8. home is colored gold interview

Home Is Colored Gold interview by Mark
1/27/09

Home Is Colored Gold is from San Francisco, CA.
www.myspace.com/homeiscoloredgold

Kyeo: what is your name and your role in Home Is Colored Gold? who else is in the band?
Conrad: I’m Conrad Nichols. I play bass and I yell things. Ryan Johnson plays guitar. Ryan berggren plays drums and also yells things.

Kyeo: how do you describe your band’s sound? what are your influences?
Conrad: We’ve been called “Football Skramz,” I’m not sure what that means. I’d call it aggressive punk, bordering hardcore. I don’t know why I’m so opposed to referring to us as a hardcore band, I guess I feel like it has a negative connotation sometimes. As far as influences, This Flood Covers The Earth, Mammoth Grinder, Daniel Striped Tiger, Ampere, Comadre, Metallica (ST ANGER ONLY). Berggren likes Fugazi.

Kyeo: what does “Home Is Colored Gold” mean?
Conrad: It started off a lyric to a song Berggren wrote. Its a kind of ironic statement about how home is always supposed to be a happy, simple place, when in reality it usually isn’t.

Kyeo: you originally didn’t play bass in the band right? everyone sort of switched around. why?
Conrad: That’s right. I started off playing drums and doing backup vocals. RJ was on bass. And Berggren was on guitar and leads. That was when were more of an aggressive rock band. Then Berggren and I switched. We played our first show like that, then I moved to bass and RJ to guitar. It seems to work best like that. Or not, I don’t know. We all write the songs together.

Kyeo: you guys just put out a new demo this week. i read that you guys record yourselves?
Conrad: Yea, we do. I’m not super proud of the quality of that demo, but the ideas are there. We rushed through the process and we’re missing some of our gear. Funny story: We actually recorded the some of the vocals in a car on the way to santa cruz and in davis. We eventually redid them. I have the capabilities to make the next recordings much better. Learn through experience I guess.

Kyeo: how does your band go about writing songs?
Conrad: Well, one of us will come up with a piece or two and we take it from there. I do most of the composing of the songs, Berggren writes a lot of the lyrics, and RJ just plays the hell out of them.

Kyeo: this was my next question: what are your songs about? since you and ryan share vocal duties, how do you both write the lyrics?
Conrad: A lot of our lyrics are about the discomforts of social norms, situations, and relationships - platonic, romantic, all kinds. Just some simple catharsis - they mostly deal with personal experience (or lack thereof). Sometimes one of us will write something and the other will take it, revise it, change it. Or maybe one of us will just write a full song. We’re not set on any one way to write songs or lyrics.

Kyeo: what’s the most important aspect of being in HICG for you? is it the work ethic of being in a diy punk band, musicianship, experience, etc?
Conrad: For me, music is everything. Being in a band like this is a great outlet for me. I’ve already had some of the best times of my life, and we are a fairly inexperienced band. The DIY community is amazing to be involved with, I can’t imagine having it any other way.I guess to sum it up, I just want to jam.

Kyeo: recently, you guys went on a small winter tour. how did that turn out?
Conrad: Very bittersweet. We met some amazing dudes, from other bands and people just hanging out at the show, and played some very fun shows and very interesting venues - record store, a bar near some rollercoasters (HOLLER* @ COASTERS). We had 5 shows planned, and played 3 before my truck’s transmission blew up on the way to LA. We got stuck in a shitty town called Patterson (fuck that place) for 7 hours where they wanted to charge me $5000 to fix the transmission. “Luckily” we were only about 100 miles from home, so my girlfriend picked us up and I had the truck towed home. Even with the shitty circumstances, it was still the most fun I’ve ever had.

Kyeo: what will HICG be doing in the near/far future?
Conrad: Some BETTER recordings, maybe some split releases (anyone interested??). I’m planning a spring tour, probably about a week or so. Its funny, we can’t get on any shows in the bay area, but I can book a tour in places i’ve never been. I guess no one likes us after they see us live haha

Kyeo: anything else you’d like to add before we say goodbye?
Conrad: Support bands you enjoy. Tell them you enjoy them. They’ll appreciate it. Thanks for the interview. BIG UPS TO: MOLDAR, ColorChromatic, Matsuri, O Lucky Man!, Deers!, Sentinel for driving 80+ miles to/from our show, anybody playing music because it is important to them and not because it is cool.
Most importantly: COASTERS

*Conrad, it’s “Hollah”, not Holler.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

since this interview happened, HICG broke up sometime in march. here is sort of a part 2 interview regarding the demise of HICG.

part 2 happened on 4/29/09.

kyeo: hi conrad. how was your spring tour?
conrad: o hai derr. the tour was great. it was something i've already wanted to do, and i finally got a chance. it was nothing short of amazingly fun.

kyeo: please tell us everything. where did you guys go? how were the shows? what were some of the highlights of the trip?
conrad: Well, we hit the road with our best buds in Matsuri. We had 9 shows lined up, in 8 days. We played Palo Alto, Lemon Grove (san diego), San Gabriel, Santa Monica, Marina, Sacramento and Davis (in the same day!), Eureka, and Belmont, respectively. There were really too many good times to even begin to mention, but some of the highlights include: playing with Loma Prieta, Touche Amore (twice!), seeing friends all over the state as well as making new ones, listening to Harry Potter books on tape in the van, losing a drummer for a few shows, and seeing Kyra Sedgewick (that chick from The Closer on TNT) at our Santa Monica show.

kyeo: was she really there? did you talk to her?
conrad: It was really her. I was sitting across from her for awhile and finally ask her if she was Kyra Sedgewick. She said yes, and I told her my dad likes her TV show. She said thanks and asked me if I liked it as well. I told her the truth and said I've only seen an episode or two and that it OK, and very intense. She laughed. I think we're dating now. Does it work like that?

kyeo: when, how, and why did HICG throw in the towel?
conrad: It isn't the most exciting story. We called it quits on April 22, 2009 after our show with FURNACE. Someone got tired of playing with the other guys in the band, someone got tired of playing in HICG, and someone got tired of playing music all together. I considered continuing this band with new musicians, but decided against it. someone once told me that bands are all about capturing a moment, and to drag it on any longer than it should wouldn't be justified (I won't tell you who told me that, but I'll give you a hint: he is in a band named after a W.O.W. character and a band about babies). I wish we could've made it work because the best times I've ever had were because of this band. No regrets.

kyeo: so how do you feel after looking back on what was a big part of your life for the past couple of years? is there a phrase that sums it up or maybe a lesson learned?
conrad: Honestly, I'm still a little saddened by it, still emotional about it. Or maybe it's because I'm listening to Owen... It's a hard to stomach the idea that someone (in this case me) puts their heart into something so important, and another person decides it isn't good enough for them. I know that band break up, it's nothing new, but it still sucks when your main outlet into this world is taken away. Music is a much needed outlet for me, so I don't plan on stopping any time soon. I am still glad I put my all into this band, even if it didn't work out. I got a lot more than I ever expected and I am grateful for all the experiences I had and relationships I've made because of this. It's great.

kyeo: so in retrospect, is there one show or moment in HICG's lifespan that you cherish the most?
conrad: There is this picture of us at a show we played in Palo Alto, our 3rd show I think. We played for no more than 9 people, but we we're as happy as people can be. We are smiling and laughing and we don't have a care in the world other than playing our mediocre music for anybody that was willing to listen. I miss that.

kyeo: so you started a new band. tell me about john cock.
conrad: John Cota, thanks. Well, when iwastheexplosion broke up I talked to Max about playing drums for HICG. We decided to jam on some screamo style songs I had written and it took off from there. It's pretty basic skramz, with elements of melody and chaos and whatever other adjectives I can throw in there. I have very high hopes for this band. Stay tuned?

kyeo: what plans do you have right now for john cock?
conrad: We are writing more songs right now, and will record them soon for a demo. Also, we need to figure out our bassist situation, we'll see who comes through. We're planning on doing a cassette tape release with either MOLDAR or Matsuri. Either one would be awesome. We actually played our first show at the final HICG show. It was alright. We won't play many shows before we have some more recorded, distributable material. As far as our goals and methods: all DIY, all the time.

kyeo: last words regarding HICG or in general?
conrad: I'm trying to think of something amazing to say since it will be my last time doing anything HICG related. I guess all I can really say is do what you love regardless of what others think. Make your own outlet for this world. Football Skramz Forever.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

check out John Cota at www.myspace.com/johnfuckingcota