"He did a lazy sway . . . To the tune o' those Weary Blues. " --- Langston Hughes

Photo entitled "Jazz City" (NYC, 2007) by William Ellis
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Jan 11, 2007

The Many Shades of Colour


“There is definitely a spirit of danger and boldness to it, but it seems like no one knows what it means anymore,” said Nathan Warkentin, drummer in the Los Angeles-based band The Colour, on the term rock 'n' roll. “To us, rock 'n' roll is marked by the culture of the times, but also the good songs that have become timeless that people still sing today.”

The Colour is currently playing a January residency at Spaceland in Silverlake every Thursday with its debut album “Between Earth and Sky” set for release in February on the new EMI imprint, Rethink.

Formed in 2003, the quintet - singer Wyatt Hull, guitarists David Quon and Luke MacMaster, bassist Derek VanHeule and Warkentin - took to the road for extensive tours of both the U.K. and the U.S. over the past three years with bands such as Jet, Interpol and the Futureheads. In between past tours, the bandmates, who met when they were all around 18, spent time at their less-than-humble Hollywood abode rehearsing and writing songs in their home studio.

“We kind of write all together - Wyatt generally writes all of the lyrics - even on some of the melodies, so each person contributes their instrumental parts, but we collaborate on that stuff as well, trying to feel what's best for the song,” explained Warkentin. “The two things we really focus on are rhythm and melody.”

The boys actually met in school as art majors yet somehow - with their seemingly distinctive set of musical predilections and outlooks - have managed to create a sound that embodies their collective sentiment of rock 'n' roll.

“I think the major theme of our record and even our experiences as a band in general is very much about journey and story,” said Warkentin. “We have gone through a lot of different changes and difficulties in the last few years as a band, and it's kind of all part of one story. The idea of between earth and sky came from the flag of the Roma people (a subgroup in the country of Romania). The top half of the flag is blue and the bottom half is green with a red wagon in the middle, which represents constant travel. It all ties into the life of a musician and how we gain inspiration. A lot of the songs talk about our journey - the highs and lows, the light and the dark.”

Honing its animated live show via its penchant for the rock 'n' roll of the 1960s - the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and the Doors - The Colour had thoroughly found its voice and flair for communal song composition by the time it entered Quad Recording Studios (formerly Quadraphonic) in Nashville to record “Between Earth & Sky.”

“It was a really unique experience because we actually lived there for three months,” said Warkentin. “Our whole lives were wrapped up in that and it was very inspiring being there. It was a holistic kind of thing, it was very different than what we expected, but in a good way. You think of Nashville as a country kind of town, but there is a really cool rock scene there with a lot of different kind of artists. We got a chance to really remove ourselves from our normal environment and I think that had a major impact on how the record came out.”

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