Cold Dead Hands CA

Cold Dead Hands CA has released more than 80 minutes of impeccable power rock.

Heavy rock heaven.

Cold Dead Hands CA has been performing Ian Strung’s original heavy guitar music since 2004.

In 2004, after receiving some radio play with his high school band Googolplex, Ian decided to attend Toronto’s Trebas Institute for music production, with the idea that he would find people committed enough to start a band. Meeting Elena Silina (drums) and Robin Deyong (bass), the three set about practicing and recording Ian’s original songs.

The sound of Cold Dead Hands CA went against the grain of the time in some ways—it was unabashedly heavy, punky, fun, and classicist—but the influence of bands like The Strokes and the Constantines was evident in their bouncier and dronier moments. Ian’s guitar approach involved both rammed-down chordal clusters and surprisingly adept single note leads. Fun and energy was the name of the game at all times. The lyrics were comedically angst-ridden.

The 2005 self-titled e.p. featured a track recorded at the Trebas Institute (“If You Do”), where Elena’s backing vocals are heard, and three tracks recorded at the Pocket Studios in Toronto. Of these, the song “Wrong” received the most attention. Cold Dead Hands CA headlined venues like Sneaky Dee’s, Rancho Relaxo and the Kathedral.

The following two e.p.s, “Novelization” from 2007 and “All The Juice” from 2009, were recorded with new drummer Rob Kisler of Fine Motor Control. Rob was a stronger drummer than Elena and also a fine graphic artist. Rob would design every Cold Dead Hands CA album cover from this point forward, as well as Gran Fenwick’s album cover and logo.

The new sound of the band was heavier than ever before. “The Goat Horns” from “Novelization” is one of Toronto’s heaviest ever garage-rockers, like an amped-up Black Sabbath meets the first Arctic Monkeys album. “Golden Goose” was a slaying mod rocker. “The Story of My Life” introduced a Beatles-y clean tone and a roaring grunge chorus. “Novelization” became the biggest tune on the radio, with its humorous lyrics and Blur-style guitar riff.

“Novelization” became a hit on campus radio, going to #15 on Toronto’s CIUT in 2007 and then #5 on the same station in 2008. Both it and its successor, “All The Juice,” were produced by 68PM, the current handle at the time of the Three Impotent Males, Wes, Wally and Mike, a vintage Sarnia punk bank with considerable repute. They produced the music to be as heavy as possible. “All The Juice” reintroduced the harmonies that were lost when Elena left the band the first time, as well as musique concrète sound effects, sub-bass, acoustic guitar, and an altogether more progressive, rock-opera approach to songwriting. “All The Juice” is considered a full-length album on streaming at 27 minutes and 7 tracks. It is the band’s masterpiece, charting at #2 on Hamilton’s CFMU April 7th, 2009.

After recording a cover of “Never Seeing The Ground For The Sky” for the 2009 Sloan tribute album “Take It In: A Tribute To Sloan” on Gooseberry Records, Rob left the band and was replaced by Mike Srivastava of Atomic Ravens, although Rob continued to do the artwork and is the model on the cover of 2013’s “Space Out!” “Space Out!” continues the epic feel of “All The Juice,” only even more progressive, heavy, and apocalyptic. Weird time signatures, unusual tempo changes, and more sound effects make tracks like “Where Do You Go To Give Up?” And “Nuclear Nightmare” the band’s best-sounding material yet, although the CD was only five tracks. The band had essentially ceased to exist by the time the album came out, and Cold Dead Hands CA was temporarily no more. “Space Out!” Was recorded by Derek Kisler of Left of Zero.

In 2014, Ian’s other band The John Holmes Book Club released its full-length album “Skin To Skin.” This is a 4-track variety show that was mostly the songwriting work of Cam Switzer, currently the famous horror author Colt Skinner. “Will You Stand” and “A Broken Brain” were Ian’s originals that had been around for years but were waiting for a larger band to perform them. “Skin To Skin” reunites Ian with Trebas classmate Shawn Hook-Carleton of Starship Experience. Most of the album’s production was Shawn recording Ian’s playing, which ran the gamut from piano to guitar to backing vocals. “Skin To Skin” by The John Holmes Book Club shows Ian’s R.E.M., Rheostatics and Barenaked Ladies influence as rough songs by Cam are turned into sonic masterpieces. Ian was also the principal guitarist on Starship Experience’s 2015 album “The Life And Times of Starship Experience.”

Post-pandemic, Ian got the Three Impotent Males together to be his backing band in a newly released to streaming Cold Dead Hands CA. The vintage track “Fall” was rerecorded by the four bandmembers plus Morgan Thompson-Reid from Gran Fenwick’s “Sucks To Be You.” “Fall” made it onto Cartridge Heart’s compilation “Go Kick Ass!” Volume 1, re-establishing their connection with Toronto’s punk scene. The band performed at the Killroom and The Dock Ellis three times before the band was once again put on hiatus.

Whether active or not, Cold Dead Hands CA, plus The John Holmes Book Club, remains the place to hear Ian’s body of original music in studio form. These are well thought out pieces of music and as intricate as rock music can possibly be. Pick one of the e.p.s to listen to, sit back and rock out!