James and the Cold Gun – Ready, Aim, Fired Up

When Cardiff, Wales duo James Joseph and James Biss plugged their guitars into their amps in Biss’ garage back in 2020, Biss says they wanted to do one thing, “Go back to our roots, and go back to the music that inspired us to pick up a guitar in the first place, and recapture that spirit.”

Just like that, James and the Cold Gun was born.

Quickly earning the title of “South Wales’ loudest group,” over the course of the ensuing five years the band became road warriors, playing countless live shows, including touring with legends.

Even with the whirlwind they’ve experienced, Biss says they’re still the same guys who plugged in together in his garage five years ago. “We just want to play riffs, turn them up loud, and play music that’s really enjoyable, and energetic. That’s something that we want to do forever.”

Joseph seconds this, adding, “We’re in this for the long haul.”

The band’s lineup currently consists of Joseph and Biss (photo above, R to L), bassist Gaby Elise (photo center), and a rotation of drummers, and next week they’ll be releasing their second full length album, Face in the Mirror, via Stone Gossard’s Loosegroove Records.

With three blistering singles having already been released from Face in the Mirror, I caught up with Joseph and Biss to find out more about the album, as well as some of the biggest challenges they’ve faced, and what it was like getting their hands, quite literally, on a very early copy of Nirvana’s Nevermind .

First of all, since both of you are here, which James is the James in James and the Cold Gun? 

James Joseph: Today it’s hard to tell. We’ve both been doing well today.

It’s whoever’s done the most on any given day.

I like that. Is this band the greatest thing you’ve ever created in your garage? 

James Biss: Oh yeah, it’s got to be. I’ve done so many shit bands over the years.

Finally there’s some good noise coming out of there.

With your sophomore album, Face in the Mirror, due out later this month, have you found the time to reflect on the incredible journey you’ve been on over the past five years? 

James Joseph: Yes and no. I think it’s a practice.

I think right now … a lot of bands are struggling with – how the hell are we going to get people to hear it? There’s a lot of noise at the moment to try and cut through, and I think everyone’s focusing on making content more than songs. It’s just the world we live in, which is kind of brutal sometimes when you just want to make music, but every now and again we definitely have a chance to think (about the journey).

It’s funny to think about the first couple of times we plugged into amps in the garage, and we were just playing cover songs together with no idea where it was going to go.

Do you remember any of the songs you covered during those initial sessions? 

James Joseph: It was a lot of Foo Fighters, for sure.

James B plays drums a little bit. Obviously he’s the guitarist, but he would hop on the kit, and kind of roughly get through some Nirvana, or some early Foo Fighters, that kind of thing.

I’ve read a lot of your previous interviews, and there seems to be a different lineup behind you guys in every single picture. Who is James and the Cold Gun in 2025? 

James Joseph: That’s a good question.

At the core of the band is the two of us writing all the songs.

When we started touring pretty frequently we had to let go of people who could (just) do like one tour, and then were like, “Oh, wait, you want you guys want to go back on tour again and again?”

It’s kind of the nature of trying to be a full time band in the current economic state of things. Most people’s favorite bands probably have side hustles, or jobs alongside the bands now. So it’s been really hard to find a drummer, and a bassist to do everything with us.

However, we came across the amazing Gaby Elise about a year ago, who is now officially in the band (on bass), because she’s done everything we’ve thrown at her, and she’s a real asset to the group.

We’re kind of in-between drummers at the moment. We have two great guys, but both of them are session guys who play for multiple people. Eventually we’d like to figure out which one of those guys is going to be willing to do our stuff over some of the other stuff they’ve got going on. But for right now, the band is the two of us, and Gaby.

You were signed by Pearl Jam guitarist, and Loosegroove Records co-founder, Stone Gossard after he heard you on Seattle, WA radio station KEXP. First off, score one for local radio! Did you even know you were on the air in America? 

James Joseph: We did, but we didn’t realize that they were playing us more than once.

We heard about it once, and we were like jumping for joy back home, because just the idea that your music could be playing out of someone’s car in another country, you know, across the Atlantic, that was enough for us, let alone that it’s getting into the car of a member of Pearl Jam, one the greatest rock bands of all-time.

He reached out to you through Instagram, and I read you initially didn't reply. You saw it was a real account, though, right? It had a checkmark. 

James Joseph: You know what? That was the funny thing – it didn’t have a checkmark.

It was Stone’s label Loosegroove, his Loosegroove Records account, but at the time it had been dormant.

They’d created it, but they hadn’t really posted anything, and also they hadn’t released any music in like 20 years.

I always make this reference, but it was very much like one of those emails you get from like an African prince who’s got like a million pounds waiting, and all you’ve got to do is put your bank details in.

But is the moral here to always check your DMs. 

James Joseph: Oh yeah. Always check your DMs. Proceed with caution, but definitely follow things up, because you just never know.

As soon as it went to emails it all became very official because the people who were CC’ed had these official looking handles. We were like, oh, wow, this is legit. That was when it got really exciting.

Speaking of exciting, your sophomore album, Face in the Mirror comes out on the 25th. In what ways can you hear your musical growth from your previous album to this one? 

James Joseph: I think both of us have definitely become better singers just by the nature of touring a lot, and honing the craft a little bit.

I think the biggest thing for us is the diversity of the different areas we’ve gone to on this record.

On album one we were caught up in wondering what we are, and there were some songs that didn’t make it because we thought like, oh, that’s not quite us, or is this cool enough? We were asking like a lot of those questions.

I think while writing album two, if we liked a song, and it passed through the two of us, then it is a James and the Cold Gun song.

So I feel like we’ve managed to grow exponentially into a lot of different areas while still remaining a rock band at our core.

James Biss: Yeah, we’ve done so many shows all over now, and just that energy that we get, and we perform with live, has always been the key, and the core of the band. Just being able to feel that more, and try and translate that into a record, I feel like we’re getting better and better at it each time.

Part of the album was recorded in Seattle. What was it like for you guys to spend time living in the city that gave birth to grunge? 

James Joseph: We kept referring to it as like a pilgrimage for us, because we really are massive fans. So many of the bands that came out (of Seattle) … a lot of these people are Stone’s peers, and friends, and it must be interesting for him because we idolize some of his best friends, and bandmates, and other bands from his scene. It was very inspiring.

We definitely felt like there was a gravity to the situation that we were in the place that birthed so many of our favorite records and bands.

How’d you come up the album title Face in the Mirror? Are you referencing your own face in the mirror, or do you want listeners to consider their own face in the mirror? Whose face is in which mirror? 

James Joseph: When we started considering what would be a good title we were trying to think about some of the overarching themes within the record, and I think for both of us, because we’ve been experiencing a lot of this together in real time, there’s a real sense of a coming of age moment for us, like we’re starting to feel more and more settled in this band than ever before, and we both are starting to really feel more comfortable in our own skin, and grow into our roles in the band.

I really like the idea of the Face in the Mirror. One, it sounded like a cool title, but two, it’s the idea that over time your reflection will start to get more and more clear, and then it’s kind of that trust in the process, and the idea of self-reflection.

You’ve worked with a litany of really impressive names, from your producers, to your label owner, to opening for Guns N’ Roses. What nuggets of wisdom have you come away with from these experiences? Has anyone had a mentoring piece of advice for you? 

James Joseph: Before we even mention nuggets from them, I think that the nugget before that is most of that stuff has come from us being cheeky, and like the whole “don’t ask, don’t get” kind of mentality.

Obviously the Stone thing was more of like a miracle, and right place at right time, but through us being associated with Stone we’ve kind of gotten cheekier and cheekier with the things that we’ve tried to ask for.

We feel that there’s like a duty for the old gods of rock bands to pay forward to new rock bands like ourselves if they want to see rock music last, because rock’s not really necessarily the cultural zeitgeist anymore. There’s probably not that many rock bands that are household names other than the same ones from 20 years ago, so I think there’s a nugget in that, and it’s be cheeky, and just ask, because some of these people do just want to support great young rock bands, and they get a kick out of it.

James Biss: Duff (McKagan), we had like 20 shows with him all around Europe, and he was the nicest guy. He’d come by, and say hi, and hang out for a little bit.

So you don’t need to be a dick to the openers. If Duff McKagan’s not doing that, then no band needs to do that. 

James Joseph: I think the other thing is a lot of people we’ve met seem in a good place. Stone and Duff as two examples, they both seem like they’re in a really healthy place with the creative process. Obviously being in massive bands, everyone wants that, but we’ve met other people in massive bands who just aren’t having a good time, and it’s like why are you fucking doing it then? Whereas these guys seem like they still really care about the art first, and they’re still getting a kick out of making music, which should always be the core.

Speaking of creativity, your band’s name comes from a Kate Bush song. With that in mind, I’m guessing you have some fairly extensive record collections, so what’s it like walking into a record store with you? What gets you excited when you're going through like used vinyl? 

James Biss: When we were in Seattle we got to go to the KEXP studio, (Senior Programming Advisor) Kevin Cole gave us like a little tour around, and he was showing us a wall of all these old records. He had like mega old Prince records, and Soundgarden demos, and the first Nevermind that the station ever had, and all the little notes on them. Some of them were just a blank cover with a record in it, and he’s just like whipping them out, and they’re all battered, and he’s just pulling them out, and he’s like “Oh yeah, have a hold of it,” and even just holding those … those are like pieces of history.

That’s like going to a museum, but you got to touch the stuff! 

James Joseph: Yeah, and I think what always gets me excited is it feels even more surreal that our music gets to sit next to some of those pieces, and then one day, years after we’re gone probably, some kid could be flipping through used vinyl, and find this battered old Cold Gun record, and be like, “Yo, what’s this?”

That makes me feel really excited.

For more James and the Cold Gun, check out jamesandthecoldgun.com.