Current mood: BIG
Category: BIG Music
There's a shop called CHEAP BOOZE..
It sells exactly what it says it sells, and I stumbled upon it on the way to meet Colossus...
Forgive me going on about it, but I like the directness of this shop name. It's the kind of directness you only really get in more run down areas - where people need the vital information and don't have the time or energy for flim flaminous advertising that wanks prestige to make the pruchaser feel clever and superior...
I was so impressed with this shop that I did what every other stupid arty cunt does in Shoreditch when faced with accidental art - I took a photo of the sign...
Now, I hate myself for this, but I'm mentioning it because it led me to buying 6 Kronenbourgs in admiration and this formed the structure of everything that came afterwards.
John Clay AKA Spider, the frontman and founding ideas man of Colosuss, is waiting. He's on time and I'm late with my carrier bag of bargain booze. I apologise and explain I had to buy the booze even though it's not needed. He suggests we drink and walk with it. I like this suggestion...
Now, I imagine many of you will know all about the wankery of the area of London known as Shoreditch. If you've ever seen Nathan Barley you 'll have seen the parody, but as is often the case the parody isn't even much of a parody so much as an accurate depiction...
Yes boss, Shoreditch is an area swamped with trend and mucky NEW fashion. It's the area where wannabe creatives flock together and pretend to do work. It has the fop pissery bars, the stencilled graffiti, and the clever but intelligent restaurants...
Now, to be honest, I strongly object to artists and the like flocking together anywhere at any time and in any place. It's most often a horror show of pretension and idiocy, but I won't rant on about that now. I'm doing an interview - of sorts, and Mr Clay is giving up his time.
So yes, Mr Clay.
On first glance, the front man looks to be everything a rock star of these times should be. He's physically dominating, in control, in possesion of a quiet determination and a sense of calm. Attired in Black, he looks just the sort of man who should be fronting a big rock band - a rock band who are getting on their serious feet for 2007.
We walk and we talk, but Mr Clay is keen not to get into the meat of things Colossus until we meet guitarist Rob...
Indeed, for this first hour, it feels as much as if I'm being interviewed as doing the interview. As often happens, I can't help but talk about myself and my own attempts at greatness, past and present. I tell Mr Clay about being a Butterfly Terrorist, about my nuclear book and my old music dreams. He seems keen to get to the bottom of who he's dealing with and I'm always happy to agrandise myself...
But it's not all one way traffic. John talks about his family: About his Dad who wasn't about, and then was. About how his Dad tought him to play guitar and told him what he had to do to make it: That he needed to keep his decks clear and focus on the goal...
We circuit Shoreditch, find ourselves a wall outside a large glass fronted office block. We perch and wait for Rob...
The talk gets serious. We're discussing whether the world can be saved. I say I think the ships left the port. Mr Clay spends his days convincing people otherwise. I don't want to lay on my full cynicism about how the time for Friends of the Earth was 80 years ago - I keep quieter..
Rob arrives. He looks fresh and keen.
Introductions.
John suggests we stay on the wall and drink the Kronenbourg...
So Colossus...Who are they and where are they at???
Well, Colossus have been going for a few years. They formation has changed - the drummers have mostly been the problem, but nevertheless, a vast archive of tracks has been made and recorded and an indie record label is interested. But the band choose to bide their time and wait until they're properly sure and ready as to how to go forward...
I tell them, they sound like a big band to me, and not just because their name is big - the sound is big and very pop rock. I can't help but think of The Stone Roses, not because they sound anything like them, but because the sound was so different with The Roses they were almost split before the music business realised what they had going on - i think this is the same with Colossus...
So do you want to be really big?? I ask hoping they'll say yes rather than look confused and talk about credability and roots..
They say they want to be huge and I sense many discussions have gone on about how big they are going to be. Many hours have been invested in the plan, the rise, the conquering of the charts, the critics, the stadiums, America, the world...
Yes boss, Colossus buzz with enthusiasm and ambition, taking it in turns to burst out about how much they want it and how they're going to get it. Colossus are clearly not a band intent on peaking after playing a few gigs to mild cheers in the pub....
This is what i like to hear...
As the sun begins to set, we move into talk about the current crop of rock stars - the competition...
Whereas they're reluctant to talk Oasis, Bad Boy Doherty gets a big thumbs down. This is where Rob becomes fiercely animated. Doherty seems to repel him. But after a while I can't help but think that both Rob and John have the same problem with Doherty that I have: That's it's him and not them...
I put it to them, and they agree - "Of course we're jealous..."
But it's not just that. Like many, they express concern for the impact on pop music when one of the biggest alternative names is known more for his girlfriend and drug choice than for his music...
"Colossus are about the power of music to build hope and dreams" John says "The music always has to be at the centre of things. Image is important but not MORE important..."
Amen
It's getting dark and we're out of beers. We walk back towards Shoreditch. For all the jim wankery, there's some good places around.
There's The Foundary, part owned by The KLFs Bill Drummond. Probably the scruffiest pub in the neighbourhood and always crammed upstairs on a Friday, if you track down to the art basement, there's a huge white open space with a few chairs and a spinning iron circle on the floor...
We take a circuit and I realise I'm drunker than I'd like to be.
CHEAP BOOZE
I take pictures of Colossus spinning and lean into a candle...
The beer goes down and the talk starts to get muddy, nothing new is being said. It's mostly my fault, I'm supposed to be jamming in the questions and firing the flames, but my brain is too mushy and tired to be serious and analytical.
Thing is, I don't know what else to ask. I know what i think already. That from what I've seen and heard this band can do a very long way. That if they get the luck, can take the knocks and keep producing the music, they can be every bit as big as their name...
Yes boss, this is a band I believe in, so there we go
Colossus
 | Currently listening : The Stone Roses By The Stone Roses Release date: By 25 October, 1990  |
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