A Chat with Colorful Crimes (10.04.21)
Performing under the moniker Colorful Crimes, multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Bryan merges indie-rock, post-punk, jazz and rock in a genre-defying way. Exposing the core of human existence, Bryan looks at relationships, death, acceptance, empowerment, nostalgia and all the gritty things in life. We speak with Bryan about Colorful Crimes, his EP Reality / Normality, future plans, early memories and much more.
OSR: What drew you to the music industry?
Bryan: I think being drawn to the music industry is different than being drawn to music itself – the industry thing comes way later when you have some shred of an idea of what you’re doing and what direction you see yourself going in! The thing that first drew me to music was mostly my dad’s influence and taste. All through primary school, I had an mp3 player flooded with Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Golden Earring, Wishbone Ash, Dr Hook and my most beloved but most controversial: Dire Straits. Strangely for me, I never had that sole eureka moment when I looked up at a poster or went to a gig and was like “THIS, this is what I want to do”, however, after my dad bought a guitar for me as a surprise when I was ten I recall being obsessed with learning how to play like Rory Gallagher from the Irish Tour ’74 album. After I mastered a basic lick then that was it, I started learning guitar and expanding my music taste for real.
I then began listening to what would now be considered mainstream indie, and would also be the guy introducing my friends to new bands and upcoming shows. After I asked my dad, “Why will I never be as good as X on guitar?” at about twelve years old he replied, “Well if you’d halve the time you spend playing on your PS3 and double the time practising guitar then you might get somewhere!” – that stuck with me to this day and here I am. After I spent my sixth form years playing the Birmingham scene in a rock and roll duo, I gained some knowledge of what it’s like to be more of a legitimate musician in the industry, which gave me the confidence to found Colorful Crimes in September 2020.
OSR: What is the backstory to the EP Reality / Normality?
Bryan: I began releasing music as Crimes in September 2020 after a series of events lead me to a pretty dark time; I lost a close member of my family, I lost my job, my flat and what I thought was an amazing friendship. After being stuck inside the flat before it decided to collapse on top of me I managed to record two singles detailing my experiences over that autumn, ‘FIT AGAIN’ describes me losing my way after losing the friendship and ‘THE NIGHTS’ laments the lonely evenings spent in the November lockdown and the effects it had not only on me but many young professionals and students. After the reception I received to these singles, I knew I wanted to shift my focus to a bigger project. I found myself moving back in with my parents and all the time in the world to spend on writing and recording Reality / Normality.
I already had a few songs written prior to December, but I knew I wanted the EP to be five tracks long so I knuckled down and wrote ‘DEATH AT 36’, ‘THE AIR IN MY LUNGS’ and ‘COMEDOWN’ during the two-month production period. I thought this would be it, but while listening to Radio 1, I wrote ‘TELL ME YOU’RE HERE’ in the car and decided I had to add it. So, the EP is now six tracks and talks about my experiences of past failed relationships, the hardships of living alone and trying to make a life for yourself in the current climate, house parties gone wrong, being bullied for being an outsider growing up and trying to better yourself as you begin adulthood by self-reflection.
OSR: Does the EP hold any significance for you?
Bryan: I’d like to think that any work I produce would hold significance to me, more than anything I aimed for this EP to be honest and transparent. The significance I think is reflected through the lyrical themes and production of which everything was the work of myself alone. I’ve already mentioned a few of the themes present in the EP, but I believe there’s also some unique melodic motifs and the production is super homemade but not lo-fi, which I think adds to the honesty of the EP. You can also hear the production get better and better track by track as I learn how to utilise Logic more effectively!
The EP is a wonderful demonstration of my first foray into a solo project and knowing that it won’t be a masterpiece, but that it will hopefully inspire others to do the same as I have in a bad situation and turn it into a piece of art.
OSR: Reality / Normality was recorded during the pandemic so did you face any challenges recording during lockdown?
Bryan: Recording the EP, I knew from the start that I wanted it to be a product of lockdown and a bedroom-produced album, and so I can’t really say that I was faced with the challenge of finding a studio or engineers to help me out as I felt it was an intrinsic quality that was key to the sound of the EP. Honestly, the only challenge I faced was the fact that a whole bunch of the album – especially the end of ‘DEATH AT 36’ – just has me screaming my lungs out and my poor parents downstairs just trying to watch their BBC dramas had to put up with that for a month or so, but hey I guess that’s more of a drawback for them than it was for me!
OSR: What about the benefits of lockdown? Are there any pros to making music during this pandemic?
Bryan: Honestly, if anything, recording during lockdown has been a huge benefit for me. For one, having no job or opportunity to meet up with anyone else has meant that I’ve been able to devote all my time to the project. Getting inside my own head due to the isolation helped pen the lyrics, as most were born out of frustration or angst. The monotony of every day kept my routine strict and regular so that I made amazing progress with regards to the recording and mixing. It was just amazing to not have any distractions for such a prolonged period of time, something I need as I’m terrible for procrastinating. Due to the fact that gigs are impossible and that in-person networking was – for the most part – illegal, this too has given me the opportunity to grow my social media following and improve my proficiency in engaging my audience.
OSR: How would you describe your music?
Bryan: I like to think my music touches on a variety of genres, you could say that the main genres of this EP are a kind of alt-pop, electropop, soft-rock and emo. A lot of the music on the EP was inspired by a friend of mine’s band, Sorry Grace. Over the first lockdown, I was talking to them a lot over Instagram because I was trying to learn a load of jazz chords and different voicings so that I could break away from playing lead and just noodling all the time. I learnt so much in such a short space of time and fell in love with the vibe of the chords and progressions I was playing that it only seemed right to write a lot of the songs on the EP around them as a kind of time capsule or an ode to where I was in my writing journey at the time.
I think the EP is going to attract fans of John Mayer, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and people who like Kevin Parker-style production, but there’s also elements of King Krule, Nai Harvest and a bunch of other midwest emo chordy-bands. ‘TELL ME YOU’RE HERE’ is an electro-pop cut on the EP and if you like LAUV, Troye Sivan or LANY, this one’s for you.
OSR: What do you hope people take from your music?
Bryan: More than anything, I hope people take away a greater sense of who I am as a person and my personal experiences that have led me to write this album. I also hope the music I’ve made inspires others to do the same, no matter how primitive your setup or little your experience, there’s so much out there for you to learn and so much potential inside of you to make something amazing. I also think a lot of the songs have great potential to be those kinds of anthems that you’d put on in someone’s kitchen at 2 am and have a good sing-along to; at least, I hope that happens at least once somewhere in the world with them.
OSR: If you could change one thing about Reality / Normality what would it be?
Bryan: Part of me would like to answer this and say just the quality of the production. I can pick this EP apart relentlessly with regards to the mixing of the tracks and how good the actual takes are that I used, but I also want it to show what just a guy with no official qualifications or training can do in his bedroom over the space of two months. I’m super happy with how the songs are written, especially towards the latter end of the EP when my writer’s block was at an all-time low and the songs just seemed to flow out of me. I just think the songs could’ve sounded better sonically if the EP had been professionally recorded and mixed, but hey, what are you going to do in the current situation and when I had about a tenner to my name at the time.
OSR: What is your earliest memory?
Bryan: My earliest musical memory I’d have to say is from the very early 2000s when my dad bought us our first ever proper home PC. The internet was still very new (I don’t think we even had it installed at first) and the only functions the computer served were Solitaire, Paint, Word and that weird Space Pinball game that I spent hours on as a kid. It was this absolute tank of an early HP Pavilion and, somehow, a video ended up on the computer that my dad would always play to me and my younger sister. I think it was some sort of astronaut or someone in Zero-G in space dancing to Little Richard’s ‘Good Golly, Miss Molly’. I remember we used to go crazy to it, even though we had no idea what the song really was or who sang it, but it was just sort of this visceral human reaction that music, especially that kind of early blues and boogie-woogie incites. I think I’ll always hold that memory dear and remember it for the feeling it gave me and one of the first times when I really remember going “WHAT IS THIS?!!, you know?
OSR: If you could perform with any artist who would it be?
Bryan: More than anyone; I’d love to meet, play with and talk to Jack White. Perhaps this is kind of a vanilla answer but it’s the honest truth. The White Stripes were the first band that I truly fell in love with, I bought White Blood Cells, Elephant and Icky Thump all at the same time in the summer of Year 9 second-hand at CEX on a whim. Prior to that, I’m pretty sure I’d only heard ‘Seven Nation Army’ probably on FIFA or something and then proceeded to listen to literally nothing else for the next two years of my life. I’ve even got Elephant tattooed on my right forearm. Those albums were my first introduction to what it meant to record an album with energy and emotion rather than surgical precision in a big studio with a massive production team.
I was already a fan of the blues too at this point, but to hear what White did to the genre through a white-man-in-the-early-2000s lens was mindblowing and it will always have an impact on me and my playing. I feel like his mind along with the mind of other stellar musicians I look up to, like Thom Yorke, Clarence Clarity and St Vincent to name but a few, I feel like it’s this otherworldly way of thinking that mere mortals like us can’t comprehend. Like this inspiration kingdom hidden away under lock and key that I think I’d lose my mind if I looked inside, hence why I’d just like to sit down with Jack, sip on an Old Fashioned and just pick his brains.
OSR: Do you have future plans?
Bryan: After a pretty harsh year, my goal now is to get myself another flat in Manchester and re-setup my studio for about the fifth time before I go out and hopefully recruit some keen BIMM students to come with me and play some live shows. So, if you’re reading this and that’s you, please get in touch!! I’ve got a decent little following on social media now and I know the way I’m going to boost that is by playing some killer live shows. After a year with no live music, I can’t wait to see the scene booming in the coming months. I think it’s going to be a great time for musicians everywhere.
There’s definitely the goal of releasing another EP in the future too, I’m just waiting for that burst of inspiration when I can write most of it in a day and devote some proper time to the recording process. Other than that; I’m just going to keep my routine healthy and regular, not waste all my money on constantly going out so I can spend it on actual nice things like studio gear or a deposit, and keep on interacting with my already lovely fans and friends of whom without I’d be nothing.
Thanks to Benjamin Bryan for speaking with us. For more from Colorful Crimes please check out his official website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
