The Color Blew

Alternative Rock band “The Color Blew” was formed in 2013 by members Liaan Horton, Marius “George” Cronje and Armando “Stix” Santos, and last year was joined by guitarist Timothy James.

Their first single entitled “Colors” features driving beats with nostalgic flavored electric melodies.

This is a group of guys, who share a passion for music and are here to add a bit of colour to the rock scene.

How did ‘The Color Blew’ begin?

Liaan:

“We were all playing in different bands and all met through a mutual friend. I had written a couple of songs that I had always wanted to record, but I needed the right kind of bass player and drummer. We all spoke and started playing together. We decided that we enjoyed jamming together. At that time the other bands that we were in, decided to take a break, and we decided to form this group. Thus The Color Blew was born; that was about two years ago.”

“In our first year, wrote our songs and tried to hone our sound. Now we are trying to get out there and play. Timothy James joined us last year December as a guitarist, to thicken our sound, so that is where we are at the moment.”

Where did the name The Color Blew come from?

Liaan:

“We were at the studio one night, talking about band names and we came up with this one. Armando suggested we change the spelling of colour and then to use that play on words of blue, but as blew. It creates a nice picture for the band.”

Armando:

“We threw around potential band names, and we all seemed to have the same sentiment, where we saw colours being a feature of the band.”

You all come from different music backgrounds, how did you decide on the sound of the band?

Marius:

“We actually didn’t really decide on the sound of the band, it just happened.”

Armando:

“Having played with many bands, what is always amazing, is the type of music you are around at the time and who you connect with, often influences who you play with. Marius and I were in a band called ‘Equils’, which meant that all of the influences of all the band members merged together to create that particular sound of that band. When we all as The Color Blew got together, we all just jammed along with each other and we all picked up certain telepathic interpretations, and so the sound just automatically developed. We just liked what collectively was coming through. There is also a belief amongst us that the sound we create must be something we enjoy. It is an extension of who we are.”

First single – Colors – tell me about that song?

Liaan:

“Colors was the first song that we played together as a band. We all agree that it has such a great riff and it’s very neutral. We get such a good response playing it live. We thought it would be a great entry point for the band and it felt right. That is the first one that came out. Colors is about dreaming in colours and quite straight forward.”

“Our second single is called The Color Blew – it is quite funny that we have two colour songs in a row. The riff of ‘Colors’ was written when I was 18 years old.

We all enjoy the song. That’s another rule we have in the band – we don’t want to play something that either of the members don’t enjoy – everyone in the band has to enjoy the music.”

Armando:

“When we got together ‘Colors’ was the first song that Liaan brought along. The sound we have in ‘Colors’ is the original composition. It is a special song because that was the first song we learned as this new entity.”

Going forward – tell me about the album?

Liaan:

“What we did in the first year is that we wrote music as a band then we went out to record – we have our own studio. So we have 12 tracks recorded but we decided not to release the full album in one go. We want to release the songs individually to see how people respond. All of these songs will be on the full album. By the end of the year we will release the full album. I think we will release about 4 more singles and then do the full album release. We are also going to start writing new material in the middle of the year. Now we are aiming at building a fan base and following.”

When you start a band, you become a family – so I want to hear the dirt.

Are there any weird things that any of the members do?

Tim:

“We did a tour and every night on the tour Armando would only sleep in briefs. And he always took the top bunk. So every morning would wake up and that is what we would see.”

Who is the organized one in the group, the father type in the group?

Tim: “Armando”.

The ‘child’ of the group?

Tim:

“Liaan, he is always late. The studio is at his house and yet he is always late.

Liaan: “In my defence; time is irrelevant. I don’t want to be bound by the chains of time.”

Armando: “I normally keep these guys on the straight and narrow and that is because I come from a corporate environment and that is probably my corporate side. They need that. Collectively we achieve a lot and we have great fun.”