Three Cheers - Colours | VICE MUSIC BLOG

Three Cheers - Colours

In 2007, Bournemouth was apparently the happiest place in Britain. However, by 2008, it had fallen to number 152. While trying to find out what had happened to make those twelve months so cataclysmic for the town, I stumbled across Colours. They are Leon Diaper and Jon Lawrence, who together are an awesome dream-pop band stuck in a moody town. Leon answered a few questions, plus sent us an MP3 so that you can have a listen.

Three Colours: What inspired you to start Colours?
Leon Diaper: We’ve been playing in bands together for quite a few years. It got to the point where it was only really the two of us who were willing to commit to something; we’ve lost members due to people moving away, mental girlfriends, and a lack of interest. We really love the whole process of writing, recording, and playing shows as much as we can in between shitty jobs and going to uni.

Which bands have had a big influence on the music you make.
They’re fairly obvious, probably. My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Black Tambourine, Dinosaur Jr., a lot of late 80s/early 90s bands. In terms of recent music, it’d be Lotus Plaza, Ganglians, Real Estate, a lot of the Woodsist bands.

There’s a ton of new UK bands with a noisy, lo-fi aesthetic at the moment, especially in London. What’s your view on this DIY explosion?
The whole DIY explosion seems like a very positive thing from what we’ve experienced. It’s a lot of bands hanging out, playing shows, and putting out each other’s records. Being from Bournemouth we’re not really in the loop so much, however the shows we’ve played up in London have been really great. Teen Sheikhs are lovely guys and Trash Kit are really cool. Brighton seems to have some cool things going on, however we are yet to play there.

Male Bonding has just signed to Sub Pop! What would be the dream label you’d like to sign to?
I think at this point our dream label would be anyone who wants to put out our music. One of our goals has always been to put out a 7″, so for that to be realised would be a reward within itself regardless of who puts it out. That being said, we wouldn’t just sign to any old label. I guess we haven’t given it much thought at this point. I’d say Slumberland, as we’ve been described as dream pop so that seems quite fitting. That and the fact that Black Tambourine were with them.

What was your first band called?
It was a weird mix of NOFX, Deftones and Nirvana covers. I really can’t remember the name but I’m sure it was god-awful.

You mainly have pictures of burgers in your MySpace photos, what’s your ideal burger?
Jon’s is two plain double cheeseburgers from McDonald’s – can’t beat the price. And mine is the same but definitely not plain.

What’s next for Colours?
We’re just putting our first recordings on to tape at the moment, so they will be available to the world very, very soon on orange tape. We’re going to record some more at the end of the summer, which we’ll probably put out on tape also. We have an Upset the Rhythm show coming up with Crocodiles, which we are pretty excited about. I guess we will carry on and play as many shows as we can and put out our own stuff until we get lucky enough for some one to put us out.

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THREE CHEERS