Cinders to Release Full Length Album Friday

_{By Richard Provost}

The Salt Lake-based acoustic/pop group Cinders has been gaining quite a bit of traction since the release of their debut EP, I Could Do Better last year. Every song from that EP – as well as their latest single, “Hope You Do” – was featured by influential YouTuber Alex Rainbird on one of his Indie/Pop/Folk Compilations. AlexRainbirdMusic has over 91,000 subscribers, and his channel has amassed over 17 million views. That exposure was great for the band. “Last Year’s Winter” alone has been streamed over 100,000 times on Spotify, and they’ve amassed hundreds of thousands of listens on SoundCloud.

“Alex Rainbird is a good friend of ours and an awesome person,” says guitarist/vocalist Jordan Zabriskie. “He is so devoted to helping bands gain the exposure they deserve. We can’t thank him enough for what he has done for us. Our online presence has been raised by an insane amount because of him. We even have an acknowledgement for him in our album.”

A growing fanbase allowed Cinders to launch a Kickstarter campaign last month to help fund the mastering and physical distribution of their full-length album, Cinders – due out this weekend. Cinders met their fundraising goal last week – raising $2,827 of their $2,500 goal. An upcoming west coast tour, as well as Alex Rainbird releasing the album on his channel a few days after its official release, should build a sizable amount of hype around the album.

The traction the band is gaining online hasn’t gone unnoticed. Cinders will also be performing at Goosenecks Music Festival this August – putting their new music in front of thousands of Utahns. The band is excited about the future and where the new album will take them.

“This new album is definitely one to be excited for,” says bassist Adrian De La Cruz. “It’s still the same Cinders that you love with some subtly large improvements. We have all been working both day and night to better ourselves on our own personal instruments and as well as our songwriting to give you all the album you deserve. The songs you hear are bringing more fun, more creativity, and most of all more to relate to than on our EP. And with the help of our friends and family we have some great surprises that we can’t wait for you to hear!”

“Recording the album was a huge learning experience for most of us in the band, but especially for me,” says multi-instrumentalist and producer Austin Harris. “We put countless hours into the recording, mixing, and editing for this album. I think the biggest challenge we faced during that time was finding time where we could all be there to work on it, and get everything that we needed to done. It was a very stressful and tiring process, but when we finally heard the finished product it was all worth it.”

The band is releasing Cinders at Gezzo Hall in Provo. When asked why the band picked that venue in particular for their album release show, drummer Brad Bennett said, “[It’s] a fun place to play […] Gezzo Hall just opened up about a year ago and has been doing well featuring some great bands.  I have become really good friends with Sam who manages the venue. He is awesome and loves music and we want to support him just like he wants to support us. We want to help Gezzo Hall become a fun and hip place to go any day of the week.” The band also appreciates the size of the venue. “It is huge! It allows us to bring a large crowd, give them space to dance, space to sit, and lets us throw giant balloons around!”

The Cinders album release concert is set to take place Friday, May 27th at Gezzo Hall. Doors open at 8PM, and tickets are $5 online. The show will also feature the bands Grey Glass and Middle Mountain. Cinders will be selling brand new t-shirts and stickers, as well as physical copies of the new album. 

“It’s a very happy/inspirational album that doesn’t inspire anything negative,” says guitarist/vocalist Montana Smith. “We wanted to make something that made us feel good through struggles and hardships of life, and hopefully it’ll make everyone else feel the same.”

Make sure to like Cinders on Facebook and check out the official music video for their latest single, “Like a Holiday” below.