Uvlng Colour vocalist Corey Glover puts his exuberant melodies to a new sound on Stain.
Ti\ t<i paint I ivinn * olour in
hruad sliokrs alternative,
n« k. ja//, blurs, house mnal,
tuuk — and you’ve unwed the
point Sinte 1‘thH, living
( x ill mi I lav I xt u i it tci inn mil'll a 11\ disrtse
levoidv to a puhlu and an industry dial
thrive on and wain lot i lavwfii a in m and
titles ( inns have liailed the \ev» \oik
< uv foursome toi ils lusion ot styles
tailing undei no genie Inn treking ol
mam
Mill, loi I iving ( oloin lionlman and
soli amt wx alist Cotes (»lo\ei, sornellllies
Ix-mg m 1 iwng < adorn is like Ixmg a i ast
assay on the island ot inistii loss
Sometimes you jnsl want to fit in
" I he iMisilion we weir in during the first
I ollapalix >/a a 11 tuple seats agi i was a dilli
i tilt one," savx (ilosei. who with Ills shun,
reddish hail, plain giav sweats and
11 onset s is a shat p i on nasi to the long
lot ked. loloitlills diessrd. prosoiatlvr
|K‘riotmet he vsas two seats ago lie s m a
nudtown Manhattan ottiie to look over
the rough i uis ot Ins group s ness video,
“leave It Alone “ 1 he uptieat romp is the
fust single oil the in ends trlrasrd Vum.
the hand's third Ii’.
“We considered ouiseises sets alterna
tive (during I-ollapalixi/a] We didn't cotv
side! ourselves part ot the mainstream in
ans sense that most people in the main
stream thought ot us. although we might
have had a popular single on out tiist
record. All the accolades that tame later
on we didn't understand \nd the rear
(Kill oil the It till in si iliu* plac n vui like
What an dies doing hr if m Win air
vim hr i r Vnd wr nr I r t oilf used as lo
what I hr ( I itri la ssas to hr a pal t o| (Ins
mi is rinr iH \\ r thought Hr fit that i litri la.
Inn evidently nr didn't
Rcgaidlrss, the hand has drsrl
niird a sound with a lot of dit
IririU rleinrtm — that in the
end is sunpls I jsmg (oloui
When tin hand's drliut.
\'n<it{. Has rrlrasri
almost fisr scats ago,
M I V jumped on (hr
hand and put its sii
gin single “( ult o!
Personality■" — into
heavy rotation I hr
mystique ol a so
i allrd hlai k hat d
mi k hand mam
oird a lot of people,
and this, pitted Hith
(.losci s user-friend
Is. exuberant
melodies and Vernon
Reid's aurally astonish
inggnitai Hoik. quickly
tallied the hand up the
charts.
Released m August, ll»‘MI
/ime'i l 'p h.is all ambitious >s merit!
and inusii alls s ailed lolJowup to wfl
Ywtd, though the new IJ* lacked a
true hit single Hit- album pushed the
iiuisk al possibilities ol the lasing (ailoui
sound taiihci awas trom (hr main
Living Colour
Gets ^ Serious
The New York foursome buckles down
to a heavy sound stocked with attitude
Itv KrU T. Miller, /hr Ivmhlr \rws, Temple I1.
sliram. delighting a lot of < tint s but dis
tomaging top 40 ltsteneis hollowing the
1 ollapaloo/a tom in the Mimmn of 1‘fOl,
bassist Mn// Skillings left the hand and
was replaced hs Doug Wimhish, a fount'!
mrmtx'i of tin Sugai Hill Ret oids house
hand
Wimhish\ fiiM studio I P with 1 mng
( olour is Slum. th< hand s new l.V-uatk
ret <>id Opting not to in oni with 1 d
Stasinm. the man hehnul the Ixiaids ft»r
the Inst two I i\ing ( oloui I IV the\
instead w« *i hed with Ron St ( k i main ( the
dials helnnil Soundgaiden. Stmit Youth
and fhitfalo loin) and achieved a haidei
iih k. tec I Reid’s guitar lines, though Mini
lai m the s|X‘tlium of solos, pound awav
with molt deletinitiation and aggiesMon
duimg \< isc v and lefrainv William
( alhoun s drums and Wimhish s hass an
in some places simplv hoinhastu
C »lovei s hear tfelt \oc als ate still m the
middle of it all we aving from speaker to
sj>eaket as fie nar tales jh till it a I lx-1 lets and
vch lal t oinmeiilaiv
W liv Slum* It mav Ik* a hit «»t a teach, hut
(timer s got his rationale
“(A stain] is an indelible mark,** he sass
I he\ don't go awa\ Stains are alwavs
then Ksersthing \ou have, everything you
weal, e\ei\thing about vou in one was is
stained — emotionally, physically. spiritu
allv. vou know You re always tainted h\
this event that happened in vour life
You're alwass thinking about the time this
hap|K*ne<l and how it made sou into what
sou aie todas Stains just affet t esets
thing ”
And throughout its six-st ar < aieei
lasing (adotii lias been stained by |x»pu
hurts its most lamous aspei t having
l>een the lat t that eat h of its memlxus is
black 1 hough hum the beginning it
ahsass has hern an issue t<»t each of tin
band s members. (.lover maintains black
alwass shouldn't be an adjective to
dr sc mIk- the band
"We got the moiukei 'black rock hand
and that was pretts unfair. says (.loser It
was velfinijx>srd in a was. but it was uniau
then to link esersthmg we did t«» that fat t
For other hands it's not true You don t
{ ail I .niirifirsN an \si.m nxk luiul 1 >
tittle Pig” am) *Go /
with an intensity nev
^ the band on m
radio-ready.
Stain's best moment is
■kdthe end of the IP
with an atti- I
iv.Jton.
’uns and
signature
is vocals “ m
Ron St Germain. Sum
hardest LP to date, relay*
ness a la SeaQIe
usic. sound |Bd arrange
are pure Lhnng Colour,
ich — depending on the
song -»is both good
^ and bad. k
has been irjjK
some o< the’jB
tunes tH
a It Living Cfl(
■Cord songs Ml
■bun will be o
■Id rock books.
Wilier
ilon i i .ill \ an Halm .1 whin imk It.mil
\ mi iton ! i .ill 1 os I i ilm ,i Mr\u all link
I).mil t hat's mil pat tit ulai Iv (ait to
us Vgam il pirjudurs jicoplc In
li ning lo tin- in out It’s like
< >li, line i nines llial blai k
i ik k hand
I hal s dclinttcls mil
tilt- kind ot label the
hands wants — nr
needs
"<)n lime's If,i
then- Mete some
issues icgaidmg ns
being blai k," tie
t uni hides “ And
dies ait- nlivmus lo
most people And
then I s.im a icvicw
ot tiie record a ton
pie months aftri it
tante out where the
writei thought esets
tiling dial was on the
record... could lie
equated to being blai k
m America, which is not
the case It’s about being a
person in tins world, whuh is
what all of out records arc
about This is who I am Thconls
difference there is dial I tan quicker
than vou. Period. " Q