The Cold Stares make the kind of blues-rock that sounds like it was found rather than written — fuzzed guitars, hard rock riffs drawn from the same Cream and Zeppelin records that built the genre, Delta blues running deep beneath it. Chris Tapp and Brian Mullins started building this sound as a duo in Evansville, Indiana, in 2012, and the press has called them a Southern band ever since, which is not entirely wrong: Tapp and Mullins grew up in Western Kentucky, where the music they make doesn’t need to be imported. Bassist Bryce Klueh joined in 2022 to complete the trio, and the three of them have spent the years since playing the kind of sets that fill rooms exactly like the one waiting for them in Dalton.
About the Show
The Cold Stares bring their current album, Texas, to The Stationery Factory MainStage on Saturday, August 8. The record is a deliberate tribute to the state that produced many of the band’s deepest touchstones — ZZ Top, the Vaughan brothers, the tradition of hard-edged Texas blues-rock that has shaped American guitar music across generations. It follows a run of Mascot Records releases that includes Voices (2023) and The Southern (2024), a seventh studio album that, according to guitarist-vocalist Tapp, drew on a sense of Southern identity rooted in “family and tradition” — songs moving through Dust Bowl history, mortality, and homecoming. The band has earned consistent coverage from Classic Rock Magazine, No Depression, and American Songwriter, and placed consecutive albums in the Billboard Blues top ten, including a No. 1 on Amazon Music’s Blues Rock chart. Their sync placement record is substantial: Dodge and Chevy commercials, the television shows Animal Kingdom and Sex Education, and “Mojo Hand,” which served as the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer song and crossed 10 million YouTube streams. They have shared stages with Larkin Poe, Rival Sons, Spoon, and Grand Funk Railroad. Opening the night is Massachusetts-based Nate Martel, whose music moves across roots rock, funky soul, and ballads; Martel has performed at The Paradise in Boston and The Iron Horse in Northampton.
Venue & Logistics
The Stationery Factory is at 63 Flansburg Avenue in Dalton, Massachusetts. The show is all ages. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; the set begins at 8:00 p.m.
Tickets
Tickets are $25–$30. Explore more upcoming shows in the capital region. Get Tickets