Stefan:First I'd like to thank you guys for taking your time and doing this interview and also to thank the whole band for being interested in NWNP. Really appreciated!
Andrew:
Of course, man. we love what you're doing. It definitely helps to promote a sense of community within the music scene.
Stefan:
Thanks for the recognition! So, we will start this the old fashioned way, please introduce yourselves and the rest of the band.
Luke:
I'm Luke, I play bass.
Andrew:
I'm Andrew, I play guitar, Josepfine and Devin aren't here. but they do vocals and drums, respectively.
Stefan:
What is the story behind Colors? How did you guys come together?
Luke:
Haha, I love this story. Andrew's going to type it out though.
Andrew:
Back in 2008, I met Josepfine at a Fear Before show, and we started talking about a lot of music. We eventually decided that we wanted to play music together. This was originally supposed to be a Post-Metal project, actually, along the same lines as Isis and Russian Circles. Once we started writing songs they didn't really turn up as that, though. We started looking for members, and I had just joined this band, In Search of Shorelines, that Luke was playing bass in, so I talked to him about it and he really liked it, so he went with it. At the same time we had gotten a second vocalist as well, who isn't in the band anymore, but is still one of our really close friends. And as odd as it sounds, we met Devin through Craigslist. haha. He posted about looking for a band and he posted pg. 99, Circle Takes the Square and City of Caterpillar as the bands he wanted to play like and we hit it off instantly. This is all over the course of about a year and a half.
Stefan:
Wow, a chain reaction of events. You guys came out with some very creative tunes in the end. Was it weird playing with someone you just recently met?
Andrew:
Not really, we had all become pretty close really quickly. I mean, there were definitely the awkward silences the first few times we hung out, but it didn't last all that long.
Luke:
We'd just usually try to break the awkward silence with some stupid joke about music. Haha.
Stefan:
Haha, stupid jokes are always a cure! In contrast to awkward silences, how "free" were you with one another when you started writing songs? As far as suggestions and ideas were concerned.
Andrew:
I think we all have a pretty good amount of freedom when it comes to writing. I mean, we've all had to compromise parts that we really like just because they don't fit in the song and things like that, but I think, overall, we all have our say.
Luke:
We always try to include everyone in the writing process before actually doing something, so literally everyone in our band has some input which gives us a more creative sound, in my opinion, because it's coming from four minds instead of one.
Stefan:
Quite a nice approach. Usually only one or two members are active in the writing process. I already praised you for the mix of various genres, so we'll not go there now haha
Luke:
Haha, well thank you, that truly means a lot.
Andrew:
We really appreciate that, man. seriously.
Stefan:
While we are at the theme of song writing, which bands/projects do you find to be your biggest influences?
Luke:
Oh, man. Haha.
Stefan:
Tough one, eh?
Luke:
Yeah, haha. Well, we all listen to so much random music but some of my biggest influences on this band are Daughters, Saetia, Hot Cross, Circle Takes the Square, and Converge.
Andrew:
A lot of skramz bands haha. Circle Takes the Square, pg. 99, Saetia. And then stuff like Botch and Dillinger.
Stefan:
Haha, we would fit well with band choices. Just not Dillinger, I never could get into them.
Luke:
Bummer. Love that band.
Andrew:
Great band with some really talented musicians in it haha.
Stefan:
Ok, since it would mean you listen to those mentioned bands in your free time, how about sharing some guilty pleasures? Boy bands...pop queens...pokemon music?
Luke:
What are you saying?? Are you saying Pokemon is a bad thing?? Haha. Regardless, Pokemon music rules. Hahaha.
Andrew:
I listen to a lot of old Drive-Thru bands like The Starting Line and stuff like that. that's really all I can think of haha.
Stefan:
Haha, no, Pokemon rule!
Onto some normal questions, what's the "scene" like in Denver when it comes to this type of music?
Andrew:
Oh god.
Luke:
Oh, God. Hahahaha.
Stefan:
Hahaha
Luke:
If you don't play in a m3t4l band with br00t4l vocals and siq breakdownz, you aren't "good".
Andrew:
It's 95% Metalcore, 4% Electro-Pop and that last 1% is a mix of bad bands with a really good attitude towards music and some really good bands.
Luke:
With our type of music, we're literally the only band out here with this type of sound so everyone thinks we're just weird as crap.
Stefan:
Oh, damn, a completely copy/paste situation like here. Metalcore and deathcore are a majority.
Andrew:
Yeah, it's not a lot of fun.
Luke:
Yeah, I'm so sick of it. Haha.
Stefan:
Do you guys have a "fan" base there, as far as shows go? Considering the described situation.
Andrew:
We've got some friends that come to our shows every once in awhile. We've gotten some great reactions some nights, and some really bad ones other nights. A lot of it honestly depends on what bands are headlining the show or what shows are going on at the more commercial venues on any given night. We're more of a last resort for most people here.
Stefan:
Too bad to hear that. I always imagined that the situation is a lot more "stable" for this type of music in the States
Andrew:
It might just be where we're at as a band. I mean, we're still relatively new, so I feel like a lot of people still don't really know who we are.
Luke:
I feel like it's better in a lot of other states, it's mainly just Denver and surrounding areas.
Stefan:
Did you play some shows outside of Denver, some other states?
Andrew:
Yeah, actually, we played in Wyoming in July and in Iowa at the end of August. both of those were really great shows with some really great bands/friends.
Stefan:
Ever consider going out of the USA to tour? And what are generally your plans for the future?
Andrew:
I think we want to get a US tour under our belts before we can really decide to tour outside of it. Eventually, I would really love to. I've heard some really, really awesome things about touring Europe and I think it would be a lot of fun to meet the people out there. Other than that we want to tour, write a few more records and meet as many people as we can.
Stefan:
Are any of those already planed or beginning to be planed?
Andrew:
Tour is kind of being planned, the biggest roadblock for us right now is a van. But we've got some friends that we'd really like to go out with and I feel like we could all work something out. A split will probably be written before a new record is, but we'll see haha.
Stefan:
By the way, now that you mentioned Europe, I noticed that you guys listed only bands from the states that you listen. Do you have some loved euroscreamo?
Luke:
Oh, yes. Haha.
Andrew:
Most definitely. we listen to Daitro, Raein, Suis La Lune, Le Pre Ou Je Suis Mort, and stuff like that too. Love it all.
Stefan:
Haha, I just had to ask, I have a keen eye for retarded details.
Luke:
Suis La Sune, Raein, Daitro, Le Pre Ou Je Suis Mort, La Quiete, etc. haha.
Andrew:
No worries! I feel bad for not listing any of them hahaha
Stefan:
Also, I forgot to ask you at the beginning...I noticed you have a regularly updated blog on myspace as well as a tumblr page. Is only one member updating those or are you all on it?
Andrew:
Josepfine usually handles the MySpace blog (no one reads it anyway, so we give him free reign), and the Tumblr is pretty much Devin and I talking about the pointless shit that goes on in Colorsland. haha
Luke:
I don't really handle anything over the Internet. Haha.
Stefan:
Hahaha, yeah I just browsed through the tumblr page, seems like it's always good time in Colorsland!
Luke:
Haha, Most of the time.
Andrew:
We were all living together for awhile(minus Joespfine), so we spent a lot of time just messing around haha.
Stefan:
Haha, poor Josepfine, we'll give him and Devin some screamo points in return.
Andrew:
They need them hahaha.
Luke:
Hahaha.
Stefan:
Moving along, do you all have some (weird) hobbies beside hanging out in Colorsland?
Luke:
Haha, this is a good one. I have the most worthless talents in the world.Bowling, ping pong, etc. Haha.
Andrew:
He can also make a lot of pointless noises with his hands/mouth.
Luke:
Hahahaha.
Stefan:
Hahaha!
Andrew:
We also watch a lot of movies. Luke and I have been on a huge Dragon Ball binge for the last two months. It's been great.
Luke:
Best decision of my life was downloading all of Dragon Ball. Haha.
Stefan:
Ah, anime...don't get me started! Highly addictive
Andrew:
Which in turn led me to start watching the first season of Pokemon and reading a lot of comic books haha. You know exactly what I'm saying hahaha.
Luke:
Hahaha.
Stefan:
Yeah I saw your tweet regarding Akira, nice stuff!
Luke:
Yes! One of the greatest series ever!
Andrew:
Best comics I've ever read. I'm reading the Watchmen series and some Spiderman ones as well. good stuff.
Stefan:
Despite this being a skramz blog, care to share your favorite anime? You get extra points for all those anime loving girls reading this!
Andrew:
Akira was a great film as well as the comics. DBZ is way intense. I need to find a lot more. haha
Luke:
Hahahaha, Akira is definitely my favorite. Manga and Movie.
Stefan:
At the end of the interview I tend to leave space for a question from the band to me. Care to ask your humble host something?
Luke:
If you were a hot dog, Would you eat yourself??
Stefan:
Well, if I was a vegetarian hot dog, sure why not!
Luke:
Hahaha, So skram.
Andrew:
What got you into listening to Screamo/starting a music blog ect..
Luke:
But in all seriousness, haha, my question would be, what gave you the idea to start doing this awesome blog?
Stefan:
Well, I must admit that it was a completely lame way of me entering the whole screamo scene. Back in around 2000 I was a thirteen year old boy listening to some hardcore punk/crust stuff I picked off from my brother. I was browsing some local hcpunk forum and there was this band Saetia constanly being mentioned and the term screamo. And I found it quite kewl haha. So I checked it out and it was instant love. Followed by Envy and so on.
Luke:
That's better than how we got into it, haha.
Andrew:
That's not a bad way at all haha. You've been into it for awhile, then. that's awesome.
Luke:
Haha, That's cute you're listening to our album right now. :)
Stefan:
Yeah, I'm in it for about ten years. It's surprising since I'm in an enviroment where basically two or three people I know in Serbia know about this genre. That is why I started this blog, I couldn't find a band to play screamo with (I play bass btw), so the next best thing was blogging.
Hehe yes it's inspiring ;)
Luke:
Awh. I just teared up a bit. Hahaha. Move out here and make some jams with us!
Stefan:
Haha would love too! I'm planing to leave this country anyway after I finish faculty!
Andrew:
Yeah! we'll kick Luke out and you can play with us! hahaha
Stefan:
Hahaha, well he is getting a considerable amount of screamo points now! It's only fair that I take his place haha!
Luke:
Awh, man!
Andrew:
Hahaha. He doesn't have that many. I think you have at least double his skramz points.
Stefan:
Aw, fear not Luke, if anything we are gonna make a band with two bassplayers then!
Luke:
YES!!! Hahaha. This is going to be the most skram band ever. Hahahaha.
Stefan:
Finally, do you guys have some final message for your fans, the blog, other bands?
Andrew:
Just thank you, thank you, thank you. We really appreciate everything anyone has ever done for this band. Coming to a show, taking a CD, helping us with a show, hanging out with us because you legitimately enjoy us as people. All of it means so much to us. And to you, sir, thank you for taking a few hours out of your day to talk to us about our band and for taking another chunk of time out of your day to sit and listen to the album to review it. you're doing a really awesome thing, and we really appreciate it.
Luke:
Perfectly said, A. :) Thank you so much for taking time out of your day and just talking with us! It really means a lot to us.
Stefan:
Nothing to thank for, it was a pleasure!
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