Press
Colorstore Brings Film and Rock Together at FilmBar With a Little Help From Their Friends
By Christina Caldwell – Fri., Aug. 12 2011 at 12:30 PM
Phoenix New Times
For months, tomorrow’s show at FilmBar was supposed to be a local feast for the senses. Colorstore intended to host a night of local rock and rhythms, adding Gospel Claws to the lineup and a list of guest DJs.
But then Gospel Claws dropped out. Something about prior engagements in California, or was it something else?
“Maybe, just maybe the real story is, years ago, Sloan Walters [of Gospel Claws] and myself happened upon each other at some local downtown acoustic get together,” Colorstore’s front man Mark Erickson says in an email. “I believe I was sitting at a table with him because I knew his sister. She asked me if he could borrow a pick. I told him picks were for pussies. Then it was time for me to go up and play one of my dilapidated numbers and I used a pick. Fast forward to this past July when we played a show with Gospel Claws, right before it was time for Colorstore to play, Sloan hands me a pick. This could very well be the really real reason behind them having to cancel,” Erickson jokes.
As for the DJs, well, Colorstore didn’t want to step on any toes. DJentrification has a good thing going with The Palace at FilmBar on Saturdays, Erickson says. It wouldn’t be right to intrude on his gig. So, instead, DJentrification will be spinning in one room and Colorstore will be hosting that aforementioned senses feast alone.
For that, the band enlisted A/V help from A.J. Tamura and Minibosses guitarist Aaron Burke. Colorstore will be sporting all white jumpsuits, which will serve as a backdrop to the time lapse footage and slideshow mashup that Tamura and Burke pieced together.
“[It's] completely bloated and pretentious, Erickson says, “although we will be smiling and giving out hugs.”
Finally! A review of We Were Promised Jetpacks, Bear Hands and Colorstore at the Rhythm Room February 23
By Frank Gallardo – 2/28/10
The Musings of Frank Gallardo
Wow! Interesting music, very eclectic and full of subdued power. There is a lot going on at one time when this band plays, from a wild dual vocal delivery to a music style that at times had me thinking of a fusion of Juno and Radiohead. Anytime I see a band with a three-guitar attack I take notice! I was impressed and look forward to another opportunity to see them play.
Colorstore Presents: Bonefish – The Legend of Mahogany Cass
By Mitchell L. Hillman
JAVA 2008
There’s something brilliant and beautiful about the moment a band steps into its own, the moment, the song, the album that a band becomes itself and find its own voice. For the music lover, this is the moment of truth, when the artist leaves the safe haven of hiding behind its influences and emerges as who they truly are. The moment is obvious and awe-inspiring: think Radiohead and OK Computer or Spoon with Girls Can Tell. In this case it’s Bonefish: The Legend of Mahogany Cass by Phoenix’s very own colorstore. Even this writer has tried to deny it, tried to convince himself that it was exaggeration, but the truth is, the album is a pop masterpiece and it is the sound of colorstore becoming who they were meant to be.
“Yes, absolutely yes,” said Mark Erickson, colorstore’s singer, songwriter and madman. “Without tooting our band’s stinky horns, I do believe we have creatively and musically stepped very much into our own. It’s a good feeling and I’m very proud of what every single person involved in making this record brought to the table.” Erickson should be proud – the album sets an atmosphere that is at once moody and reflective, while explosive and jovial. It is, as he himself said, “inconsistently consistent,” and delightfully so. From ukulele to bells and synthesizers and even a three-piece horn section, the album delights and surprises the ears with this organic and amazing blend of lyrical reverie and brilliant instrumentation, where a sense of Americana meets pure indie pop.
Colorstore’s debut, When We Float the River, was pretty impressive in itself, but in the light of their current record, all the thick layers of Radiohead-influenced ephemera and shoegazing soundscapes can barely hold a candle to the genius behind Bonefish. This is an album that should earn national attention, if for no other reason than its originality alone, its lack of influence, its hint of influence and a beatific sense of confluence that makes it one of the best releases of the year so far, local or otherwise. Its appeal is immediate, bright and shining, but best of all the hooks found herein stay with you for days and dare you to remove it from your player, though you just won’t be able to bring yourself to do so.
Bonefish is a very different affair from its predecessor, recorded in just ten days, a striking contrast to the two years colorstore took to meticulously put together their debut. This alone may have had a large effect on their change of sound – a change that is inspired and indeed deliberate. “I felt that it was definitely time for some change in the direction of colorstore,” Erickson commented. “Musically [Bonefish is] more of a collaboration between all four members this time around. Lyrically, I had gone through some fairly big changes in my personal life, which probably led way to a much more honest and raw sound.” Those four members, the key ingredients for this incredible record, are: Mark Erickson, vocals, utility player; Robin Vining, utility player, vocals; David Marquez, bass, strings, vocals; and Jef Wright, drums and vocals.
The album opens with the short and catchy “Moosh”, a simple piano line, handclaps and some synthesizer swirl. The spare arrangement is striking and the heartfelt lyrics literally bleed love from the speakers. “Treasure Sticks the Mammal” follows with more talk of love and some of the most musical fun to be found on the album. Keys and guitars combine, tightly wound around Erickson’s quirky, quivering vocals and an ascending guitar line that kicks in making you grin as the feeling of joy spreads throughout your entire nervous system. The single-worthy “A Song About…” follows, at which point it becomes apparent that the genius the first two songs hinted at is no fluke and that, simply put, it will be spread throughout the album liberally. It’s all in the details here, and one of the most charming moments of the entire album is Erickson’s stuttering to say “s-st-s-straight line.” “Death of Mr. Cass” is little more than fun with tape-recorded sounds, yet somehow such unintelligible frivolity doesn’t seem out of place.
“MonkeyDoDoes” begins with a lazy loping surf guitar over a simple rhythm and hypnotic vocals, before horns kick in and take the album up yet another notch. In a perfect world, this too would be a single that would inspire a strange swaying dance to match its swinging mood. “My Name is B” follows and stands out as perhaps the prettiest song of the album, a sweet ballad drenched in true love’s reflection and the longing to hold onto that love for all it’s worth. “Mr. Julio Mena is a Menace” has Erickson’s vocals at their most nervous and taut, brilliant Spanish horn and a point where the song breaks into utter multi-instrumental cacophony, with brilliant results. “La Da, titled after the swooning simple chorus, features some of the most adventurous guitar work on the album and holds true to Erickson’s description of “inconsistently consistent.” One you’ll find humming to yourself and wondering what the hell you’re singing to yourself, walking down the street mumbling, is “Everyone is So Believable.”
“Milk” starts off sounding like one of the great lost stoned experiments from the Beach Boys circa 1967. With nonverbal vocal rounds and random percussion, it sounds somehow like it was recorded on the kitchen floor, before it kicks into one of the darkest most guitar-driven songs on the entire album. “Supper at the Cass Residence” is another strange audio experiment, an odd, barely intelligible conversation that somehow fits perfectly in the lineup right before the finale. “Kahitchigo Wins the World” is a horn-drenched lullaby that closes Bonefish with perfection and grace, haunting harmonies fading in and out of the background. “Understanding is winning,” the song says, and truer words couldn’t be spoken. Anyone that gives 40 minutes of their life to sit, listen and understand this album, automatically wins. Besides, when you’ve played it once, you’ll only want to play it again and again.
What does it all mean, though? Who is Mahogany Cass and what of this Bonefish? Erickson did shine a strange light on just what the meaning of the title was as well. “Very late night driving on our last tour took our imaginations into very nonsensical places,” he explained. “Mahogany was hitchhiking in Northern Oregon and we happened to be the unlucky gentlemen who gave her a ride to her next town, her next conquest. What I can make out of it is that Bonefish must be some supposed god of sorts, Mahogany Cass obtains the ability to harvest the mighty power that is Bonefish to serve her own twisted agenda. That’s all I can really say. I don’t like talking about Ms. Cass too much. She upsets me.”
Whether Ms. Cass exists or is merely an imagined inspiring muse in the minds of the members of colorstore, we have much to thank her for, much to be grateful for, because this album is a work of raw ingenuity; this album is immediate, present and perfect; this album can do no wrong in your collection, in your player, in your car or in your mind; this album should elevate colorstore to a new level; this album is fun, authentic and heartfelt ; this album is what albums should be but rarely are; this album is for everyone who loves music for the way it makes your soul sway, and this album wants to sleep with you tonight.
17 REASONS WHY VALLEY ROCKERS COLORSTORE WON’T BE CLOSING UP SHOP ANYTIME SOON
By Serene Dominic
PHOENIX NEW TIMES – Published: February 21, 2008
Before tax specialists H&R Block admitted to overstating its earnings for 2003 and 2004 by $91.1 million, founder Henry W. Block used to appear in its TV commercials, itemizing “the 17 reasons why you should let us prepare your income tax.” Taking a subliminal cue from the Block head himself, local musician Mark Erikson provided New Times with 17 reasons why we should do a feature on his band colorstore and its new album Bonefish: The Legend of Mahogany Cass. And we might’ve held firm at “no,” except the reasons kept sounding more desperate.
Meeting at Lost Leaf Gallery with drummer Jeff Wright and a steady stream of hops-and-barley truth serum (with absent band mate Robin Vining later chiming in via e-mail), we picked apart each possible story hook.
1. “That Sweet Bleeders/colorstore story you did on us was over three years ago.”
This cut no ice, since that 2003 New Times feature sufficiently outlined the strange dynamic of two Valley bands sharing the same key members, with Erikson and Vining switching leadership and main singer/songwriter roles, which still holds true today. And if we were gunning for a “longest interval between New Times stories” angle, it’s been 13 years since our last Zen Lunatics story.
2. “We finally made a good record.”
Actually, it’s a devastatingly great album, the kind you pop on and are unexpectedly moved by. colorstore’s last record, When We Float the River, was good. But since colorstore took three years to record it, they were sick of it upon release. Maybe that’s why they gave it a half-hearted push and invited musician friends to write scathing reviews on the CD Baby Web site. Bobby Lundberg of Huskies declared, “I’d rather receive the head of a childhood friend in the mail than listen to colorstore,” while Christopher Pomerenke of Less Pain Forever and Runaway Diamonds weighed in with “colorstore = Shitstore.”
3. “Bonefish was recorded in 3 months. (That’s quick for us.)”
To be fair, that first colorstore album was recorded in tandem with the Sweet Bleeders’ 2006 album Bzzzz, which took a comparably breezy two years.
4. “We recorded it on 2-inch tape.”
5. “The last colorstore album cost me my marriage.”
It isn’t until we arrive at reasons 4 and 5 and the possibility of Phil Collins pathos do we get to why Bonefish sounds a lot different from its predecessor. It’s altogether possible that had colorstore recorded the last record on two-inch 24-track tape instead of ProTools’ endless amount of tracks, his marriage might still be intact. “It was a huge factor in breaking up my marriage,” Erikson says, as if this just occurred to him. “Robin and I were doing a lot of nutty late-night sessions. We didn’t stop and didn’t know how to. If songs are really strong and the band all contributing strong parts, why would you need 64 fucking tracks? We did most of the vocals for Bonefish in a day and a half.”
6. “I have a major reputation for being unstable.”
A rep buoyed by past songs like “Elephants Wear Cheap Perfume.” Colorstore’s neo-psychedelic output has always been impressive, but “poignant” and “heartfelt” aren’t adjectives you’d attach to it. Those songs were less about communicating emotions and more about achieving a sound and being lyrically indirect. “I really wanted a specific change to we were doing, to write a few songs that collectively made sense,” Erikson says. “These songs are more honest. Spilling guts. At the same time, they’re much more upbeat.” While titles on Bonefish are similarly obscure to earlier works (“Moosh,” “A Song About . . .”) you never doubt that Erikson went through some life-changing experiences to write songs this vulnerable. Sure enough, most of the writing took place six months after his divorce and just after his 2-year-old daughter, Sofie, was diagnosed with autism.
7. “I’m a single father of a child with autism.”
“To be a new parent, and someone comes and tells you there’s something wrong with your child, you question it with everything you have,” Erikson says, “especially when you personally come from the more creative side of things. The more abstract ways of thinking, that’s how my daughter’s initially programmed — watching her build these amazing sculptures and paintings or her [emotional interactions]; she’s brilliant. At the same time, I’m aware she’s being looked at differently by her peers and other adults. “With autism, there are misconceptions about it,” he continues. “ASU has it classified as something that’s psychiatric, but it’s medical. Think of it as a broken arm. It’s gotten better than it has been, but it’s still a struggle.”
8. “My grandmother is Japanese.”
In dealing with hard times as a parent, Erikson found inspiration in his grandmother, who grew up in Seoul during the Japanese occupation of Korea, went from being rich to dirt poor, married an American serviceman and wound up a single parent in Los Angeles county, and raised two boys, all while barely speaking English. Erikson name checks her in the album’s final cut, “Kahitchingo Wins the World.” Adds Wright, “She’s a stop for us on our tours, a little north of Burbank. We show up the day after a show, about 10 or 11, and she has this spread of baked goods and coffee. Then she takes us to the mall, buys Mark clothes, we eat at Islands, then we go back to her house, watch Conan the Barbarian, she puts out pillows and blankets, and we take naps.” “She’s 88, but she’s built with fire,” Erikson says. “She’s one of my heroes.”
9. “Kimber Lanning likes us and is distributing our record.”
Another hero is Lanning, owner of Stinkweeds and Modified Arts. “She has been an unbelievable support to us,” Wright says. “She’s been our label/manager. She’s getting us into listening stations in all these stores across the country.”
10. “We’re older, out-of-touch-with-reality drunks.”
11. “Our drummer threw a bottle at someone’s face.”
12. “Our bass player is annoying.”
13. “Somebody in colorstore must have acquired venereal disease by now.”
Admittedly, there’s speculative padding here that could be cleared up with a simple lab test. For the record, bassist David Marquez isn’t annoying, but these guys can put away the drink. A drunken Wright did, indeed, hurl a bottle at someone’s face in the rush to defend his girlfriend’s honor. “It ended amicably,” Wright allows. You mean he got to keep the bottle? “No, I paid half his dental bill, which was extensive,” he says. “Not a proud moment for me.” Across the table, Erikson seems momentarily glad it’s someone else spilling his guts for a change. Until he’s forced to elucidate on reason 14:
14. “I’m having an affair with a semi-famous person.”
15. “We procured a horn section.”
We were really hoping “semi-famous” meant a local newscaster or maybe a minor league pitcher. Turns out its singer-songwriter Lonna Kelley, whom Erikson reminds us is “semi-famous in Europe and here.” Currently, she’s recording with Howe Gelb of Giant Sand and will also be playing the colorstore CD release party. And hopefully, so will the horns, which really lift up key cuts on the album, like “Mr. Julio Mena Is a Menace.” The horn players came through Robin,” Wright says. “He took up a Sunday morning church gig. I’ve never heard it, but I know they’ve done ‘Jesus is Just Alright with Me’ by the Doobie Brothers! From that, he got these tuba and trumpet players who are unreal. Mike Red from Sonorous and Sound of Birds, he played trombones and some trumpet.”
16. “Robin turned down touring with The Format.”
“Well, that is true, and it’s really too bad I couldn’t go,” Vining says. “They asked me to go after I played a few shows with them in the fall of 2005. Those guys are super-sweet, but my daughter was only a few months old and I couldn’t imagine giving up that time with her to go on the road. Additionally, both Sweet Bleeders and colorstore had been working on recordings that were almost done, and I couldn’t let those just sit unfinished.”
17. “It may be our last album.”
Anyone can say their new album could be their last. We all have the life expectancy of a screensaver. Erikson seems more uncertain about where it’s all going to end. “As you get older and have families, everyone isn’t as gung-ho as when you’re in your 20s. I also know that we have a very long year ahead of us, pushing this album and touring during the summer. That’s my personal goal.” Vining is a bit more realistic. “I really don’t think that any of us are done in any way with recording and making music. What else would we do? Take up gaming?”
COLORSTORE PAINTS SPACE WITH ALBUM WHEN WE FLOAT THE RIVER
By JB
AZNightBuzz.com 4/27/06
Colorstore is a band this blog has not discussed much more than in passing or in reference to another band or show.
I have to admit that I should have written something about these guys a long time ago but never found the angle. I’ve seen them a handful of times over the last few years and came away with varying opinions about their live show, though I never could deny the talent and the ambition they displayed.
The band has provided Daysleeper perfect fodder for a music review thanks to a very good testament to their musical ability with a new recording called When We Float the River. A lush, atmospheric melted panorama of sounds and styles, the album is a detailed musical exploration of images and feelings.
River sounds great and all four players in the Mark Erickson-led colorstore are musically strong and have their contributions on the album. In addition, its year and a half production (locally the font for much musician humor) has paid off, with River’s production and feel ready for a larger market. In fact, the band is currently shopping the product and is waiting to officially release it locally.
From eight-minute aural tours of the ether to fractured themes that appear, explode and create new hybrids, When We Float the River is an accomplished release for any band.
Erickson whispers, mumbles, and drifts off mid-sentence throughout his songs, and it feels like the words are more haiku than narrative. I must say, however, if it is important for his audience to understand his words, they are pretty hard to make out. His delivery is his own but falls somewhere in the range of early Robert Smith without the manic trills or maybe a less demonic Matt Johnson, with some nods to contemporary acts like Radiohead and Coldplay.
There are great little parts, small accents, sounds and musical figures everywhere on the album, and while at times the music ventures into the dark side of progressive roc, it is most often rescued by a piano line or some dislocated industrial noise.
I will sum up this review by saying that in the past I may not have given the band a totally objective listening to, having never owned their previous EP’s or heard much outside of the live environment. I also have to say that my view of the band might have been informed by my love for another band featuring the core members of colorstore – Erickson and Robin Vining – called Sweetbleeders, which is a kind of a fun house mirror inverted image of colorstore. I really like Sweetbleeders, and love what Vining does in almost everything I’ve ever seen him, so I didn’t understand the need for another entire project involving he and Erickson with material that didn’t sink in right away.
When I sought out a copy of River, I told myself that I would write about it regardless, but it turns out I don’t have to pad this review with nebulous rock crit-speak that subtly hints that I didn’t care for it. Colorstore has created something very good and I think I better understand the two parts of the colorstore/Sweetbleeders yin yang.
AZNightBuzz: This is a really good sounding album. Where was it recorded and who did most of the knob twisting?
Mark Erickson: It was recorded at various studios and homes, mostly at Ryan Breen’s studio and Livinghead Audio (www.livinghead.com). Mike Hissong engineered the record and Ryan Breen mixed most of it. They did a unbelievable job. I am very thankful and grateful to the both of them. They both endured an entire year of absolute sleepless nights.
AZNB: The album took a famously long time to come out, how long were you working on it and why did it take so freaking long?
ME: Ah yes. We spent a bit over a year and a half to complete the sucka. We took a few breaks from it. other than that I have no clue why it took so long. I can think of two variables, which are that we kind of ended up taking some perverted Sgt. Pepper posturing about making it, meaning: filling up a lot alot of tracks, layering things, atmosphere, bloated space rock opera if you will. Not to mention that Robin [Vining] is really hard to work with, a real cry baby.
AZNB: Who plays in colorstore and what they do?
ME: Myself, vocals, utility player; Robin Vining, utility player, vocals; David Marquez, bass instruments; and Jef Wright, drum kits, jangles.
AZNB: I gather that the album is not officially released and that there aren’t too many copies around. Why is it not for sale?
ME: At this point, we have been making these little self-made, limited amount thingy things for the peoples. We have been shopping the record to labels and trying to sort out that whole bit. We don’t really want to release it ourselves if we dont have to. We won’t wait too long. We learned a very valuable lesson about momentum from how long we took to make the record. We have been getting a lot of support and help seeking a label. Everyone really has been great. A bit overwhelming.
AZNB: What is your goal with this recording?
ME: Limo drives along the Pacific coast.
AZNB: This might be slightly off topic, but do you work at Living Head and if so what do you do?
ME: I have recorded there quite frequently in the past. The owner, David, is a good friend and I do session work there sometimes.
AZNB: How is a colorstore songwritten? Is there a primary songwriter?
ME: I am typically the songwriter in colorstore. And then I present it to the band and we all get to have our way with it. Our output with new material has become very fast. Everyone gets on very well as far as creativity is concerned.
AZNB: Name the most exotic instrument on the recording.
ME: Robin Vining’s voice.
AZNB: Yourself and Robin Vining are also in another band together called Sweetbleeders, in which Robin sings lead. Why not fuse the two entities and what is the primary difference between the two bands?
ME: We have had it merged at one point. It was fine, however I think at the time, when we decided to separate, Robin and I were writing in two different directions. And that is basically the only reason why we have not merged again. There has been talk of it from time to time and I am sure it will eventually happen. But for now, it really just allows Robin and I to write in whatever direction we feel.
AZNB: One more Sweetbleeders question. What is the band up to these days?
ME: We are trying to complete the album. Soon, very soon. We are mixing right now.
AZNB: The songs on When We Float the River are diverse and experimental, ranging from epic songscapes to near fugues. Do you have a musical aesthetic you are going for?
ME: Not really. I think everyone knew that this was going to be a very atmosphere oriented type of album. So we just took that notion to an extreme. For me, the album did end up sounding a bit different than I expected. I stink it represents what colorstore has been up until this point. I think the whole band now feels that we can finally move on from away from it. Go somewhere else, musically.
AZNB: Musicians hate this one but what does colorstore sound like, if you were forced to give a concise description of your sound?
ME: Soundscapes?
AZNB: Crystal ball in hand what will be happening with colorstore in 6 months? 2 years?
ME: I don’t know. Limo drives along the Pacific coast.
AZNB: Have you ever been in a padded room with an elephant wearing cheap perfume? If so, how did you get there and how can I?
ME: I have, Frank has, I’m sure you have, in fact, I know you have. I’ve seen you when you have been there. Michael McDonald is a bad, bad man.
WHEN WE FLOAT THE RIVER
By Kimber Lanning
944 MAGAZINE – April 3, 2006
It wouldn’t be The Film & Frequency Issue without Kimber Lanning, a local music aficionado and catalyst in the indie marketplace. Known for penning detailed weekly newsletters of the latest and greatest releases for her record store, Stinkweeds, Lanning was the perfect person to review releases (or upcoming releases to look out for) from nine favorite local bands.
colorstore – when we float the river
While colorstore has been a functioning unit for several years, the current lineup of Mark Erickson, Robin Vining, David Marquez and Jef Wright has been together, more or less, for the past two years. Colorstore produces songs that vary in tempo, intensity and mood, ranging from lush, ethereal and multilayered shoegazer-esque rock songs to hushed, alt-country minimalism. Their first full-length album, When We Float the River, is due out in the coming months. You can get a sneak peek of a few tracks on their web site.
WHEN WE FLOAT THE RIVER
Reviewed by Michele Laudig
Phoenix New Times – Published March 30, 2006
Striking album cover art aside, colorstore’s debut full-length revels in tortured artist glory with 10 moody tracks that swell and recede like the ocean reflecting a violet and tangerine sunset. The fact that it’s so gorgeous should only make fans more antsy to actually get their paws on it — the quartet is shopping it to labels, so until it’s officially released, the public only gets a taste with this weekend’s listening party and a couple songs on MySpace.com
At times, colorstore takes listeners so deep into dreamland — or into the dark reaches of loneliness — that it feels like things might unravel into space or creep to a standstill. But every moment is a blur of constantly shifting layers — of shimmering guitars giving way to warm piano or hovering keyboard, of slow atmospherics morphing into something more urgent, or of aching drama softly crashing into sad harmonies. It’s not Pixies’ blunt brand of loud/quiet, but a more ambient kind of pop drama, guided by Mark Erickson’s vulnerable vocals. (He’s got some Thom Yorke angst, some broken Elvis Costello breathiness.)
“Sister Mary Loves Me” is an introspective jam with chiming keys and swooning, high-pitched guitars that ease into a mellow haze, while the satisfyingly extended “Super-Fantastic” starts with spare, starry-night keys, then heads into guitar distortion. And in “Strung Up #1 and Testify” – where muted keyboard arpeggios and layers of acid-trip guitar bolster the impassioned chorus, “And we all go insane now” — descent into madness never sounded so seductive. Tortured, yes, but it hurts so good.
LOCAL LIMELIGHT: Q & A WITH COLORSTORE
by Sam Friedman
ASU State Press Magazine – Published Thursday, March 30, 2006
Search beneath the array of musical gadgetry at the Bikini Lounge this Saturday and you might just find local indie outfit, Colorstore. Specializing in musical “neo psychedelia,” the band includes a cello, upright bass, piano, guitar, theremin, synths and…umm…an odd-looking metal tube which drummer Wright calls a “chore boy.” Apparently in one song, the whole band hits various metal objects. With a number of sold out gigs, a few EPs and a recently completed debut album, When We Float The River successfully completed, SPM decided it was time to meet and greet the boys from Colorstore.
SPM: Hello. How are you?
Mark Erickson (vocals and utility player): Itchy.
David Marquez (bass): Fantastically caffeinated.
SPM: So what’s the history behind the band?
Erikson: A few years, fire bombs, tickler bags of jelly beans and big hugs. Also, working on an album for a bit and paying the other band members money to socialize with me.
SPM: Are you guys looking for popular success or would you rather just stay known locally?
Marquez: Success in any form is a blessing. I make music because I must. It’s a form of emotional release that hopefully resonates with listeners.
SPM: How would you describe your sound?
Robin Vining (vocals and utility player): Totally mellow-licious, babe.
Jef Wright (drums): There is a lot of range in our songs. Some are very intense and layered, others are stripped down and mellow. I feel that we are throwing some interesting ideas out there.
SPM: What sort of reaction has your album got?
Erickson: Positive, so far.
Vining: Knee-jerk.Cosmic.
SPM: Is it true one of you used to be a choirboy?
Erikson: Not me, but I did use to be a mime. My entire family comes from a very long bloodline of dedicated miming. Somehow I got off course. Maybe it was all the drugs?
Marquez: That would be Robin. Sings like an angel. I heard he was kicked out for wearing pirate shirts, though.
Vining: When I was 16, I tried to be a member of the London Choirboys, but I only had one ruffly shirt and my leather pants never really fit right.
SPM: Tell us a joke?
Vining: What did the grape say when the elephant stepped on it? Nothing. It just gave out a little wine.
Wright: Knock knock. Who’s there? Salmon. Salmon who? Salmonella.
SPM: Who’s the most attractive member of the band?
Vining: Your mom.
Wright: We are all equally unattractive.
SPM: Who are your major musical influences?
Vining: F sharp major, A Major, B Major seven.
SPM: Have you guys ever had a fight on-stage? What happened?
Marquez: All the time. One person will say something that is totally taken out of context and someone’s feelings are hurt. Subsequently, there will be a lot of open handed slapping, name-calling and hair-pulling. And maybe some tickling. Mark and Robin are very, very, very ticklish. Mark squeals like a little girl. Ask him to sing “Roxanne” sometime and you’ll get the picture.
SPM: What do you guys do when you’re not playing music?
Erikson: I enjoy driving motor vehicles into canals.
Vining: Go down to the state fair and win plush bears for our girlfriends.
Wright: Work, school, dinner, drink, burrito, pass out, repeat.
SPM: What’s your take on on-stage banter?
Vining: Whatever it takes to get the crowd totally psyched, that’s what you gotta do. Every crowd’s different though. Like a gig we did for the Central Arizona Beekeepers Association. Mark kept calling me honey on stage and I’m like, “Hi we’re colorstore..oh sorry, maybe you were expecting The Hives.” That was great. They went nuts.
SPM: If the band somehow morphed into a famous person, who would it be?
Erikson: Oprah Winfrey. Not sure why.
Show Review
By Annie Holub
Tom Walbank, Naim Amor, Colorstore, and The Fashionistas
Club Congress, Wednesday, July 20, 2005
The free show at Club Congress on Wednesday, July 20, felt almost cliqueish, due to the fact that three of the bands on the bill (The Fashionistas, Naim Amor and Tom Walbank) share two band members: Dmitri Manos, of Sugarbush, Galactic Federation of Love and Golden Boots, and Michael Bagesse, formerly of Liberty School. It was sort of like being at a club meeting, with the newest inductees being Phoenix’s Colorstore, who played the second slot and rightfully earned their right to play among the “cliques” of the Tucson music scene.
The Fashionistas, who played first, sound almost like Portishead would if they were a lounge band, and their slowed-down cover of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” showcased their eerie swankiness. The forces at work in The Fashionistas’ music are embodied by lead singer Emilie Marchand’s sultry jazz vocals and her fabulous punk-rock hair.
The four guys in Colorstore, who played second, had a lot of tricks up their short, sweaty sleeves. They were barely visible behind all of their equipment-keyboards, organs, guitars, drums and a giant suitcase full of gadgets. Singer / rhythm guitarist Mark Erickson wailed and contorted behind the suitcase, and by the end of the set, looked like he had run about 16 miles in the middle of the day. Each song was epic space-rock; one started with Erickson moaning melodically into his microphone, which he captured and looped under another harmonizing melody he created with a sort of breathing sound.
After Colorstore, Naim Amor and his band, which just got back from a West Coast tour, played their Ennio Morricone-esque French pop. Amor has played with a number of Tucson musicians over the years, and each incarnation is just as brilliant as the last; Amor’s songs are both ultracool and undeniably Tucson, which is weirdly enhanced by the mostly French lyrics.
As if there weren’t enough musical genres being toyed with over the course of the evening, Tom Walbank and the Ambassadors took the guts out of old-style blues and rocked ‘em up. Walbank’s reworkings and interpretations of the kind of blues that gave birth to rock are always impressive, especially when he’s playing that harmonica. Amazingly enough, drummer Manos and guitarist Bagesse were still keeping a steady rhythm alongside Walbank pushing 2 a.m., even after playing with Amor and The Fashionistas.
Clique-ish as the whole show was, there’s good reason all of these musicians play together: It makes for damn fine music.
Review
By Nicole Girard
The Arizona Republic – 2/10/05
MEET THE BAND: Robin Vining, vocals, guitars, keyboards; Mark Erickson, vocals, guitars, keyboards; Bill Cole, bass; Jef Wright, drums; Ryan Breen, laptop computer, samples, vocal reprocessing, guitar.
TIME TOGETHER: One year.
HEADQUARTERS: Phoenix.
HOW THEY GOT THEIR START: Erickson attended Berklee College of Music in Boston but quit after one semester. “There were too many rules,” he said. “With the instructors’ theory of music and the rules of how to play music, I learned a lot, but it just wasn’t for me. It was kind of rigid.” Erickson hung around Boston for eight more months, working and developing the formula for colorstore: no-rules, abstract, free-flowing music with stream-of consciousness lyrics. Back in Phoenix, Erickson met Vining. “We got on really well and related musically,” he said, though Vining had a very different musical background. “He was raised as a choirboy, and his voice is extremely well trained as opposed to mine. My music was very much more angular, and I just had a more abstract way of looking at it. I’m more apt to making noise in certain spots, whereas Robin would write a melody.” Drummer Wright, formerly of local post-punk trio Death of Marat, was introduced to the band through its recording engineer, Mike Hissong. Breen, Erickson’s old roommate, was recruited for bass synthesizer before Cole, formerly of Rum Tenor, came on board to play live bass.
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: “The word I use the most is soundscapes,” Erickson said. “Some of the lyrics are ambiguous, some of it touches on social anxieties, or a story I might have heard, or someone I might have known.” Strange Summer, reminiscent of the Beach Boys and Pink Floyd, is about as poppy as it gets. Such unconventional instruments as the Theremin, a high-tech gadget with two antennas, lend such songs as “Loosedreams, Heavysleeps” a dreamy, psychedelic feel. Shelter and the Ice Age is an experiment in New Age with guitars and keyboards similar to Radiohead’s Kid A.
Review
By Hayden Blades
S.L.A.M. / Issue 6 / Volume 1 – August, 2004
colorstore – Heavy Sleeps EP
The first time I heard of colorstore, I was attending an Ides of Space concert over a year ago, in which, some way or another, colorstore ended up headlining. I vividly remember Mark Erickson, lead singer / guitarist / keyboardist, questioning his own presence on the stage following the Australian 4 piece in a most modest and doubting affectedness. He then turns around and proceeds to pour his heart out on any given instrument that graced the stage with him that evening. In my opinion, the highlight of the evening was watching this performer; a bit disjointed, a bit nervous, and most human.
Heavy Sleeps, the relatively new EP from colorstore, is, at its best a beautiful personification of Erickson’s character, and at its worst, a great little collection of spacey pop songs. The first 3 tracks are rife with questions of uncertainty of the future, of individual decisions and self worth, and dreams of things to come. The title track and centerpiece to the album is definitely a highlight, opening with a touch of Bark Psychosis plucking strings and ambiance. The vocals skitter in and out of consciousness as the song slowly burns into a crescendo of warbling musical saws, guitar tremolos and bubbling electronic percussion, until around the 6-minute mark where upon the flame gradually dies out and Skinny Little Pop Star emerges from the residual smoke. I understand the aesthetic of countering these songs back to back, but Colorstore are at their best creating a mood as opposed to a catchy verse / chorus / verse, as is the case with this track. And finally, “Lunatic,” alludes to Dark Side of the Moon, or Wish You Were Here era Pink Floyd, and is pretty enough to sustain a worthwhile outro.
The only complaint is this recording tightening up their style too much. The appeal of colorstore is the unknown, the things that can’t be precisely mimicked, the subtle discord. Without these elements they could fall into the “another decent pop group” category. Otherwise, these guys are absolutely worth keeping your ears on, and I am eagerly awaiting their forthcoming LP.
Review
By Serene Dominic
Phoenix New Times – 9/23/04
Side Projectors: The Sweet Bleeders and colorstore are two-timing each other
There’s a reason crime and punishment stories work best in an antiquated setting. Bloody jpegs of a crime scene can’t match the romance of sepia-toned photos of outlaws staring blankly into an uncertain future. Even the preferred weaponry from the digital age, like an automatic weapon or a stun gun, seems impersonal compared to the smoking pistol or the truncheon.
Sweet Bleeders’ Robin Vining must think so. He’s set the bulk of the band’s new five-song EP, Murder Go Home, in a hard-to-define time frame, recounting transgressions that could’ve taken place yesterday or a century ago, with only an occasional mention of a guillotine thrown in for historical blurring.
Perhaps he identifies with outlaws and underdogs because his group has stood outside the normal order of things since its inception in 1999. Back then, Sweet Bleeders could’ve really used the downtown Phoenix axis of clubs like Modified Arts, the Paper Heart and the Emerald Lounge, where people come largely just to hear music, even songs that occasionally demand silence from the audience. Before they had the luxury of such a tailor-made scene, they often aired out their piano-propelled pop in sports bars along the once-mandatory Mill Avenue. There, Vining’s plaintive and beautiful tenor often had to compete with TV screens, the brouhaha of someone buying a round of shots, and, incredibly enough, the odd heckler, like the one at Long Wong’s who wasn’t shouting “Play Radiohead!” to be complimentary.
Favorable comparisons to Thom Yorke or Jeff Buckley are not unfounded, but they don’t tell the whole Sweet Bleeders story. Forget that the band has two banks of clunky keyboards facing one another like a scruffier version of Ferrante and Teicher. Here is a group that stirs a fascinating mix of farcical carnival music one minute, country or quiet New Age the next, with lyrical narratives that “make you feel like you’re on a strange adventure,” as Vining puts it.
Sweet Bleeders’ strange adventure of merger and intrigue began in 2000, when Vining was introduced to kindred spirit Mark Erickson, his partner both in the current Sweet Bleeders and in Colorstore. At that time, the original version of colorstore was fading to black. In a ringing endorsement of his friend’s talents, Vining submerged his ego and his rhythm section into a second version of colorstore, with no mention of the Bleeders for a year. But while the styles of two different writers jelled, it was hard to build momentum in a set when lead vocalists had to tag team every couple of songs.
“There’s so much material — that’s one of the factors in having the two bands,” explains Erickson. “In colorstore, I write the songs. In Sweet Bleeders, Robin writes the songs. And one of the ideas in separating the bands was to give each other the freedom to say, ‘This is how it’s gonna be,’ without having a unified band direction or sound.”
For a while, the two demonstrated the differences by booking both bands on the same night. “But that gets a little confusing sometimes,” says Vining. “Just the mindset.”
Judging by the Murder Go Home EP and colorstore’s recent EP Heavy Sleeps, Bleeders songs have more linear narratives, up-front vocals and analog instrumentation, while colorstore has more stream-of-consciousness lyrics, distorted vocals, loops, and electric and synth instrumentation. The two sides usually meet on beautiful ballads like colorstore’s “Lunatic” or Sweet Bleeders’ “Blow Away.” Collectively, both Vining and Erickson play an assortment of instruments besides guitars and keyboards, including melodica, cello, Theremin, trumpet, accordion, glockenspiel and something called a banjolin. While the two men are solidly entrenched in both bands, nowadays their comments about drummers and bassists seem to start with, “We used to play with a guy, but then . . . ,” before trailing off. When both bands lost their longtime drummer, they borrowed drummer John de la Cruz and bassist Mike Montoya from Fatigo to fill in on a semi-regular basis, to reciprocate for Vining’s sitting in with Fatigo on many occasions.
There’s a group of bands that are pretty incestuous,” says Vining. “It all comes from a need. ‘We need somebody to do this. Can you do it?’ ‘Sure.’ You do a few gigs and then they turn around and say the same thing to you. I’m not a very good accordion player, but just because I play it, I get a lot of calls.”
A guy could get wrist cramps mapping out all the lengthy branches of this family tree, but it does warm the heart to know that this coalition of bands supports itself. And on top of it all, colorstore and Sweet Bleeders still manage to make an efficient partnership.
Currently, colorstore is on deck to record next, while Sweet Bleeders regularly play Wednesdays at the Emerald. Back to a bass-less trio again, they make do, like a man who loses his bottom half in an accident and figures out a different way of sitting. “I play more left hand, lower octaves, try to keep it more active in the low register,” says Vining. While the noise level at the Emerald’s bar often bleeds over the quiet level of Vining’s opening solo numbers, it’s a testament to his lung power that every table in the room usually fills up before the second song ends.
How long can both bands keep up at the same pace before one commands more time and attention than this arrangement allows? It helps that Vining and Erickson are both well-suited to each other in varying degrees of non-ego. Erickson is quiet in an inward, talk-into-your-chest kind of way, while Vining is contemplative in a stare-up-at-the-ceiling-and-ponder sort of way. Those are all the singer-songwriter bases you need covered.
Perhaps the answer to why they need two bands lies in Vining’s explanation of why they need all those keyboards onstage, particularly two cumbersome Fender Rhodes pianos.
“No one keyboard really does everything you want it to do. You need both,” says Vining, looking up for the moment, “to do different things.”
Review
By Chris Fanning
College Times – 9/9/04
COLORSTORE – Band keeps the chatter down, sticks to making music
It was a Friday night at the Hollywood Alley in Mesa and one of the guitarist / keyboardist / vocalists for the local group colorstore, Robin Vining, was laying on the ramp to the stage. Vining was letting out a wild howl in some kind of pre-performance ritual. Lying with his head right above Vining’s was Mark Erickson who plays keyboards, does the lead vocals and plays a number of instruments. Erickson was releasing the same kind of howl. The two laid there howling, finding the magical place that would inspire their performance that night.
“You are going to mention the hiccups in the article aren’t you?” drummer Jef Wright said. So maybe it wasn’t a pre-performance ritual after all.
Vining and Erickson have lent their talents to some amazing bands in their years and are now playing together in the latest incarnation of colorstore, a band that seems to have almost mastered sound and creating an atmosphere with their music.
“It’s something much more different than the typical bar band,” Erickson said. “If you come to our shows, your’e coming to see us. I use the word soundscape a lot. They’re basically pop songs, but it’s atmospheric.”
Colorstore started around 2001 as a way for Erickson to display some of the music he had been writing by himself through a band. Vining joined and Wright took over on the drums in November 2003. Wright said the since he has joined the band he has noticed really good songwriting and originality that he looks for in music.
“I like bands that try to push the creative limit, be original and have integrity,” Wright said. “It’s really honest and there’s no attempt to have a certain sound. There’s no discussion on trying to sound like the trendy sound at the moment, it’s just doing whatever comes up.”
At their show that Friday, the band played to a bar that might not have necessarily been looking to hear new music, but they set a mood that should have been hard for true music fans to ignore. In some ways you could compare the band to Pink Floyd. The way everything came together it made it very simple to just get lost in the wall of sound and begin to think about things in a different light. Perhaps if you had closed your eyes and let your imagination roam, you could begin to move to a new level that Vining said he hoped the music took people to.
“We’re trying to take ourselves into some other place and if the listener is looking for that in a band then that can happen,” he said.
With no onstage gimmicks or silliness the band moved from one song to the next in order to keep the atmosphere that had been set. They mentioned their lack of onstage banter kind of as if it were a negative, but the fact that they kept with the music also sets them apart in the music world.
“We’re working on our onstage banter, but we don’t really have that down yet,” Wright said.
Vining added, “We love to play more than we like to talk, so we normally go from song to song without saying much.”
Wright also brought up a conversation he was having where he and a friend were discussing whether they would choose to lose their eyesight or hearing. He said, “it was hands down my eyesight because everything I do revolves around playing music, listening to music and going to shows.” Erickson added, “We’ll probably lose our hearing first.”
After canceling a tour they had planned, colorstore will now use that gas money to head back into the studio and record. They will also be playing September 25th at Emerald Lounge. For more information check out www.colorstore.net.
Review
REVIEWER: ZEITGEIST MAG
www.zeitgeist-scot.co.uk – 6/27/04
A 5 track EP, dripping with psychedelic nuances. Vining and Erickson adopt the ‘show off’ model by playing everything on the EP, which takes in cello, upright bass, piano, guitar, synths, theremin and anything else that could be cranked up very slowly.
There’s a late 60s early 70s dreamy vibe about the music here, epsecially highlight “Strange Summer”, which is a gem of a song. “Shelter And The Ice Age” is another highlight, more upbeat, but without losing focus. Akin to that post 1967, but before the bad drugs kicked in period, when people weren’t afraid to try and say something (or nothing) of importance. Of course, in this digital age, the production is a lot clearer than on my crackly vinyl of yore.
Highly enjoyable and very listenable, this is well worth taking a peek into.
Review
REVIEWER: LEVAVARAN
www.southofmainstream.com – 5/16/04
Colorstore – Heavy Sleeps – 4 stars (****)
There seems to be a trend in the world of indie musicians to create some very interesting “neo-psychedelia” based heavily on the trippy sound of music of the mid to late ’60′s. At its worst you have some interesting flanged-out memories of a childhood I was too young to enjoy, and at its best you have some excellent music.
Colorstore’s five-song EP, Heavy Sleeps is neo-psychedelia at its best. They rely heavily on influences like pre-1973 Pink Floyd and the Beatles from Magical Mystery Tour on, with an emphasis on Abbey Road-era hippie tunes.
For the most part, we have a soundtrack of the happier times of the Summer of 1967 without the Anti-Vietnam War politics. We have some great titles, affected vocals, sometimes refreshingly unintelligible and some nice use of dynamics, a lost art in this age of digital. Of the five songs presented, four were actually great, while #3, “Loose Dream, Heavy Sleeps” ran way too slow in my opinion.
I would like to hear a whole album by these guys to really find out what I missed during the Summer of Love.
Genre: Psychedelic, Released: 2004
Review
By Chris Holly
Get Out Magazine – 4/8/04
Colorstore – Heavy Sleeps – (RATING = “A”)
Colorstore has released a five song EP with material that many bands would be jealous of. Robin Vining and Mark Erickson each play an assortment of instruments on the disc including cello, upright bass, piano, guitar, synths, Theremin and other electronic gadgetry that burbles underneath the surface throughout the disc.
The multi-instrumentalists also prove themselves fine songwriters, crafting crisp pop numbers like the Bowie-esque “Strange Summer” and “Skinny Little Pop Star,” which is a T. Rex-styled pop tune with electronica elements.
Experimentation on the slow tune “Loosedream, Heavy Sleeps” is less effective than on the upbeat numbers such as “Shelter And The Ice Age,” but the productions inventiveness gives these pop songs a different feel than many of their contemporaries and makes this disc an enjoyable listen.
(RATING = “A”)
Review
By Dena Johnson
Shade Magazine – Feb/Mar 2004
Colorstore’s EP “Heavy Sleeps” is a well thought out musical ensemble of Mark Erickson’s emotions. With the aid of bells, loops, a cello, piano, whale calls, Theremin and Mike Hissong, who produced and engineered the album, colorstore gives us a beautifully moody set of songs.