Profiling people that are working/living/breathing music in Chicago, we’re chatting with Secret Colours.
The Chicago quintet bring a vibrant mix of psychedelic-newgaze-garage rock. Tommy Evans (Vox, Guitar), Dave Stach (Guitar/Backing Vox), Dylan Olson (Bass), Justin Frederick (Drums) and Margaret Albright (Keys/Tambourine, Backing Vox) released their debut self-titled LP this past summer and have been generating a deafening buzz amongst local bloggers since.
Earlier this week they released the single “In The Absence” and it’s B-Side “Carry My Soul” on their BandCamp page and the band promises to make it available as a free download when they reach 1000 fans on their Facebook page. At the time of this post they were at 995 so let’s make it happen!
Tommy was kind enough to answer my questions for “5 With…” whilst under the influence of a favorite herbal remedy – allegedly.
1. The album was released earlier this year – so how was your summer?
Amazing, how was yours?
2. We always ask for the band’s history in their own words.
Well, I had a bunch of songs that I had written and recorded in my apartment and I wanted to play them live, but I didn’t have a band. One night Dave came over to my place to have a few drinks and I showed him a few of the songs he said he would be down for starting a band. Soon after I asked Dylan to join cause we’ve been jamming together since early high school. We tried a few other of our friends in the band but nothing really seemed to work well until we asked our friend Justin to play drums. It was the four of us for about a month, and then I asked my long time girlfriend, Margaret, to sing on a few songs. Shortly after that she joined the band.
3. The album has heavy psychadelic and 70′s rock sounds – who have been the band’s biggest musical influences.
We actually draw pretty heavily from more contemporary bands such as Blur, The Stones Roses, Spacemen 3, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols, The Warlocks, and The Black Angels. But we also dig on older groups such as The Pretty Things, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Pink Floyd.
4. As someone who is fascinated with the craft of songwriting, I’m curious about each band’s process for songwriting – explain yours; does someone come in with lyrics or a hook or riff, is it more of a collaborative effort?
I wrote most of the songs off the first album. Some of them already had all the parts written out, and some of them were more of a collaborative effort between all the members. Lately, for our new tunes, we have been working very well as a collective.
5. What’s in store for the band for the rest of 2010? Any plans to tour? What’s in store for 2011?
We’re going to continue playing shows, recording songs at our home studio, and work on getting our name out there more. We’ll be doing little tours throughout. We’re beginning to write for our second album, which we’ll be recording in the summer of 2011, and hopefully we’ll get a nice tour going for when we finish up in the studio.
Secret Colours will be on the bill with Calm Palm Vapor at SubT on Friday, November 12 for what is looking to be an awesome show. You can also hear Secret Colours this Sunday (Nov. 7) on 93XRT’s Local Anesthetic. Be sure to “like” them on Facebook and catch them live in the coming months.
