Amplified-online Artist of the Month - Living Colour (article)
Welcome back to London, it's been 10 long years since 'Stain' was released!

What's been happening since?

"Thanks it's good to be back! Well after 1994 we've decided to take a short break from the band and do things that we wanted to do but previously didn't have the time. Will went travelling around the world while Doug and Vernon were busy with their own projects...two years ago we finally decided to get back together and see what we could come up with. We are not getting any younger ha ha so we thought we better not waste any more time..."

'Collideoscope' is a very fresh yet dark sounding album - when did the actual writing process start?


"We started writing about two years ago, then we did a short tour and came up with a substantial amount of new material, but for this record we wanted to stay focused and go for a specific type of sound so we had to leave few songs out."

Musically, what would you say were your influences, if any, for this album? Any new bands you've been listening to?

"There's a lot of good stuff out there now, but to be honest I think we mainly influenced each other, as we are all into different things. We would come into the studio and listen to each others' little ideas and songs...we would then take a little bit of this and a bit of that, so it developed into our own unique sound."

You are famous for bringing more intellectual and heavier themes to rock music. Listening to the album it seems to follow the same tradition - lyrically, what was the main inspiration behind it?

"We just looked around at the stuff that's happening around us now, the issues in the world and how it is changing. There are songs on there like 'Great Expectations' and 'Pocket Of Tears' that deal with the fact that world moves on without you and there's not much you can do about it..."

Was September 11th an influence?

"Oh most definitely! It had a very big influence on the mood of the album and the lyrical content."

Back In Black is a very famous rock song, why did you decide to include it on the album?

"We've been playing around with the idea for some time but never got round doing it until now. It's a great rock song and I think with our version it sort of took up a different, more ironic meaning; we sort of made it our own."

Are you pleased with the way the album came out then?

"Yeah we're very proud it! But I don't think it should be looked at as the be all and end all of Living Colour albums. You should take it as an album that just continues on where we left - another piece for the Living Colour collage so to speak. It shows where we are as a band right now..."

How do you see Living Colour fitting in the music scene today?

"well we have never been part of any scene before, we always did our own thing. When we started playing, people tried to categorise us into different groups such as Black
Metal Funk but I don't think you can really do that, as one minute we could be playing funk, next minute it could be hard rock and then who knows? Wherever the musical journey takes us...people should just take us for who we are..."

Was it hard to choose what songs to play on the new tour?

"We tried to balance it out. Obviously we would like to play a fair bit of the new material, but we've also kept in the classic Living Colour songs. It's kinda interesting with Doug being in the band... There are songs that we've never played together live before such as Information Overload and Which way to America that we'll be playing on this tour. Generally we have kept the songs in their original format and only changed few arrangements here and there."

Are you still on good terms with Muzz?

"Yeah very much so, I have actually spoken to him about 7 months ago and he's doing really well and still playing occasionally..."

Any chance of a reunion at some point?

"You never know...we always keep an open mind"

Ok so you've recorded a new album and doing a tour, will this be the end of Living Colour yet again or have you got plans to go on?

"We are in the middle of a European tour right now after which we get few days rest and then do the tour around the States. Then the plan is to go to South America and come back to Europe around March. We're planning to tour this album for a year after which we hopefully get back into the studio and start the whole process again..."

Living Colour never had a live album released before - is there a chance we get to see or hear one in the near future?

"Yeah, we'll be making a live DVD with our best stuff in the very near future, hopefully next year featuring footage from our current tour... We are trying to compile something that will represent the band and the music that we have created over the years..."

Any messages you would like to give to the Living Colour fans?

"Thanks for being out there and just come down and check us out!"
(20-10-03 By Lenny Kalcic)