Interview with the group Cold Drop
Not always, just sometimes it pays to just wait and see. This is how it is with the group Cold Drop. A group of mature musicians who got together not long ago and released their eponymous debut album Cold Drop. Hard rock in the vein of the 80s is here, and it's damn good.
Alan – Hi Cold Drop. Let's go. Introduce yourself to us.
Cold Drop :
Allan G. Pedersen - Lead Singer
Rick Hanson - Guitar
Thomas Hansen - Guitar
Henrik Rohde - Drums
John AB - Bass
Alan – You before you got together. Who played where in what? What did you play? And were they bands with their own creations?
Allan G. Pedersen - He started his career playing in a highschool rock-band, called “Ikk’ Noget” (translates to “Nothing”) for local crowds. In 1988 he moved to Copenhagen and there he joined the soulband “Karisma” that later became “Daddy’s Best”. With this band he played gigs all over Denmark until he moved to Belgium in 1995. He returned to Denmark in 1999 and shortly after that he joined up with guitarplayer René Mikkelsen, playing classic rock covers in the band “Humbuck”. In 2003 René Mikkelsen decided to revive the classic rock band “KrackerjacK” that was formed in 1997, but had been on a break for a couple of years, with Allan on lead vocals. The band recorded two albums: “Good Thing Goin’ (2005)” and “Rock On (2007)” and toured around Denmark, playing mostly smaller gigs. They did also perform at Jelling Musikfestival in 2006 and as support for Uriah Heep at Posten, Odense in 2009. Allan left the band shortly after the gig in Odense and the following years he mainly played in cover bands like Lizzy Stuff (Thin Lizzy coverband), Hungry Mens Blues Band (The Hoax coverband) and Deep Purple Mk III Tribute (Deep Purple coverband). In 2013 he joined forces with ex. Pretty Maids bassplayer Allan Delong on his album “Smell The Roses” (released 2015). In march 2017 he performed the song “Headless Chicken” by the Danish band “Electric Guitars” together with the band at Kulisselageret, Horsens. In 2019 he started playing gigs as a solo artist in pubs and at private parties. Same year he joined the band “Cold Drop” as lead singer.
Rick Hanson - Has, been a member and guitarist in the band Pretty Maids – twice. First during the recording of the 'Red, Hot and Heavy' album and then on the subsequent tour. Later he was involved in the pre-production phase for the recordings of their 'Future World' album. Rick started his music career in the band Cozie, which he started together with some childhood friends, and Cozie was actually booked to play at the very first Skanderborg Festival in Denmark. After Cozie, the band Pentagon was launched. It was here that Pretty Maids spotted Rick Hanson. In 1990, Rick packed his suitcase and his guitar and left for the United States, together with some friends from the world of music. After arriving in the US, he settled in Richmond, Virginia and the rock band Shotz was established here. Shotz released their first album in 1994 and toured quite intensively up and down the American west coast, opening for bands like Kix, Jackyl, Pat Travers and many other big American names. After 5 years in Virginia Rick moved to Florida, where he subsequently formed a new band called Noble Jones. Noble Jones opened up for e.g. Peter Frampton and Days of the New at the House of Blues and in the USA they released their first album in 2000 and their second album in 2004. Rick spent 19 years in the USA! In 2008, Rick pulled up the stakes and moved back home to Denmark.
Thomas Hansen - He started out playing guitar at the age of 9, when his parents gave him an electrical guitar. The following years he played in school bands and with friends, mainly classic rock like Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. The main inspiration back then, came from the record collections of his dad and his friends’ dads’. Played in Few Cover bands. In 2009 he hooked up with ex-Pretty Maids bass player Allan Delong and they started playing 80’s hard rock cover music, like Whitesnake, Scorpions, Judas Priest, in the band Addiction. Around 2012, Allan Delong founded the band Delong, playing music composed by Allan Delong himself. The band mainly spent time in studio working on the first record. It was in this period Thomas got introduced to Allan Grønbæk on lead vocals. Delong disbanded in 2014 shortly after the first album was released. In 2018 Thomas joined Cold Drop after they had been playing mix cover and original material for a little less than year.
Henrik Rohde - Started his career in 1982 at the age of 16. His first band, Blazon, was a 5 piece cover band, but after just one gig they turned into a trio as Spiked Mace playing original material. The bassist in Spiked Mace, Pete West, and the guitarist, Alf Batz, both later turned up in Paul DiAnno’s Battlezone. Spiked Mace recorded 3 demos and toured Denmark until 1984 when Henrik joined another local band, L.A. just after they recorded their first album. L.A. supported the local and Danish legends Pretty Maids a few times. 3 demos were recorded for the 2nd album which did not materialise until 2003 although record deals were signed. L.A. disbanded officially in 1986.
Fun fact: Henrik’s stage debut happened as a stand in for L.A’s drummer in 1983 before he joined them himself. In 1987 Henrik moved to London, England, where he played and auditioned for various bands but failed to land a serious gig and he had to relocate back to Denmark after about 6 months. This led to the revival of his high school band Acacia Avenue who turned into Blah Blah shortly after. They received some good record industry interest in Denmark but disbanded before anything materialised. For personal reasons he then left the Danish music scene for a number of years. A new and very slow start followed some 12 years later. He practised hard and played in a local dance/big band for 6 years for new experiences and gigs. Eventually he broke his way back into the world of rock trying out with different bands with not much luck. That was until John from the then still unnamed band Cold Drop called him to help starting up a new band.
John AB - Got his first guitar when he was 10. Early on he was inspired by the Danish band Gasolin, The Sweet, Slade and Suzi Q. He founded the band The Hunters in 1976 where he played guitar. They started playing cover songs but quickly switched to playing original music. In 1981 he founded the band Witness who played their originals in the same style as that of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Whitesnake. Since 2011 he is seeing the old band The Hunters again. They meet 1 to 2 times a year to make new tracks. That’s when he picks up the bass.
Alan – How did you get together? Who first came up with the idea to put Cold Drop together?
Cold Drop - In 2017 John ran into Rick (Kim Hansen former guitarist in Pretty Maids). They knew each other before Rick went to the USA. They were talking about starting a band to get to playing a bit again. And they wanted to call it Cold Drop. John and Rick would be trying several different lineups in the first couple of years before they finally found their sound with the members of Cold Drop that we know today.
Alan – What groups shaped you? And what styles did you use when creating the songs?
Cold Drop - Whitesnake, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Mötley Crüe, Thin Lizzy, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Randy Rhoads, Warren DeMartini, George Lynch etc. We use some of the 80`s style because we grew up with this style and we put some from th 2023 style into the way we create songs.
Alan – This year 2023, you are releasing the Cold Drop LP/CD into the world. Classic question. Where did you record? Where did they do their master's etc? And did you work on the songs together?
Cold Drop - We Recorded the Album in our rehersing room where John AB has setup his studio, and as it was Covid 19 as we startede to record we did it 2 at the time and after we have alle the instrument`s recorded we send it to Allan, and he dod the vocal by him selfe at home, John AB did the mix and Master but like to have some other to do it so he contacted his freind, Tue Madsen at Ant Farm studio who did the Mix and Master of the album.
Alan - Let's lighten things up a bit. Did you have any funny laugh-out-loud moments while recording the album?
Cold Drop - It was very concentrated, and since there were always only 2 of us in the studio, it wasn't the funnest thing that happened during that period.
Alan – What about funny experiences while playing (concerting) or traveling to a concert?
Cold Drop - We were supposed to be support for a local band in a small town in Denmark, where when we entered we saw a very, very small stage, we thought the gig should just be over, and when we were doing a sound check, the band we were supposed to play support for came and said it was probably best that we headlined, it was a bit crazy, but it ended up being a fantastic gig, there weren't many spectators but those who were, were very fond of us and sang along to our numbers.
Alan – You've had a pretty decent response (success) with this album. Show off.
Cold Drop - A big THANK YOU, we are very happy about that, people make many positive comments, and we are played on over 400 radio stations worldwide, and we are in quite a few magazines, where we get really good reviews.
Alan – Even as a group for the Cold Drop album you were chosen to play (concert) with big bands. Who and where did you play?
Cold Drop - We played support for Brian Downing's Thin Lizzy, and our booker is now working on more support jobs, so that we can be seen and heard by many more people so that one day we could headline ourselves.
Alan – There aren't many new bands playing or wanting to play 80s hard rock these days. Did this record open your way abroad? Have you signed contracts to perform in Europe? And where for example?
Cold Drop - It's a bit of a problem that we play that style, since not many people play that style, it's a lot of Trash Metal and more the hard metal style that is played, but we can sense that there is a tendency for people to like want to go back to the slightly more individual style where you can sing along and there is something recognizable that you heard in the 80s. We have 3 bookers who work for Cold Drop, one who lives in Sweden called Veith comes from Noorland Booking who takes care of Scandinavia Tonni Nielsen from TK Booking takes care of Denmark, Klaus Stracke from Berlin takes care of the rest of the world.
Alan – In your fairly short existence, what has been your biggest achievement so far? And what are you preparing for next?
Cold Drop - It was enough to record our debut album, and find a record company that became Lions Pride Music where we got the album released, as well as having a lot of people who believe in us and we get a lot of help from. We are very much looking forward to getting out to play quite a bit, especially abroad, we think 2024 will probably be a good year, as it has been a bit difficult at a time when Covid 19 has hit us, so we have booked a a lot of bands who first had to complete the jobs they were hired for during the Covid 19 era, and now it's almost over, so now there should be some space for Cold Drop, and our booker is working hard to get us out to play. We have started recording tracks for a new album, which we are very much looking forward to announcing.
Alan – What about Denmark and hard rock? Is there currently a decrease or a slight increase in the intensity of listening to this genre?
Cold Drop - It may well be a bit difficult here in Denmark with the style we play, we either play too hard music or we play too soft, as we see it at the moment. Then there is the market for Cold Drop abroad such as Sweden - Norway - Germany - USA - Spain - Czechoslovakia and Italy, so we think that is where we have to break through, and of course we are still trying our home country Denmark, to get people to to open their eyes to us.
Alan - I'm going to put the question for everyone in the group. Do you know any groups from the Czech Republic, Slovakia?
Cold Drop - No, not realy?
But we think Klaus Stracke, our booker from Berlin, has a large network, and he probably knows quite a few in the Czech Republic, so I wonder if he might try to combine some concerts where Cold Drop could perhaps be support for some bands, or perhaps Cold Drop could headline ;-)
Alan – I hope that you will continue to play this year, and next year you will be somewhere nearby at festivals in the Czech Republic or the Slovak Republic. Thanks for the interview.
Cold Drop - We are very grateful to be part of this interview and we are very much looking forward to visit the Czech Republic to play some concerts and maybe meet you Alan it would be great fun.
