Cold Water Army was an American rock band that existed for several years in Tallahassee, Florida, and broke up over the summer of 1995. The band had two recordings that were released, the first a cassette-only release entitled 'Eliot Ness,' and the second entitled Cold Water Army. The second release was remastered in 2007, and is available on iTunes. The band's sound combined elements of disco, punk rock, funk rock, pop and big harmonies.
Formation
Lead SingerDavid Morris was initially in a band called 'Das Bellows,' which broke up after playing a party for the Florida Flambeau, a student newspaper. He met the editorial staff of the paper at that party, who, coincidentally, were all musicians. Cold Water Army formed, essentially, to fill in at the last minute for a Das Bellows gig, since Bellows had broken up and clearly weren't gonna be able to play the show. Thus Cold Water Army, or "CWA" were formed. They usually got done with working on the paper around 10 or 11 at night, and then they and David would practice until two in the morning, fuelled by beer, thus explaining the ironic origin of their name. Also, the size of the band lent itself to the 'army' designation.
Members
According to the group's guitarist Steve MacQueen, the original members of the band in those days were:
Though the band would go through many different lineups, Morris, Butler, MacQueen, and Kairies-Schardl would form the core of every subsequent incarnation of the band. In 1989, Richardson and Altman left the band, and were replaced by
Jen Kermeen ;
Paul Barnes ;
Kim MacQueen Then, in 1991, Paul left the band and was replaced by
Kevin Alexander.
It was this version that recorded their lone album.
Show with Dick Dale at the Cow Haus. Cold Water Army had to play an extended set because Dick Dale refused to come out until he found his special feather, which had been blessed by a Shaman.
As listed in the liner notes, the members of the band were: Kevin Alexander, Paul Barnes, Pete Butler, Ann Fleet, Kati Kairies, Jennifer Kermeen, Emily Kurtz, Bland Lawson, Kim MacQueen, Steve MacQueen, David Morris, Mark Morse, Pat Puckett, Stan Rosenthal. Dave Murphy, the bassist for the Tallahassee band 'Casual-Ts,' produced the album. The band lineup stayed pretty much the same until '94, when Kevin Alexander left, and was replaced by Danny Foster. The post-album incarnation of the band was when two additional percussionists were added, Joe Williams and Tim Schardl. MacQueen says, "With the three backup singers, two guitars, keyboard, bass, drum and percussionists, we had too many people on stage and it was just cacophony when the percussionists played in a small club. Seems like this lasted less than a year, and peaked with a pretty dreadful experience in Pensacola, FL." Then the on-again/off-again Bland Lawson was replaced by full-time Keyboardist Ben Wilcox at about the same time. Ben was a Tallahassee rock legend, the keyboardist and 'only sane member' of the proto-punk 'Slut Boys', and member emeritus of a dozen other bands. Kim MacQueen left the band around then, because she 'preferred being in the audience to being on stage,' and she was not replaced.
The Breakup
In summer, 1995, the band broke up for a variety of reasons. David Morris headed off to France for two years, but there was a one-shot-deal reunion on new years '97/'98, and that, as they say, is that.
Re-Release
In the summer of 2007, David Morris, Pete Butler, and Steve MacQueen formed a new band called Bag We Bag , and decided to completely re-master the Cold Water Army album.
