Living Colour , one of the most renowned names in American rock, is coming to Brazil during the month of October for four performances on national soil.
The tour begins on the 10th in Rio de Janeiro, at Sacadura, and continues to Belo Horizonte on the 11th at Mister Rock, São Paulo on the 12th at Tokio Marine Hall, and concludes its run in Brasília on the 13th at Toinha Brazil.
The band returns to the country two years after their last show, which took place at Rock In Rio. Formed by guitarist Vernon Reid , vocalist Corey Glover , drummer Will Calhoun , and bassist Doug Wimbish , the group has already released six studio albums.
In an exclusive interview with Wikimetal , Reid commented on Living Colour's first visit to Brazil, the album Vivid (1988), and more.
The 1992 Monsters Of Rock festival was notable as the first time Living Colour performed in our country, something Reid recalls nostalgically: “You know, I remember I was much younger. And, you know, it’s exciting. It was exciting. It’s so interesting to say that some of the songs we played back then, we play now. And our approach to it is, I don’t know, a little more refined. I don’t know. But it was fun.”
“I think back about who we were, who I was back then, and thinking about where we are now and all the different changes and how much things haven’t changed. Many things in society haven’t changed as much as we’d like.”
In 1988 they released the album Vivid , which truly impacted their career. The debut album made them quite well-known, setting them apart in the music industry.
“Well, what I feel about it is that the first aspect is that we never apologize for being Black. We just are who we are. And I never accepted the idea that rock ceased to be something that Black people could express. I didn't accept that. I never accepted that. So there was never a conflict about playing rock and roll.”
“Now, for the people who were surprised, people would think, ‘oh, well, it started out black and then it became white, and that’s it.’ And that’s not really true. That’s not really true. And for me, in my youth, I remember listening to bands like Funkadelic , listening to WAR , listening to the Isley Brothers . And [ Jimmi ] Hendrix was in the Isley Brothers band. And then Ernie Isley , who was the youngest, became the guitarist. And they had radio hits with that post-Hendrix sound.”
“So that was part of my soundtrack growing up. So when I got to the age of playing guitar one night, that was never a thing. And then I discovered jazz and was into blues, and I never stopped loving funk. That’s what happened. So basically, we brought our lives to the project. And that’s the point. We did something very unlikely, and that’s part of the band’s influence.”
"Beyond the race, just the fact that we did something that nobody thought could happen, that's part of what's influential."
When asked about the possibility of making new albums, he replied: “We’re working on songs and we’ve been touring a lot because we’ve been with Extreme for a little over a year and it’s been a lot of fun. But we started recording in between tours. And soon, I think after this run, I don’t know, I think we’re almost finished with our run and then we’ll focus on the next album.”
In terms of the setlist for the shows in Brazil, the guitarist gives some details: “We put 'Sacred Ground' back on our setlist, and we haven't played 'Sacred Ground' in a long time, and I'm looking forward to it. And we've been playing 'Bi' recently, and that's a fun song for us to play. There are a few things. They will be different.”
READ ALSO: Living Colour points out that white people “pretend not to know the origin” of rock.
