The Living Colour Interview

After a break of 10 years Living Colour return with a new album. In this interview singer Corey Glover talks about 9.11, being influential, fear and black rock bands.

Robert Pally: Obvious question: Why did Living Colour reform?

Corey Glover: Because we thought it was time. Its always been something that a sort of hang over our heads, the idea of Living Colour. And what Living Colour meant to people and what it meant to us. So we had to address that in some way. We did it and it turned better than we expected it to be.

RP: "Collideoscope" is a mixture of many styles. There is rock, funk, jazz, reggae, drum'n'bass. I read somewhere you split up because you couldn't agree on the musical direction. The new album sounds like a mixture of Living Colour & the solo work from the single members.

CG: I think that is what we did on our last record "Times up". "Staind" was like that too.

RP: I agree, but "Collideoscope" is more diverse.

CG: We didn't break up because we couldn't find a musical direction. We broke up because we couldn't speak to one and another. That was it more than anything else. We couldn't communicate on musical ideas to one an other. Which made it difficult to do this kind of music. Because there are so many styles and there are so many things we want to say. Personally I think it was necessary for us to take a break. We needed to explore our own ideas. And figure out what was happening with us. And take our own musical steps on our own. In that time Will and Doug I have never stop playing together. Vernon went out to explore his musical life. I went out an had a solo career. I tried to make sense of my myself. So when I came back to this whole it would be a little more concise, a lot more concise.

RP: How important is Living Colour for the band? Considering that all of you are involved in other projects?

CG:. Living Colour is our collective voice. It is our collective experiences. Our individual experiences / voices are something slightly different. They are not what Living Colour is. This is at my estimation a little more powerful because it is a combination of voices and ideas. At this point Living Colour is our main gig / thing. This is the gig that sustains us at this point. That doesn't mean that we are going to stop. As a matter of fact when we get back we gonna tour the States. After that Will and Doug will come back here to Europe and tour with Head Fake. Vernon will go out and do some stuff on his own and with DJ Logic. And I am going to do some stuff with my band. What is different now is that we gonna make a concerned effort not to let our lives individual, personal and collective interfere with each other.

RP:. "Collideoscope" doesn't sound like safe playing. Was it a conscious thing to leave out the poppy side of your old albums?

CG:. No, we are not a Pop-Metal band.

RP: But you had songs like that. For example "Ignorance is bliss", "Leave it alone", "Nothingness", "Someone like you" or "Ology".

CG: We could have done songs like that but that wouldn't have been us. "Times up" for example has a songs on it like "Times up" or "Information overload". Also has "Love rears its ugly head" which is obviously a sort of bluesy R'n'B thing. It has "Elvis is dead" which a sort of an homage to James Brown. We are not a Pop-Metal band. We never were. We are a Hardrock band.

RP: What you do now is more diverse, experimental and raw compared to earlier material. For example I don't see a single

CG: If you listen to a System Of A Down record you probably wouldn't hear a single either. The same with the albums of POD. Pop music is what people make of it. Pop stands for popular music. What people dig and what people don't dig. We always had a hard road to home. We fought hard for our audience. When people heard "Vivid" they thought that it doesn't make any sense. For the time, it was 1989, it was different. Same thing with "Times up" and "Staind". Its has always been slow burn with us. And I am sure this time it's the same. We were never a band that people immediately loved.

RP: It is written that you paved the way for bands like Rage Against The Machine, Sevendust and others. Where do you actually see your influences today?

CG: For me we are a part of a long line of bands that go way back to the beginning of rock music. We came on the heels of P-Funk, Mothers Finest and obviously the Band Brains (now Soul Brains). We came along, Fishbone came along, 24-7 Spyz came along and Pantera came along. We are part of continuum. It's a line. We wouldn't be here if P-Funk wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be here if Red Hot Chilli Peppers were not here. We are a part of a line that continues on with Sevendust, Rage Against The Machine, POD, Incubus and other bands. We were not the first to start it and definitely won't be the last.

RP: Many young people that listen to music now will not go further back than maybe you. And they say, well this band must be influenced by you. They don't see that there is Jimi Hendrix or even further back, Link Wray.

CG:. There is a whole bunch of people that you can go back to. People only see things that go back 10 to 15 years. If you look back 30 years you will see where we came from.

RP: 11. of September is important topic on "Collideoscope". What has this terrorist attack changed in Living Colour?

CG: Its not really as much about 11. of September than it is about 10. of September, 12. of September or the 13. of September. It's the day before and the day after. That day has its own singularity. We are talking about the days, years, decades and millennium after that. Those are our concerns. 11. of September happened, its gone. The effects from that day are still influencing the world. Its almost like that was our welcoming into the new millennium. We are dealing more with that than anything else. Since then we live in a constant state of apprehension and fear because of how somebody looks like. We have been told that there is something over there that is gonna get you. And that it is gonna get you if you stay here too. To get ride of that you have to look inside yourself and say: I don't live in that place and I don't feel that way. I don't feel that I have to fear that place. That fears is an internal organism, not an external one. If you deal with it that way you transcend a lot of that stuff. We are trying to tell the people: yeah, they are watching you. Ultimately, what is it gonna do? A song like "A ? of when" talks about the fear. A song like "Pocket of tears" says that tomorrow is not promised to you. The sun is gonna shine, its gonna rain on a rainy day, its gonna be cold in the winter time. Either you are here or not here. So you might as well keep going. You are gonna be here whether you are black, white, yellow or brown….just keep going.

RP: You are covering "Back in Black" by AC-DC. The Australian band is pretty sexist. Something that really does not fit into the world of Living Colour. Was there irony involved when you decided to cover it?

CG: Obviously there is some irony in it. Just think of the title "Back in black". We are happen to be black. There are mentions about lynching in the song. Of course it's a little tongue and cheek but we always thought about this song. We first had the idea to cover it when we put out the EP "Biscuits".

RP: Is the Black Rock Coalition still active or reactivated?

CG: They have never stopped. They are doing a lot more stuff locally. Within the context of helping local bands, doing seminars and educating local musicians on what is going on in that community. If would suggest that you go to the website but unfortunately it is down. It will be re launched soon.

RP: It is still not very common for a black band to play rock. Black people are still connected to styles like Hip Hop or R'n'B.

CG: That is not true. There are lots of black artist playing Rock music.

RP: Maybe in the US but not here in Europe.

CG: (smiles) There are many more bands here in Europe.

RP: I tell you a story that the English singer Roachford once told me. He was in America on a record company party. A guy from a label asked him what kind of music he plays. He said: I play rock music. The guy said then: You will never make it. As a black artist you have to play Rap or R'n'B.
And how many known black rock bands are there? Bad Brains, Fishbone, 24-7 Spys, Mothers Finest and you. Not more.

CG: It's a process. What we are trying to get to really is a point were race is not a issue. Unfortunately, race is still an issue in almost anything. We are trying to get to a point where it doesn't matter. Where it is about context. But there are tons of bands out there. I mentioned POD or Pantera. Both have colored members. The issue of race often clouds the issue of content. We want the people to talk about the song or the music. This issues of race are irrelevant in emotional content of where it comes from. Their experiences based on their particular ethic background doesn't affect how they deal with it. Its funny that they don't bring that up when they talk about Carlos Santana. He is a rock artist. His beginnings in Mexico are not relevant in the context of him because its gone beyond that idea. We raised that issue almost 13 years and people are still talking about it. Living Colour has stopped talking about it long ago.

www.livingcolour.com

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