she was like, "Oh, Sophie doesn't like men. She barks at men all the time, I'm so sorry." But then when I came over, she barked once, and then that was it. From then we were locked in together. I've had a bunch of dogs growing up—we had three dogs at my parents' house—but I've never felt closer to a dog than her. When she passed away, it really meant a lot to me. I was there—we drove her to the vet and did all of that. I just felt like she deserved a magnum opus or something in remembrance of, 'cause she really was just so special to me.
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