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August 04, 2006
Colourmusic - Live @ Hi-Dive, Denver, CO, 7.27.06
Last week I posted about a band out of Oklahoma City called Colourmusic. I first heard of them through a Denver Post article written by music critic Ricardo Baca, who through a twist of fate I've since befriended and can say without hesitation gotten drunk with.* (I will not provide an anecdote on Old Media relevance due to Top Secret Music Blogging policy dictating that although we should be grateful for discovering new music, the official Company Line of disdain towards established Media can never be compromised. Insert boring, self-righteous comment on the divine influence of music blogs here.) This follow up post would then fit perfectly into the tired squabble between Old and New Media if Colourmusic absolutely sucked, but they didn’t, far from it. Colourmusic put on a show that pleased me both sonically and visually. Ya thought I was going to rail against Mass Media, but instead brought the self-importance level for bloggers down a notch. We so crazy!
Before I digress further, let me say that from what I read prior to the show I knew to expect some sort of non-musical performance art complimenting the music. The previously mentioned Post article described a previous Colourmusic show in which the band covered themselves with a canvas-like material and converted the stage into a giant blank slate for an interactive art piece which got created during the performance. The gimmick is open to criticism for being just that, but Colourmusic is not a shitty band gaining notoriety for arty stunts. I honestly don’t think any notoriety is being spread at all, but if momentum builds on their career as a Rock Band it will be due to a focus on the music and not the visuals. Though the right combination seems to work well for that other Oklahoma City band, say it with me, Its All About the Music.
In short, the show was an energetic display of high-octane indie rock mixed with heavy theatrics. Without any pretensions of a miserable looking emaciated band strumming and banging away at their instruments everyone on stage was dressed as a member of a traditional American family. Following the fashion sense of the Leave It To Beaver mold it included the shady uncle (drummer in overalls), the slutty daughter, and even a maid. The “maid” was the guy in the picture above who spent the entire show “ironing” various band shirts. No joke. He got as close to playing guitar as I did and gave hope to all the talentless rockstar wannabes trying to be part of a band. The Ramones proved to the world that you only need three chords to be in a band, but this guy shows that even that is too much. At the end of the show he hung up the shirts to “dry” and my girlfriend improvised herself a role as proverbial bear stealing the apple pie and swiped it off the clothesline. All the ironing made for a perfect fit.
Keep reading for more pictures and a transcribed exchange with a guy in the audience who didn’t understand anything and felt the need to solicit on the spot interviews with me about why I was having a good time.
The following exchange is a conversation I had with a guy at the show who spotted me digging the performance and tapped me on the shoulder for spontaneous field research on what “it” was all about. He introduced himself to me, but I was drinking and forgot his namet. We'll call him Guy.
Guy: Hey man...so do you like these guys?Merry Swankster: Yeah dude, I'm feeling it.**
Guy: Really? I guess I don't get it, they're up on stage dressed in ridiculous clothing and for what? You know, I'm in a band with this guy (introduces me to his buddy and bandmate, I immediately peg him as the bassist, this would not be confirmed). We check out shows all the time to see what people are getting into. I think its important to see what music is attracting crowds.
Merry Swankster: Um...cool. Yeah the outfits are silly, but don't let your eyes fool you. Just listen.***
Guy: I'm not trying to bug you or take away from your show or anything, but you know...its just that..um.. I'm a big Pink Floyd fan and this just seems ridiculous. They never needed any of this stuff (referring to the theatrical family theme that Colourmusic had framed the evening performance around).
Merry Swankster: Maybe, but remember that you are looking back with the benefit of history on your side. In their time, Pink Floyd had plenty of skeptics just like you. In fact lots of people thought it was a bunch of awful noise made by drugged out freaks playing with expensive electronic toys.****
*I do this with everyone I meet for the first time, you have all been warned.
**Translating, "Yeah dude, I'm feeling the music," using Top Secret Music Blogger approved verbiage turns into: I'm enjoying the steady progressive march of Colourmusic’s music. The rhythms are dense and well developed and form a great base for guitar and keyboard interplays. Clearly they are well rehearsed as evidenced by the tight breaks and successful cues
*** Crap. Stop comparing yourself to other bands and get frustrated when you don't get it! Just do your own thing and believe in it and put yourself out there. Innovative artists tend to not dwell on the work of their peers, they dwell on their own.
****Actually…
What was lost on Guy, ironically, was the Music. Guy became turned off on the dramatic aspects of the Colourmusic show and completely ignored what is important. So that happened. I badly wanted to teleport Guy to 1967 so he could see Pink Floyd performing at London acid parties to see if he could tolerate any of these Floyd jams.
September Show:
9.29.06 - The Cowboy Monkey - Champaign, IL
Previously: MS Pick - Colourmusic | Tonight in Denver
//Colourmusic - site
//Colourmusic - MySpace
Tags: Colourmusic, Hi-Dive, Oklahoma City
Posted by Merry Swankster at August 4, 2006 09:30 AM
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