COLD BLOOD L-R: Steve Salinas, Evan Palmerston, Steve Dunne, Lydia Pense, Rich Armstrong, Rob Zuckerman, Donny Baldwin Photo Credit: Katie Lichtl

By Paul Freeman [September 2015 Interview]

In the 60s San Francisco rock scene, Cold Blood�s Lydia Pense delivered one of the most powerful, intensely soulful voices. Now in her sixties, she sounds just as dynamic.

Born in San Francisco, Pense was raised south of the city, in Redwood City. In 1963, while at high school, she joined her first band, called The Dimensions.

Another band that featured Pense as vocalist, The Collage, built a local following. Pense�s bands played venues like The Fillmore, Winterland and The Carousel. Then came Cold Blood with its hot horns and rock-soul power.

Bill Graham signed Cold Blood, one of the few bands boasting a female lead singer, to his label. From their 1969 recording debut, Cold Blood earned acclaim with spirited albums - �Cold Blood,� �Sisyphus,� �First Taste of Sin� and �Thriller.� The band broke up in the late 70s. Pense moved to Humboldt County.

She gave birth to a daughter in 1981. But Pense continued to perform with various lineups of Cold Blood through the years. At shows now, fans tell her their fond memories of the band�s glory days.

Pense isn�t resting on her laurels, however. The current Cold Blood lineup features some of the Bay Area�s top musicians - Steve Salinas, Evan Palmerston, Steve Dunne, Rich Armstrong, Rob Zuckerman and Donny Baldwin. Pense is justly proud of their new album, �Soul of the Gypsy.�

POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
You have a great new album, �Soul of the Gypsy.� Was it fun putting that together?

LYDIA PENSE:
Yeah, it was. And it seems like a while back, because it took a few years to finish it up. But yeah, I�m happy with it, too.

PCC:
Your vocals still sound great. How have you kept the voice in shape over the years?

PENSE:
How have I kept it in shape? By smoking and drinking brandy [laughs]. No, just trying to keep up with my grandson, I guess.

PCC:
The shows that you�re doing now, you combine the new material with the classics?

PENSE:
Yeah. We just started doing that, we do the first two tunes on it so far. And we�re getting together to do a lot of the stuff of that new one.

PCC:
You were born in San Francisco, but you grew up on the Peninsula?

PENSE:
Yeah, I was born and raised in San Francisco, in the Sunset district. Lived there till I was like 10 or 11. My Dad, he was a machinist. He got a job at Ampex in Redwood City. So we moved down there in �59, I think, something like that.

PCC:
You were a big Brenda Lee fan. What was it about her voice that impressed you?

PENSE:
I was really impressed by the way her power was, the power in her voice at a young age. I bought all her records� amongst other singers, too. But she was my favorite, I think, through the years.

PCC:
While in high school, you joined your first band?

PENSE:
Yeah, actually the first band I got into was in 1963. We were called The Dimensions. That was a trip. My Dad used to drive me to rehearsal, because I didn�t have a license. [Laughs] Yeah, first band, we had a stand-up bass, drums, guitar, yeah it was kind of interesting. We did tunes from everything from Ray Charles to pop. It was a dance band. We�d play at the recreation centers and stuff. It was far out.

PCC:
So was it the musicians in that first band who guided you into a more R&B style?

PENSE:
Well, my older brother was the one who had all the R&B records, all those back then. And my Dad brought home a tape recorder in �58. We were living in the city, still. And I remember playing Elvis Presley and Bill Haley �Rock Around the Clock� and all that stuff. And I�d record my voice singing along with the records. My Dad taught me how to run the thing. And that was my toy. I�d come home from school and I�d just fool around for hours with the recorder.

PCC:
Who were some of the other singers who really influenced you early on?

PENSE:
Oh, a lot of them - Ray Charles, Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers. And then, on TV, they had �The Hit Parade,� where they used to have the Top 10, whatever songs of that month. And then you�d go out and buy the magazine and all the words were in it. I�d follow those. And we always had music in the house. My Dad, he played everything. He made the speakers, actually, so that he could jack up the sound. He�d be the one that would turn up the volume on everything [laughs]. So we always had music going in the house. I listened to a lot of Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, all those guys. I listened to a lot of male vocal artists through the years. You�d listen to the radio, you�d listen to KDIA and KSOL, the R&B influence was just there. And every Saturday morning, I�d wake up to my brother playing the records. I�ve still got those albums, I think.

PCC:
How early on did you realize that you had a real gift for vocalizing?

PENSE:
Well, I didn�t really think of it that way. I just had fun doing it. My Dad, we had a Shure microphone and the stand, the whole thing. So I would sing along with all the music and stuff. And I used to do it for my own fun, really, not realizing, �Well, I�m going to be a singer.� I never thought of that. But when that first band came in, I had the opportunity to do that, so I did. I just thought it would be fun to do, I guess [laughs].

PCC:
There were other bands between The Dimensions and Cold Blood?

PENSE:
Oh, yeah. After The Dimensions, we had a four-piece. We had this B-3 player who played bass fills. It was great. He was dynamite. And drums, a guitar and myself. And we were called The Collage. And I remember this girl that worked in the box office for Bill Graham at the time, at the Fillmore, she got Bill Graham to come over to our drummer�s house to hear us. That was like �66. I�d just graduated from high school. So you can do the math [laughs]. So Graham came over and he liked the band. He took me aside and said, �You know, you ought to be off on your own.� I just took it with a grain of salt. I always liked the band.

There was another group. I remember we played a gig with Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, at The Fillmore or Winterland or The Carousel. I think I have pictures of that. Yeah, there was a lot in between The Dimensions and Cold Blood.

Cold Blood came about from a band called The Invaders to The New Invaders to The Generation and then Cold Blood.

PCC:
When that group got together, did you realize it was something special?

PENSE:
Oh, yeah, because the sound was really something different, because it had the horns, you know? We had like four horns and stuff. And that gave it that big band sound. And we had that kind of R&B sound. Our guitar player at the time, Larry Fields, he was into that thing. He was highly into James Brown and every time that James Brown came to town, he�d get us tickets, the whole band. And we�d go see him every time, man.

He�d throw jewelry out into the crowd at the end [sings] �Please, please!� And he throw this costume jewelry out. I got one of his cuff links. Me and the tenor player were scrambling on the ground, trying to get it. I had it in my hand and he took it from me. And I said, �Oh you�!� And he said, �Here. It�s yours.� And I still have that. James Brown, man.

PCC:
You�ve held onto it all this time?

PENSE:
Oh, yeah. I still have. It�s green. It�s a cuff link and it�s green, gawdawful costume jewelry. Far out.

PCC:
That horn sound, did that make you have to raise the intensity level of your voice?

PENSE:
Well, yeah, because, at that time, you had those giant speakers that you could sing through, right? And monitors - what were those? So you had to compete with everybody else in the band, volume-wise. It was hard. It wasn�t screaming, but I was really putting my voice out there. It was good practice. But eventually, I got nodes on my throat, where I got hoarse a lot and it was hard. So I had those, what we called at the time �scraped.� Now they probably use lasers. But that was back then. And they never came back. I couldn�t speak for a while. The doctor said, �Whatever you do, don�t talk for a while.� So I got that all healed up. And I said, �That�s it, man. If you can�t hear me, I ain�t screamin� no more.�

PCC:
Did you sense that you were a pioneer in terms of women in rock?

PENSE:
Well, you know, I never looked at it that way. The whole thing was, I just loved doing it - singing. And I didn�t really concentrate on that part of it. But the whole thing with Janis Joplin, later on, you realized that, at that time, there were very few women, ladies in that music world. Not too many out front. and everybody used to compare me and Janis Joplin. But we�re two different voices, really. But people do that. But I met Janis. She was pretty cool. She invited me to a party, I remember one time, but we had to leave on the road the next morning, so I said, �I don�t think it would be a good idea to go.� [laughs]. So I didn�t go.

And there was another time when we were on a bill with Janis and she had just had that album coming out, or it was going to come out, with �Piece of My Heart.� [Sings] �Take Another Little Piece of My Heart�� Well, that�s another R&B tune, right? And we had that on our list. So we were playing that for a while. Little did we know that she was going to be recording that� or had recorded it. So we were playing a gig and our drummer at the time, Sandy McKee, he said, �Yeah, man, she came over to the side of the stage there and said, �You can�t do that song!� And I go, what?!!�

PCC:
You were signed by Bill Graham, what do you most remember about that dynamic personality?

PENSE:
Oh, he was a sweetheart, man. There were times when you�d go there to The Fillmore, you�d be playing and you�d go there early and set up and everything. Or you�d just go there and hang out or whatever. So I was there one afternoon and I hear him yelling on the phone [laughs] in his office. Screaming at somebody. I had this rose, I don�t know where it came from, but I had it in my hand. And Raoul Matute, our B-3 player at the time, goes, �Lydia, give that to Bill.� And I go, �No, man, I don�t want to do that. He�ll probably yell at me.� He goes, �No he won�t.� So I go knocking on his door - knock, knock, knock. And he goes, �Come in.� And I go, �Hey, Bill, what�s going on?� So I handed him the rose. And he just melted. Like, �Oh, that�s really cool.�

Look what he did. He brought music to people, all different types of music, on the same bill. On the same night, you could listen to anything from big band to swing to whatever. I think that was really good for the kids to really open up and hear different types of music. That�s what I miss about him.�

PCC:
From your perspective, what was so magical about that era in San Francisco, those days of The Fillmore?

PENSE:
Well, it was really great, because there weren�t too many horn bands. And when we played those places, I went, �Man, are all those people going to accept us? A horn band? Are they going to boo us out?� But we just played and did what we do and we got a really good response to it. And I got along with Bill. He was really cool. Our guitar player, Larry Fields at the time, he and Bill kind of clashed, because they were kind of the same personality. But I got along with him really good. And he was pretty nice to us.

PCC:
Was there camaraderie among the bands?

PENSE:
There were a few bands that recorded on Bill�s label. They had Fillmore Management and all that. A few bands that recorded with David Rubison, the producer. And with the management, there was like us, Beautiful Day, The Airplane - the Jefferson Airplane at the time, Starship or whatever they became - and some people that were under that Bill Graham management and Fillmore Records. And we�d go there and different people would come in, different bands. I remember seeing Carlos Santana there. You�d walk in the office and see all these people. It was like family, a lot of it.

PCC:
When the band was happening, taking off, was that a fun time or a lot of hard work?

PENSE:
Well, we used to rehearse all the time then. And going back East and stuff. But I look back at it and think, �Wow, what an experience!� I mean, it was, being at that time, in that place, that�s really something to think about. You don�t really realize what�s going on. I knew it was going to be in the history books, somehow, somewhere.

You�d sit in the back, waiting to play, and sitting back there with you would be maybe Albert Collins, B.B. King, Albert King and all these people, all these blues guys. And you�d just be sitting back there, talking to each other, man. And I remember sitting there going, �Man, I�m sitting here with these guys, man. This is history for me. I�m going to remember this forever.� All those cats, man. Just to be around them, it was amazing. To live in that time and be part of it was really something.

PCC:
Not everybody survived the rock scene in those days. What enabled you to be one of the survivors?

PENSE:
I think it was just a matter of keeping on doing what you love to do and not getting caught up in riffraff. You try to keep level-headed, so you can keep doing what you love to do. Plus at the time, my Dad, I would have felt really bad for my Dad, if anything happened. He used to take me to a lot of the gigs and everything. He didn�t mind me going out and playing with these bands and stuff. So I think I paid him back by just keeping it together, trying to keep on and not bring any heartache to the family. But if you find something you love to do, that�s all you think about doing. You just want to keep doing it. And so far, I�ve been blessed. I�ve been lucky that I can still walk and talk [laugh] and sing. I think I�m really fortunate.

PCC:
The band breaking up in the late 70s, had it just run its course?

PENSE:
Well, I think it was a time when we felt like we needed a little break. And that was a time when my old man got out of prison. Lompoc. But that�s another story. There�s another book. But we needed a break, so it was a good time to do it then. And I didn�t think that everybody was going to leave, really. Our bass player went back East. Everybody kind of just went their separate ways. And I was living up in Humboldt County. My daughter was born in �81. We moved up there in �79. And boy, I got bored quick [laughs]. So I was living up there and I remember one day I said, �Man, I gotta get the band back together.�

PCC:
You must be happy with the current edition of Cold Blood.

PENSE:
This CD is the first record I really like [laughs]. We all contributed to the songwriting, for one thing. It still has that sound, the Cold Blood sound to it. But it�s got more funk to it. I�m really happy with it. It took us like three years to finish it, but it was worth it.

PCC:
Are the satisfactions of performing different now from the original Cold Blood days?

PENSE:
Oh, yeah. I know all the words to the songs [laughs]. No, I feel like, man, like I said, I�m so fortunate or blessed to be able to keep doing what I love to do. Plus the people that come to see us, it blows my mind! They tell me stories about seeing us back in the day. People like that, it really just melts you. Here we are, we�re still doing it� or trying to do it. I think that�s neat, man, to have something you love so much, that you can do it till you drop.

For the latest Cold Blood news, visit www.lydiapense.com.