Colour Revolt has accomplished more as a band while still in school than many will hope to in their entire career. After releasing their self-titled EP in 2005 as mere undergrads, the band immediately took their guitar-driven, sonic-assault on the road, maintaining student status while being courted each weekend by major labels and industry festivals. Though young, they are not a punk rock band out to reverberate off the walls of drunken parties. The tone of their music is mellow for the most part. Compare Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” to Colour Revolt’s song “Mattresses Underwater,” and it kind of makes you want to take a contemplative seat.
The group’s five members graduated from the University of Mississippi in Oxford in 2008 before hitting the road for their national tour. Although young, they seem to surpass their youth, possibly because they grew up in Mississippi, a musical birthplace for jazz and blues and a huge influence for rock n’ roll.
Jesse Coppenbarger, who plays guitar, keyboard and sings vocals in the band, credits Mississippi’s “diverse, weird and great culture” for having a large impact on the band.
Colour Revolt took its name from an Edwin Abbott novel, Flatland, which uses math to describe society. In the novel, color is the great equalizer.
“It’s kind of the idea of art equalizing everything and making everything beautiful,” Coppenbarger said.
The same amount of thought and meaning behind the band’s name is put into all of their lyrics. These cryptic song lyrics speak volumes, once you decipher them.
“People ask me what [the lyrics] mean … a lot of lyrics can mean up to three things, and I never really differentiate exactly what they mean. If people think they mean one thing and to me they mean a different thing, that doesn’t matter to me. You know, music is a lot about interpretation and what it makes you feel,” Coppenbarger said.
Their songs have a lot of Biblical and literary references, which often deal with war and death. “Mattresses Underwater,” for example, is about the burden of carrying a religion that you don’t necessarily agree with.
Colour Revolt released their first full-length album, Plunder, Beg and Curse, in April 2008 and is currently touring the East Coast, Canada, the Midwest and the South.
Take the opportunity to decipher Colour Revolt’s intricate, lyrical sound for yourself when the band plays the Canopy Club on Sunday, Nov. 23 with So Long Forgotten and Greenwood.
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