Check out this great interview we held with another Inception PR band, Through Colour! We interview Steve (vocals) and Lee (guitarist), check it out below!
How did the band begin? How long have you been around?
Steve: It’s actually the usual kind of band story, really. Lee and I were each playing in one band, and then we met Shaun (drums) and Jazzy (guitar) through them playing in another band. We always got on; we always spoke about the four of us coming together and doing kind of like a side project. Both of the bands we were in had split up, and we decided to make this side project idea more of a permanent thing. Pretty basic, no really big dramatic story or anything like that (laughs).
You guys released the single for your new song “Daydream”. What was that song written about?
Steve: We are originally from a small town in North Wales, and we decided a few years down the line “you know, there’s not many opportunities for us here”. So we decided to move to Manchester in England, which is about three and a half hours away from Wales. It just kind of stemmed from that, really! It wasn’t so much about that, but we wanted to get out of this small town and make it as a band, basically. We just did it. Personally, I haven’t got a lot of respect for people who just kind of sit around and go “Oh I wish my life was like this, oh I wish I was doing this”. If you want to do something that badly, go and do it. That’s kind of where the lyrics come from. Don’t just say it, do it! Not so much trying to inspire people, but more of my frustration with people saying “Oh I wish I was doing this in my life” without doing anything about it.
A lot of the time, I’ll ask who bands are inspired by, but I know that musical tastes are constantly evolving every day. Who are you guys currently listening to?
Lee: I’d say that right now, I’m listening to a lot of Minus The Bear and Mute Math. Stuff like that! Circa Survive, too.
Steve: At the moment for me, it’s more Bruce Springsteen. Bruce Springsteen never leaves my ears. It’s just constant Springsteen. I’ve been listening to a great band called Scholars. They’re from down south in London; we played with them back in March. They’re so great! They’re one of those bands that you kind of wind them up, and watch them go when they play live. Their energy is crazy!
“Somnium” is set to be released on September 30, and is the first double-EP is a series of EPs you’ll be releasing. What prompted you guys to go the route of releasing a double EP?
Lee: As we were moving up to Manchester, we started writing these songs. It was in the transition stage as we were moving and trying to settle down. The first EP is based around moving away. Then we thought, instead of mixing two things together, we decided to split it into two. When you look at those songs [on the first EP], you notice it has that theme running through it, so we thought “okay, let’s keep these with the first EP”. The second EP is going to based on here and now, how things have changed, and new influences. It just felt right to do it in two parts.
Steve: I think that we wanted to make sure that people knew our story. We wanted to flow quite well as well, rather than a ten to fifteen track album with the songs not flowing well together. We just thought it would flow better from Wales to moving to the big city [Manchester]. It made a lot more sense for us to do it that way.
What does the title “Somnium” mean?
Steve: It’s basically a Latin word for “dream”. We had a few ideas knocking about for what we wanted to call the EP, and they seemed to have this theme of dreaming or some kind of fantasy. We just kind of stumbled across “somnium”. It fit what we were after. We didn’t want anything too long; we wanted one word to capture, but still give it that sort of mystery.
I had another title question: what is the meaning behind the song title “Kids of Cancer”?
Steve: “Kids of Cancer” was about this massive craze in the UK involving all of the newspapers and journalists. All they seemed to be writing about was how every single thing just gave a person cancer. It felt like we were that generation; we were the generation of “you can’t do this, you can’t do that”. To us, it felt like people were living their lives by these sets of rules rather than just getting on with it. It was a dark theme to write about, but it was something that we felt very strongly about. It all comes back to this idea of people living their lives and not doing what they want to do. If you constantly barrage that down peoples’ throats [the news stories], people are going to worry about it constantly. You’ve got to enjoy the time you’ve got here.
You guys released the
music video for “Daydream” on August 12. What would you say was the main
concept behind the video?
Lee: It tells the story of our journey, basically. It’s going from a small place (the village at the start of the video). The girl at the beginning of the video is stuck in a small place and she wants to get away. It’s her journey about going from the little village where she was to the big city. She gets a new flat, and goes straight into work, makes friends. It sticks with the concept, really.
Everybody has a different subject they like to write about when it comes to lyrics. What are some of your favorite things to write about, and what’s your writing process?
Steve: This time around has been really interesting because it’s been the first time we’ve done any kind of co-writing. It’s been really fun to do! With the songs we’ve got at the moment, there’s a lot of similar themes in it. I got to a point where I didn’t want to repeat myself so much though. For example, there’s a song on the EP called “Till The End”. It’s basically the same story, but we mixed it up a bit! Rather than it being about us, I went with the theme of a couple stepping out into the unknown. The idea that as long as they’ve got themselves and they’re together, everything will be okay. In a way, that’s kind of how I felt. When we moved from Wales, we all felt pretty that we weren’t starting again because we’re all best friends.
I like to write about a lot of different things though, I’ve never liked to limit myself just to one thing. We’ve actually written about being here and how our lives have changed. I’m starting to go down the route of going back to Wales and visiting my family and stuff, but I’m starting to notice all of these differences. The town that we grew up in isn’t the same anymore. There’s a lot of people that come in and ruin the town, whether they’re big companies or organizations, or people that are living there now. When you’re walking down the street, you don’t recognize anyone anymore like you used to. A lot of it is about change and growing up. That seems to where we’re at, at the moment.
What kind of message would you like fans to walk away with after listening to your music?
Steve: Hmmm. I want to people realize that (and not in a harsh way) things won’t come to them if they don’t do anything. You’ll have to work for what you want, but it’s not impossible! I’d hate people to be leaving our shows and going “Oh I’m so depressed now” (laughs). I’d like to help people feel positive, and help make them feel happy.
What does music mean to you?
Lee: I spend every day writing music. I get home, and I start writing straight away. I’ve always done it, ever since I was ten years old. It’s everything to me. When I’m in a happy mood, I’ll want to write music. If I’m in a bad or sad mood, I’ll want to write music. No matter what mood it is, it just makes it better.
Steve: I spend eight hours a day in an office. I’m surprised I haven’t been fired (laughs) because I’ve sat there just thinking about melodies, or lyrics, or new ways to push the band. It’s pretty much everything from the moment that I wake up until the moment I get into bed. We’ve been a band for nearly ten years now. I mean, it was pretty much everything to me before we started the band as well because I was so into listening to music and going to see bands play. As soon as the bands started playing, it became this whole new thing for me really. It’s all that I want to do with my life. I don’t really feel great doing anything else. When I’m not writing band related things or lyrics, thinking about where we can take this next, or even concept art for a new album, it just feels like nothing else is in focus.
What are the future plans for Through Colour at this moment?
Lee: We are writing the next EP. It’s mostly written, but we’re perfectionists so we’re going over it over and over again (laughs).
Steve: We’re filming a new video next weekend for another new track called “Lost”. Then it’s just playing shows and getting out there as much as we can! We went out of action, but we spent the last three years writing. We released the previous EP and did a tour for that, and that was about three years ago. We’ve been away since then, and we just want to get back out there. Ideally, we would love to get to this stage where we just do it full time. That’s the dream and the goal. Any shows that get offered to us, we’ll play. Any opportunity that we have to write, we’ll write. Every moment that we’re not in work, we’re constantly working on this band, and I couldn’t be happier about it. It’s going the way that we want it to go, so hopefully it will just keep building upon what we’ve got now.
You can keep up to date on all of the latest music and news from Through Colour at www.facebook.com/throughcolour. The new EP “Somnium” will be available September 30!