As summer draws to a close, the festivals start packing up their giant marquees that hosted countless memorable performances over the last month or so, it is time for us to draw our attention to a band that we think have what it takes to be performing at the larger festivals in the future. So please welcome our Band of the Month for September, Colours Of One.
Their debut "Mini" album "Bad News Makes Big Noise" got a maximum 13 out of 13 by our own Jenni Wallace when reviewed last year and their live shows have been getting the maximum score too. In other words it is about time we all checked out the boys from Bridgend, who kindly answered our questions:
Bio:
Formed early 2008 in the suburbs of Bridgend, South Wales, initially under the name 'Evil I', Colours Of One are steadily carving a reputation for themselves as one of the UK's most exciting underground talents, with their brand of exciting alternative rock.
Colours of One have toured the length and breadth of the UK, playing many famous stages (including Manchester Academy, London's 100 Club, Cardiff's International Arena...) and have had the privilege of sharing the stage with some of the best talent the UK has to offer - including Attack! Attack!, Tiger Please, Straight Lines, Starseed.
In 2010 the band released a mini-album entitled "Bad News Makes Big Noise" through their own label Rogues Gallery Records, which received critical endorsement from the likes of Rocksound, Classic Rock, Power Play and Room Thirteen to name but a few. Tracks from this EP were selected for airplay on BBC Radio One, XFM, Planet Rock, Total Rock and a myriad of regional and internet stations. In December "BNMBN" was identified by BBC Music as one of the top 10 Welsh records of the year.
With much of 2011 spent writing and demoing new material, Colours Of One are readying themselves for the release of a lot of brand new material... Watch this space.
Members:
Rhys Hart (guitars, vocals)
Paul Jones (drums)
Mike Simmonds (vocals)
Miff Tuck (guitars, vocals)
Influences:
Pearl Jam
Incubus
Soundgarden
Jimmy Eat World
Foo Fighters
Dopamine
Sounds Like:
Melodic and imaginative alternative rock, with the vocal bellows reminiscent of early 90's grunge.
Current release and where it's available:
Our Mini-Album "Bad News Makes Big Noise" is available to download from iTunes, AmazonMP3 or Spotify. Alternatively you can bag a physical copy from our webstore, HMV or some independent retailers.
Up and coming artists you would recommend:
Kyshera, an out of this world alternative rock band. Outstanding live and have a brilliant imagination when it comes to writing songs. Their album Paradigm has been blowing me away for the last couple of months.
Also, I'd recommend checking out a band called Caesars Rome. They're from the same sleepy town in South Wales as us. They'll be releasing a new single soon called 'Earth From Space'.
Future Plans:
We've spent a lot of time this year writing and demoing new material, so we're currently gearing up for the release of a couple of new singles, which will lead us up to the release of a full length album.
Tour Dates:
September
2, h'AMP'fest, Llandrindod Wells
17, Soundtracks Festival, London
18, Solus, Cardiff (with Attack! Attack!)
25, Gwdihw, Cardiff (acoustic show)
October
6, The Crown, Birmingham
7, The Rec, Bridgend
14, The Golden Fleece, Chelmsford
15, Redrooms, Tunbridge Wells
November
18, 229, London
25, The Witchwood, Manchester
26, Frog & Nightgown, Worksop
December
2, Workman's Hall, Blaengarw
3, Carpe Diem, Leeds
10, Holyhead Town Hall, Holyhead.
If you were the prime minister for one day, what would you do:
One day wouldn't be enough! Probably really boring stuff like force banks to separate their high street operations from their investment divisions, so that we could allow them to fail next time. Invest heavily in Charities like Youth At Risk that help disaffected youths find their way, and pay for it out of an 'Altruism Fund' that I would ask premier league football players among others to voluntarily contribute to. Remove the bias in schools from academic subjects and emphasise the value of vocational skills. And ban the sale of meat, eggs and dairy produced from factory farms.
If you could go back to any time in history, where would you go and why:
Last Friday. So that we could pick the winning numbers of the Euro Millions - we'd never have to worry about the cost of recording/touring/music videos/manufacturing CDs & merchandise again.
Here is a little taster of the band in action with their track 'Leech'.