The Colours of Kings formed, as often bands do, over drinks at a local pub, where discussions became heated and ideals were solidified. Although, this felt more like and uprising, like the beginning of a revolution. With a punk attitude, new-wave synth pop sounds and indie rock lyrics, The Colours of Kings are music’s new Tom Sawyer.
Whatever the cause, the outcome is a band whose first EP has been called, “subtly genius.” The band may often disagree over politics, beer choices or “Absolutely Fabulous,” but there’s one thing that they can agree on and that’s kept them going, If at first you don’t succeed, make your own rules. Their new “Up EP,” recorded in basement studios and living rooms, written in pubs and alleys, whose sentiments are felt across the world, proves to be a monumental start for the band. Their new EP is described as “Pet Shop Boys meets Postal Service.”
01 How did you get started in music?
Chad: I think each of us started at a pretty young age. J and I were in band in middle school. We became music nerds and wanted to play instruments like the bands we listened to. Graham was kind of the same. We all learned different instruments on the way, just kind of an obsession to get into every part of music.
02 Where did your direction come from?
Graham: It comes mainly from following our instincts and drawing from those bands that inspire us. We just kind of open up and let the music kind of happen.
03 Who were your major influences and inspirations and who do you despise?
Graham: I’m a Mick Fleetwood guy. Old Fleetwood Mac was a big inspiration for me. Um, I despise the Mumford Brothers. Or Avvett and Sons. One or both.
Chad: Pet Shop Boys, The Sundays, The Weakerthans… There’s a lot of fake musicians locally that I can’t stand.
J: I guess The Beatles and The Stones, together and separately started it. Pink Floyd and The Sex Pistols added some musical flare and attitude. Like Chad said, we really don’t like fake musicians who do it just for money or girls or free drinks or whatever.
04 What inspires you to make your current type of songs and sound?
J: Mostly emotions. We rely pretty heavily on what we’re feeling and then let our influences sort of fill in the gaps. Lyrically, it’s absolutely emotionally driven.
05 What can someone who has never seen you live before expect from your live shows then & possibly even now?
Chad: We try really hard to let our emotions come through in our live sets, so there’s a lot of moving and shaking. Occasionally if the mood strikes, we’ll change things up in the songs or vamp a bit. I think the audience should expect to see a lot of emotion.
06 How do you begin your songs? What types of themes and subjects do you deal with?
J: A lot of it comes from personal experience or things that I see first hand. There’s not really any theme or subject that’s off limits. I think on this EP, the main things I was dealing with were love, and losing it and seeing how fake people can be sometimes. Or how things in our hometown are based more on popularity rather than merit.
07 How did your music evolved since you first began playing?
Chad: I think when I first started playing I tried desperately to sound like the bands I was listening to. I wanted to sound just like them. As I grew older, I was more interested in just being me and being unique. That’s true for J and Graham as well. That’s why we’re doing what we do. Also, I think we’ve all become better players and listeners and we don’t stand in the way of the song.
08 What has been your biggest challenge? Were you been able to overcome this? If so, how?
Graham: I think our biggest challenge at this point has been ourselves. Since we, with J, recorded and mixed and produced our Ep, obviously we wanted it to be great. There was a lot of overproduction. There was a lot of overplaying. We each have pretty big personalities and opinions to go with it, so we conflicted regularly. I think at one point Chad said, “Look, I just want to do whatever will make the song sound great.” We readjusted after that, and stuck solely to doing the best for the song.
09 Do you play covers? If you could pick any song, which would you like to cover most and why?
Chad: We keep talking about working one up. I think we’d have a hard time agreeing on just one! J would pick “Road To Nowhere” by Talking Heads, Graham would pick a Fleetwood Mac song for sure, “Albatross” or something. I would pick maybe “Virue the Cat Explains Her Leaving” by The Weakerthans.
10 Where did you envisage being in five years time?
J: Hopefully, we’ll have put out a few more records and be touring. I mean, we’ll still be making music regardless of what happens.
11 Who would you most like to record with?
Chad: Dave Grohl, for sure. He’s got the Sound City board and he just seems like a cool guy to hang out with.
12 What should we be expecting from you in the near future?
Graham: Our new EP “Up!” That comes out September 24th 2013, so I imagine we’ll play some shows, do some promotional stuff, hopefully it will propel us into the spotlight. Ha ha! Seriously though, we love what we do and we’ll be doing it the best that we can to share our new EP.
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