Formation Cold Cave was founded in 2007 by
Wesley Eisold, vocalist of
hardcore groups
American Nightmare (briefly known as Give Up the Ghost),
Some Girls, and Heartworm Press founder. Cold Cave represents Eisold's first venture into instrumentation. Eisold was born with one hand which led him to electronic music.
Love Comes Close (2007–2010) After initial releases on
Dais Records, Hospital Productions, What's Your Rupture?, and Eisold's own Heartworm Press, he signed to
Matador Records, who re-released his self-released debut album,
Love Comes Close, on November 3, 2009.
Cherish the Light Years (2011–2012) In April 2011,
Matador Records released his second album,
Cherish the Light Years. In July 2011, Cold Cave remixed "I Didn't See It Coming" by the band
Belle and Sebastian. The song appeared on their
12-inch single "Come On Sister" released by
Matador Records and
Rough Trade Records. In April 2012, Cold Cave performed at the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum between
John Chamberlain sculptures as part of the museum's
Divine Ricochet series. In October 2012, Cold Cave performed at the
Getty Center.
Singles series and Full Cold Moon (2012–present) In September 2012, Eisold announced Cold Cave would be touring the US later in the year, he would be recording a new album, and that the new live lineup included:
Hunter Burgan (
AFI), London May (
Samhain), Jessie Nelson, and
Cody Votolato (
The Blood Brothers). This lineup was exclusive to this two-and-a-half-week tour and Eisold said performing with a full band was something that failed to materialize during
Cherish the Light Years tours. The single was released in October 2012 through Heartworm In October 2013, Cold Cave released a digital-only, fifth stand-alone single titled "Nausea, The Earth and Me." On February 21, 2013, Eisold announced that Justin Benoit, a former live contributor to Cold Cave, had died. In support of the new singles, Cold Cave embarked on an extensive tour of Asia, performing in Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Nepal, and Hong Kong in April 2013; performed live with industrial/noise pioneer
Boyd Rice in mid-2013; and toured with
Nitzer Ebb frontman
Douglas McCarthy in October 2013. In January 2014, Cold Cave remixed the song "Running" by
Nine Inch Nails as part of a remix EP
Seed Eight, to coincide with the launch of
Beats Music. In May 2014, Cold Cave opened for Nine Inch Nails on their full European and UK tour. They were also invited to open for Nine Inch Nails and
Soundgarden on their North American tour, after
Death Grips, the band originally chosen for opening, decided to split. Cold Cave began working on its third studio album and follow up to
Cherish the Light Years tentatively titled
Sunflower in 2013, and a release date in 2014 was originally anticipated. On what the potential sonic direction of the new album, Eisold said it would be a "mix between some of the bigger sounds on
Cherish and more minimal stuff I'm interested in now, like
Suicide or 39 Clocks." In June 2015, Cold Cave performed at the wedding of
Tony Hawk and Catherine Goodman at the
Adare Manor in
Ireland. Cold Cave would be featured on the soundtrack for ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5'' later that year, and two of their songs were selected by Hawk for inclusion on 2018's ''
Tony Hawk's Skate Jam''. In mid-February 2016, a single called "Nothing Is True But You" was released. In Spring, Max G. Morton, who played keyboards for a short portion of the band's early days and also collaborated with Eisold on prose and publishing via the singer's own Heartworm Press, rejoined the band. At end of August 2016, the band shared another single, an almost cacophonic track called "The Idea of Love". In September, they embarked on a domestic mini-tour together with dark electropop act
TR/ST. In late September 2017, Cold Cave released a single called "Glory", a track reminiscent of early
New Order. The video accompanying the track revealed a full live band featuring, besides the ever-present Eisold and Amy Lee, steady touring member Max G. Morton, Nils Bue (bass/guitar) and Ryan McMahon (drums). The band kicked off a small US tour before heading to Europe to support
The Jesus and Mary Chain until mid-October. In early April 2018, the band premiered another song, "
You & Me & Infinity", and announced a 26-date North American Spring tour with Choir Boy and Black Marble. At the end of the month, a new EP bearing the title of their latest single was made available digitally. In November of the same year the band headed overseas for a string of selected European dates, again with support from Choir Boy. On April 12, 2023, it was announced that Cold Cave will tour in support of Depeche Mode's "Memento Mori" World Tour and will be at the following European dates and cities: May 16 & 18 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. May 20 in Antwerp, Belgium. May 23 in Stockholm, Sweden. May 26 in Leipzig, Germany. May 28 in Bratislava, Slovakia. In March 2025, the band was featured on vocals on a track called "So Then..." on a new album released by
Chris Liebing. ==Contributors==