COLOUR & SHADE // Prism Kings

It’s so often that you hear about that good local band that has heaps of potential, but sometimes where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

Such seems to be the case with new Melbourne post-hardcore outfit Colour & Shade. Fusing the hooky structures of A Day To Remember with the haunting melodies of Balance & Composure, the outfit’s debut single Composure has been receiving love on website, airwaves and playlists around Australia.

Written about front man Zak Knight’s substance abuse and subsequent deconstruction and rebuilding of life, Composure is the first taste of an eventual full-length LP set to surface in 2018. We caught a few moments with Zak to discuss the background of the record, as well as what the band hopes to achieve on the touring circuit, and what Colour & Shade have to offer to the curious listener.

HYSTERIA: Where am I catching you now?

Zak: I’m just on my way to a meeting to organise some stuff around our album release. It’ll mostly be chats about touring, but we’ve also got some cool concepts and artwork ideas that we are thinking of doing, in addition to some other visual stuff aside from the record. Not enough bands do that today, but we love it so it’ll be really cool.

What’s the inspiration for the concepts? Are there any themes?

It came about because I wrote all the music for it and got my singer on board (who does all the clean vocals), and the lyrical content is based around personal experiences at my end. Tim is also very community driven, so he wanted to spread the message that we weren’t just dudes who wanted to play music; we’re approachable as well. We aren’t super young, so we wanna be a band that people can feel comfortable approaching us and look to for help.

What sort of experiences are we talking here?

In the past I used to have problems with substance abuse, and it had some very negative effects in my life. About three years ago I had a really extreme experience which was a turning point for me and challenged me to change my life, so it was easy for me to go “I can either continue down this path and have no friends, or I can actually focus on getting better and through it all.” I figured that a way to do that aside from the conventional things was to express that in music. It’s strange because through writing the songs I was able to achieve that; nothing to do with the vocals. When I write a riff or a fill or whatever, it’s an emotional thing, I don’t just think ‘That’s a cool riff.’ I’d always been a songwriter in past bands, so I figured this would be my last crack at trying to do music decently. We auditioned Tim initially as a guitar player but then we found out he could sing, so we convinced him to change.

How long did you spend on these tunes in that early recovery period?

I have been writing these since 2014. We finished recording them at the end of last year, so it was a really long process. This is what happens when you make a lot of music as opposed to just doing one or two songs. It takes awhile if you do it right, so I figured ‘why not?’

We’re not re-inventing the wheel. I’m not Prince! I think though that we have some great music. I think most importantly is that we just want people to give it a chance and open to the idea that what is going on now has lots of styles, and it’d be nice if there was more being embraced, especially with experimentation.
[ZAK]

What strategies do you have with touring given you’re an independent band? How are you navigating the financial risk?

A couple of us have been in bands before, so the way we approach shows is that I’m very familiar with booking around Melbourne because I used to work for the company that takes care of Prog Fest. I’m good friends with Tim Charles from Ne Obliviscaris, and for four years I was the main event manager for all the Welkin Entertainment shows. I end up playing hardcore, but I’m way more familiar with the metal world. The biggest thing for me is that the reality is, it doesn’t matter how good the content is. If you’re brand new to the industry, you’re in the same bucket as everybody else for at least the first 12 months. I really hope people see the band for what we are. Which is that we’ve put a lot of time and effort into this. We want to have a bit of an impact, because there are so many different bands out there creating good music, but they aren’t trying to do what hasn’t already been done. When you get a chance to listen to our record, even though we don’t sound like our main influence, being A Day To Remember, like them we refuse to stick to one style, with four or five different styles. We want to try and do things different.

We’re not re-inventing the wheel. I’m not Prince! I think though that we have some great music. I think most importantly is that we just want people to give it a chance and open to the idea that what is going on now has lots of styles, and it’d be nice if there was more being embraced, especially with experimentation.

Composure has already had a massive impact as a debut online. If this is the final crack, how did that reception fit your goals, and what sort of a timeline has the band got?

I think the biggest thing is get out there and start touring, even just off Composure, and eventually off the album as well. I’d love to get to a point where we can tour around Australia and get some international supports, and then go overseas. It’s so unbelievably hard to break out of Australia. We’ve got one of the hardest touring brackets of a first world country because we are so far away from everybody. Perth, for example, is the most isolated capital in the world. For us to get overseas would be the first major, major goal. To be realistic, that’d be 12-18 months of hard work. I’d love to do that earlier, but I’m just being realistic. Nothing comes for free.