by Lexi Bissonnette
Many bands get their start in college, play a few gigs and have fun while they’re learning and then go their separate ways. Few are lucky enough to find their way back to each other and hit the music scene. But Modern Colour, an eclectic band ready to tackle multiple music styles, was.
Tom Weir and Chris Boyle met in college at Penn State and had a fairly rough time getting a practice space. “We’d been kicked out of a restaurant basement and played in a pizza shop near the church. It was weird they didn’t have more spaces,” says Weir about their time in college together. The result? The duo went their separate ways.
But it wasn’t the end. Two years later they met back up and Boyle moved in with Weir. “Ever since I was a kid, all the bands I liked had a common thread, they lived together. If they live together they’ll get exponential amount of work done,” says Weir.
They tried various projects and hit Craigslist multiple times trying to get the band off the ground. “And then Stephen (Sirochman) walked into our lives,” jokes Weir.
And Modern Colour was born.
The local band has been working their way up in the music industry, starting with an EP, and becoming a house band at Legendary Dobbs. Now, the trio completed their first LP. They couldn’t be happier with the ability to work on their first full length album with the resources they’ve been granted. “Our EP was good for the resources we had which was nothing, it sounds like the band’s first effort in a studio. This one doesn’t, it sounds like it’s seasoned,” Boyle says about the journey the band has been on.
Their journey has been a good one, but a local one and they’re hoping to kick it up a notch in the 2014 year and hit the road for some touring. Weir has done his research and they’ve got a plan. “We have 12 months to make it work. We have a plan to release songs with videos throughout so we are always releasing new material.” One of their goals? Promote what they have and get to be a part of some of the big outdoor summer festivals.
But playing locally in Philly has been great, too. “We really know who our dedicated fan base is,” explains Boyle. The band has been a part of many gigs locally but perhaps being a house band at Dobbs has opened the most doors for them.
They had made a few live recordings and Legendary Dobbs liked what they heard, resulting in Modern Colour becoming part of a compilation CD with other regional bands. “They used one of these terrible live recordings, but it didn’t matter because they liked us.” Modern Colour does one show a month at the venue and they make sure to switch it up and give the audience new things.
Their debut LP is on the way and they’re incredibly proud of it. They don’t have a release date yet but they have a tentative title, Set Back. It’s also the name of one of their favorite tracks off the album and it speaks to a lot of what happened while recording it.
“The fact that we finished it is a testament to our will to do this,” says Weir.
