Without a doubt Colours of One are a band to watch. The are five highly talented, down to earth, Welshmen who share a love of music and a real appreciation of their fans and fellow bands.
While in London for a gig at The Purple Turtle, frontman Michael Simmonds took a break from setting up to have a chat about their background and their plans for 2011 and beyond.
R13: Mike, thanks for taking the time to chat, tell me a bit about how Colours of One came together
MS: A long time ago in a land far far away, myself and Miff the guitar player started a band and that's the earliest incarnation of this band. It's not this band, we went through different drummers, guitarists and bass players along the way we found Paul our drummer who was the boyfriend of one of our friends from school, and then we found Rhys who's the other guitar player who was in school with us as well and then we advertised for a bass player and we found Chris via the magic that is MySpace.
R13: and where did the name come from?
MS:We originally called ourselves Evil I, as in the letter i. We decided to change our name when we were recording our EP 'Bad News Makes Big Noise', people's general reaction [to the original name] was 'oh really screamy heavy stuff', and it's not, it's rocking but not that; we felt that we needed a name that more represented ourselves so we [had to] change it.
Part of the rock n roll mindset is a big fuck you to everything and going against the grain so if people are saying no I don't really get it well part of the natural instinct is to say 'we're rock and roll and we'll do it our way'. But that's cutting off your nose to spite your face so to speak isn't it!
So we changed it, we went through loads of band names, we're very argumentative between the five of us. We settled on Colours of One which is from an Incubus lyric, one of the few bands we all like!
I didn't like it originally, I thought it was too effeminate, which is funny because when you typed in colorsofone.com, spelt the American way, it [used to be] a gay pride colothing range, which is brilliant, that's our next target demographic in there! I quite love [the name] now.
R13: Now, if I'm honest, the five of you look more like a poppy rock boyband than the portayers of quality grunge/hard rock; how did that happen!?
MS: What drew me to that sort of music, personally, was the singers that sang it. My favourite singer is Chris Cornell, and Eddie Vedder, and I taught myself to sing. I used to go home from school early every Thursday, stick on an Audioslave CD and just try to sound as much like Chris Cornell as I possibly could, it's something in their voices that really connected with me. Music is more than just the singers and so you get involved in the whole package. If you're learning guitar as well, it's kind of the cool stuff to play. No one wants to go in there and play the Spice Girls! There's nothing wrong with the Spice Girls, but it's nothing you can show off to your mates and say 'look what I learnt'.
R13: There tends to be an assumption made about a band based on how they look, at your gigs there's generally a 'whoa they don't sound like they look' factor; how do you react to that?
MS: I quite like that honestly, I personally probably get it more than anyone else, I've got a strong vocal and look... another reviewer called it like an Andrex puppy, sort of soft round the edges!
If you've seen us, we're like that as people very mild mannered, friendly, polite people, early for shows, we really are not rock stars. The thing with rock music is that anyone can enjoy it, I quietly enjoy the reaction you get from people, you do see that in people's faces, [they see us] and it's 'oh I'm not sure about this' then we come out all guns blazing.
R13: You're Welsh and it seems there's a plethora of great bands out of there right now, how does that affect you?
MS: It's quite tough really, there are a lot of bands that know each other and have played a lot of gigs together, but we're kind of edging our way in there. There are some really cool bands that I really like, like Tiger Please and Straight Lines and they're related! It seems to be one family, the Campbell family, who are in all the bands, I need to get a Campbell in my band! I'm quite proud of the Welsh music scene; we've played with a lot of the bands and it's great sharing the stage with them, we kind of want to be more friends with them and play more shows with them!
R13: So what are the plans for this year?
MS:This year it's very much step it up a notch, we're planning on releasing a series of singles and more extensive touring. Last year we were a bit [apprehensive] about touring, thinking who was going to come and see us in Leeds, or who are going to come and see us in this place. But touring makes you a better band, it strengthens your music and strengthens the relationship between you. We're also planning to release an album at the end of the year. The first single will be 'Carty & Brown', released 2nd of May [then] it's all about momentum.
R13: Can we expect you at the festivals?
MS: We're talking to some of the smaller festivals, so we'll see. As long as we're out there, as long as we're playing gigs somewhere, that's good.
R13: If you could tour with anyone who would it be?
MS: My favourite bands, one of my posibly favourite bands of all time is a band from South Wales called Tiger Please, they're a lot softer than us but I think their songsmanship is amazing; great lyrics, pwerful vocals, intricate guitar. I'd LOVE to go on a tour with them. Also Starseed, we've played with a lot of bands in our time and some of them are so arrogant while playing the same little pubs we are; but not Starseed, we've met and have played with them, they know how to write a good rock song. Their vocalist is arguably the best rock vocalist at that level, he's flawless like, then off stage just really nice guys, very down to earth.
Oh Soundgarden have reformed, I'm not sure we've very much hope, but you never know. I should tweet him - Mr Cornell, big fan of yours let me play with your band!
R13: Chris Cornell... here's your opening act!
MS: The British music scene is huge at the moment, which is great, especially if you're a fan, but it makes it harder to stand out, you're saying 'look at me look at me'. But I am a music fan and it's good, I like Young Guns, I like Kyshera. There's a lot of good music around.
R13: Thanks Mike, before we finish is there anything you'd like to say to people about your music?
MS: That's a hard question! I think British people generally are self depricating and we don't like to say we're really good, even if we think we're alright! You can't tell people we think we're good, they'll think we're assholes.
R13: You're too nice to answer the question! You need to toughen up!
MS: Yes! I think we have a massive appreciation for anyone who comes to see us. You play so many gigs where there's only a few people in the club, and those people have each paid a decent whack to see a band that is often unknown. We really do appreciate that and we always try to get out and talk to them.
R13: So fans, make sure you say hi to the boys at a gig!
If you like your grunge/hard rock or just good music in general then keep an eye out for Colours of One and make sure you pick up their 'Carty & Brown' in May.