Cobalt Tour Starts Tomorrow, Life Rules

I’ve done some brilliant things in my life, but accidentally deleting an awesome interview with Lord Mantis is not one of them. It was a few months ago, so I mean the new Lord Mantis, the one that had just unveiled their debut EP; for 30 minutes, their new vocalist Dylan O’Toole (ex-Indian) deftly contextualized the band’s major reset, the clashes that precipitated it, and their future in the shadow of the former line-up. But our chat was more than “illuminating,” it was funny. He colored human ego in pastels (“God might give ya a ten-inch dick but no brain.”), their line-up’s debut EP as unrefined (they wanted it to be “less considered”), and his bandmates as solid people trying to give their new thing a chance to flourish.

A highlight was when O’Toole let slip a bit of secret info: He was stating that his relationship with ousted LM frontman Charlie Fell was fine; he’d encountered Fell recently, and they’d meet again in a few months when Cobalt — the band that Fell now fronts — perform at a Chicago venue where O’Toole is employed. Since no Cobalt tour had been announced, I tittered and carved into my notebook the words “Cobalt will tour YESSSSS confirm ASAP” and a drawing of me dunking a basketball. Sure, a Cobalt tour wasn’t exactly a surprise, yet hardly a sure thing. It was news for sure. Anyway, my conversation with O’Toole wound down, we hung up, I switched off the recorder, and mistakenly tapped the delete button. The recording was gone forever. Recovery efforts failed. The stupid machine didn’t even ask “Are you sure?” it just murdered the recording. Ah shit!!!!!

Well, it’s months later and that Cobalt tour starts tomorrow with support from Mantar (!). And yes, I will go all the way to the Chicago show, aka the only suitable setting for me to ask O’Toole to clear my debt by kicking me in the ass like Artie Fufkin begged members of Spinal Tap. So if you happen to witness that, you’ll know why, please don’t alert Fell or Cobalt mainman Erik Wunder. For now, crank Cobalt’s awesome double album below and know why O’Toole’s slip was so exciting!

Cobalt and Mantar tour dates here. Get two of 2016’s best albums here and here.