First of all, how does it feel knowing Colors turns 10 this year?

It makes me feel very old. That's always the first thing that comes to mind. I mean, it's awesome that we're still going. I feel like we're still writing music that suits us and represents who we are as a band and as people. We’re very lucky to still be doing what we’re doing. Today is the first day of the tour so we’re diving right in and it’s exciting.



How did you feel when the album came out?

I guess the same way I feel every time our album comes out. Relieved, excited, nervous, etc. All those things always come into play just because, I dunno, you never know how people are gonna dig what you do. We’ve always been a band that kinda tries different things and we try not to repeat ourselves a lot. Especially with Colors, it was kind of a big step up musically from Alaska. We were very confident, but at the same time hoping that our fans would be excited as we are with the music. I’ve never been the kinda guy that has expectations when a record comes out.

We put so much work into each album and so much work into writing and recording. It’s such a great payoff and I still think, no matter how the business has changed, that feeling is always the same. You always get that sense of pride when you’re done; all the hard work is paid off. We just got done recording a new record and I just had that same feeling that I had with Colors just now; really excited about what we had done and proud of what we’re doing. I guess if that ever ends, that when I know it’s probably time to hang it up.



Where do you think the album fits in the band's legacy?

I think it fits where it is. I don’t really think anything more important than anything else as far as what we’ve done. I feel like that definitely is a standout record. I think mainly because it's such a big step from Alaska. It kinda showed the world that things might get even weirder from here. As far as the legacy, I’ve been really proud of how well we represented ourselves in the moment. We’ve always been a very genuine band as far as what we write.

It really represents us as people and as musicians in that time period and I think that each record really represents that. I still feel that way today; everything I listen to, it feels right for the moment. Every musician has things we change but I feel like as records, I’m very proud of everything we’ve done still.

How the band approach writing?

Colors was the first record we locked in as a band. Alaska was the first record with Blake, Dustie, and Dan and we wrote that pretty quick. We were still getting to know each other as people, as writing partners, and all that. It went really well, but I feel like Colors was where we realized that we worked really well together. And I feel like that has to do with the covers record [ed. The Anatomy Of) we did. We’ve always referenced that as an important moment for us. I personally don’t really love the record.

I feel like it was such an important moment for us in the studio. We did so many different kinds of music and we worked together on so many kinds of different music and sounds. It really taught us a lot about what we can do, what we can achieve, how to achieve that in the studio. I think when we came out of that, we really enjoyed playing different styles of music. We really wanted to incorporate that in our own music and it really helped us get creative.

Colors was the first time where we really demoed and recorded a lot before we went into the studio. On Alaska, we kinda recorded on a boombox and I wrote vocals over it and went into the studio and recorded it. Everything was a little quick and less thought out and planned in those days. Colors, I think was the first time we really spent a lot on pre-production and getting songs how we want. Now, we’re very into that; we spend most of the work before we get in the studio. We make sure everything’s how we want and record it before we record it for real. I believe we did that with Alaska as well. If we didn’t, we did a less elaborate version of what we do now.



What inspired the lyrics?

Musically, it’s a concept record. It flows as one piece of music and that was the first time we ever did that. We always kinda kept that in mind when writing. That was very fun for us cause it was so different. We’ve done that quite a bit now but at the time it was very new for us. Anytime you approach something completely new, it’s always kinda scary yet very rewarding in the end. Obviously, now we do it a lot so it worked and we enjoyed doing it. I think that was the first time we felt that that’s the kind of band we were becoming.

Lyrically, it wasn’t a concept. I just treated it song by song kinda how I always did back then. Each song kinda is random thoughts that just popped in my head or things I wanna write about. That hasn’t changed a whole lot. Now I write in more story-form, which I kinda touched on with this record. Especially with like Sun of Nothing, and Prequel to the Sequel. I started kinda writing mini-stories which I did with The Great Misdirect. As far as lyrics, I’ve always been a note-taker, if something that I think is unique pops in my head, interesting to sing about or write about, I’ll jot it down on a piece of paper or notepad. I’ve always kinda had that approach. Most lyrics, I’ve always written after music and I believe Colors was the same way



Do any of the themes touched on the album still hold relevant for you after 10 years?

The storytelling aspect of it; I’m really heavy into that with the band. I’ve always written a lot about our society. It’s crazy, a lot of the stuff that bothered me back then about certain aspects of how humanity works. It still really holds true, and I still feel the same way, especially, Informal Gluttony. It’s tough to think back about lyrics even though I’ve been learning them for this tour, it’s not like I’m diving into the conceptually and trying to figure out what I was talking about. Even on a song like White Walls; that song’s about the love of music. I write about that a lot. I wrote that I believe we when were doing Ozzfest.

I had noticed all these bands kinda changing the way they did things, the way they were on stage, the way they wrote music. They did it to appeal to what they thought an audience wanted. It felt very phony to me. A lot of the bands I thought were doing a routine they seen other bands do in order to become famous. Everyone was on this mission to be rockstars. That’s never really been our thing. We’ve always just done our own thing; White Walls is a lot about that and I still see that to this day. We’ve never been that band. It’s crazy to think that most of those bands that I saw that were like that aren’t even around. I guess the “be true to yourself” motto is still very dear to us and it’s worked. I think most of the lyrics are very relevant to my ideals and the band’s as well.



What were your hopes and expectations for Colors during the writing and recording process?

We honestly didn’t have any. I really don’t have expecations. I’m still not sure if the band does. You always hope that something crazy is gonna happen and all of a sudden, you’re this monster band. We do play pretty dense, heavy, off the wall music. We have no expectations of that being a mainstream thing or something that’s gonna make us all rich. You always hope that happens; who doesn’t? I’m 36 years old, I have a family. I’d love for some record to catch onto a group of people that would never in a million years give us a chance.