Cole Menarez
Cole Menarez is a soul searcher. His music is confessional. He explores passion, wisdom, and the sacred, and is devoted to guiding the listener's soul toward divine light. Simple melodies with a heavy load to bear might sum up the music. Cash, Wilco, and Beck have surfaced as comparisons.
Currently, he resides near New Orleans, LA, working on the Hurricane Katrina recovery in the Lower Ninth Ward and other communities across the state. He recently discovered the Musician's Village, the hallmark incubator of New Orleans' talent pool. He has embarked on a sabbatical to incorporate Creole and Blues influences into his sound by porch-playing alongside home-grown virtuosos and storytellers. He also plays across the city's landscape of live music venue. Cole plans to prodcue his follow up release to "Threadbare" this Spring.
Menarez' performances began as a soloist with an Anglican choir and evolved from lead singer in metal bands to most recently as a troubadour in Los Angeles, playing solo gigs at the Crooked Bar, The Gig on Melrose, Jack's Sugar Shack, The Whiskey, Martini Lounge, and other Hollywood staples between 2000-2005.
But, the journey took him to Raleigh, NC on a concert swing back in 2005, where he discovered a burgeoning indie artist scene with a wide-open appetite for the singer-songwriter genre, which gave him unlimited opportunity to gig at will, and grow through collaboration unfettered. His return to Raleigh is imminent, and his plan is to explore how the New Orleans experience influences his sound in live performances across the revitalized Downtown, Five Points and Glenwood South artist districts.
With a mother from Appalachia (Patricia Edwards, who toured with Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Tex Benecke, and T. Monk in the early 1960's), and, by contrast, being a native son of Galicia, Spain, Cole's songs express a tension and conviction that demands commitment from the listener. And, without a doubt, Cole Menarez' performances are an almost reckless abandon to giving up his ghost to the living and the dead.