The Cola Heads

The Cola Heads are having a punk rock relapse. Their habit started long ago—when Liam Jaegar and Julian Swift (along with Wesley Dixon on bass) were mere tweens in 1997—and became serious very early on. Shows at the iconic Club Shanghai on Spadina in Toronto, opening up for punk vets like The Sinisters and The Vapids, and at the subversive anarcho-punk venue Who’s Emma? gave them some actual cred, along with a taste for the rush of live performance.

After constant badgering from Julian’s older brother Nick (of T.O. heavy-weights BIBLICAL), the band reformed in 2013 and started bashing out material they hadn’t even listened to since the late 90s. But with influences as diverse as the BFGs, Dead Kennedys, Screeching Weasel and Green Day, the reconstituted outfit’s songs maintain a certain prepubescent rawness without sounding dated or juvenile.

A super busy year so far, 2015 has seen the band landing coveted support slots for such iconic punk bands like Pennywise and Anti-Flag. With recently added members Jacquie Neville (from The Balconies) and Curtis Faux (from Chainbreaker and Maximum RNR) The Cola Heads are definitely making their mark and have no plans to stop.

The band blends the passion of youth and the refined abilities/sensibilities of adulthood into a highly palatable hit of punk—And if a defining feature of The Cola Heads is their arrested development, that actually seems appropriate given our current cultural climate.

Their newest release, Die Young! was produced by Toronto’s Jon Drew (Fucked Up, Tokyo Police Club) and is currently available via Bandcamp. The seven-inch vinyl will be released later this summer.

– Lynda Spark