By Brent Thompson
Photo Credit: Travis Shinn
When Living Colour burst onto the scene with its 1988 debut release, Vivid, the band made stylistic, visual, cultural and political impressions on the record-buying public. Riding the wave of its Grammy-winning single “Cult of Personality,” the quartet was named Best New Artist at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. Following a five-year hiatus, the band reformed in 2000 and released its latest album, Shade [MRI Records], earlier this year. On Wednesday, November 8, Living Colour – Corey Glover, Vernon Reid, Will Calhoun and Doug Wimbish – will return to Birmingham to perform at Iron City. Recently, drummer Calhoun spoke to us by phone from the band’s tour stop in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
Birmingham Stages: Will, thanks for your time. If you will, talk about the creation of Shade.
Will Calhoun: It started with the 100th anniversary of Robert Johnson at The Apollo [Theater]. We were all in different places and we flew in for that event. It was a celebrity event with different artists. We got together in the dressing room and we had two or three songs to choose from and we chose “Preachin’ Blues.” Corey went out there and sung his ass off and we got a standing ovation. We went back to the drawing board, realizing that we wanted to approach the Shade record with a Blues tinge to it. We wanted a deconstruction of the Blues, but sort of a reinvestment in it as well and that was the impetus that started the snowball that left the mountain. We cut grooves and stopped and reassembled them and put lyrics on there and created some songs.
Birmingham Stages: Each person in the band is involved in outside projects. Is that a challenge when it comes to writing songs for Living Colour?
WC: Actually, it works the opposite way. Songwriting isn’t a problem because one of the really beautiful things about being in this band is we bring all these things back from side projects. The outside projects don’t get in the way – they allow us to bring new recipes to the restaurant. It’s very important that we have that time invested in the four of us being in the kitchen. We can’t do it any other way in my opinion. Living Colour as a group results from the four of us hammering things out and being very hard on ourselves. That’s when Living Colour is at its best.
Birmingham Stages: You’re a schooled musician with a degree from Berklee College of Music. If you will, talk about your formal musical education and how it translates to your career today.
WC: I was a fan of studio recordings and I was a session musician when I got out of Berklee. It was very important for me to study and learn my instrument and percussion and sight-reading. I took a film writing course because writing for film is not about your ego and it taught me how to deal with subject matter. You were given a romantic scene, a murder scene and a divorce scene and you had to write the music. It was a challenge to learn how to separate from myself and do more subject matter writing. So these things were all very helpful to me when I met Vernon, Corey and [former bassist] Muzz [Skillings]. I felt like I had a little bit of experience in leaving my ego and emotion out. It was very helpful.
Birmingham Stages: How would you size up the musical climate these days? Some artists say the accessibility via technology is beneficial and others say that technology creates its own set of problems.
WC: I’ll be at the 50-yard line on that one – I think it’s a little bit of both. I think there is a lot of opportunity to get the music out but you don’t get paid for it – that’s horrifying for an artist, a painter or a writer. You can download a book off the Internet for free – that’s somebody’s story and time. Technology is designed so we can connect directly with our fan base and that aspect of it I think is fantastic. I think we‘re still in the black hole. We’re still searching but having it free has a very damaging effect on the artist. I’m not 100 percent on either side. It’s a great time and it’s also a painful time.
Birmingham Stages: Your band has existed for more than 30 years. How does a song stay fresh to you after you’ve literally performed it thousands of times?
WC: That’s a really great question and it’s a really simple answer – I love the music. It’s not a job for me and I don’t take the music or my fellow band mates for granted. It’s a very serious thing for me and it’s very emotional. I think the improvisational side of Living Colour is what keeps the flames hot. Sometimes we do it as a band and sometimes we do it individually to keep things in check. The hamburger can still be served – we just change the bread.
Living Colour will perform at Iron City on Wednesday, November 8. Reserved seated tickets are $31 and general admission standing tickets are $21. Doors to the all-ages show open at 7 p.m. and showtime is 8 p.m. For tickets visit www.ironcitybham.com.