Q & A: Coloured Clocks

Reinventing the wheel is something Coloured Clocks do on the regular. Hey Now is their latest jam and widens their psychedelic bravado to intense new levels. We chatted with the band over email to get a better look inside their creative procedures.

You’ve left the meaning of Hey Now up to the listener. What are some your fans have ascertained from the track that you’ve heard?

Actually, I’m not sure if I have had too many people interpret the lyrics and give me any feedback just yet.

When listening to music, do absorb the melody and groove or the lyrics and vocals upon first listen?

I think it’s varied over time, I feel like the most vital ingredient to a good song is a good melody. Though, recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Peter Gabriel. In an interview I heard him discuss the importance of rhythm and the effect it has on a song and have been attending to that a little more.

The breadth of psych rock is near endless. What are some things in psych that you look for as a creator of the genre itself?

I guess you really want to convey an emotion or feeling. I think there’s a lot of music that fits the psych rock genre. I’m not too concerned about the genre specifically, but I think for any music to have significance it needs to be able to move the listener.

Your album ‘Raspberry Caravan’ is on the way and is said to be a bigger venture into psych pop. Talk about its creation and some of the songs were expected to hear.

Well, I’ve made some pretty long winded things in the past with a few experiments here and there, this one is an attempt at being a little more focused. Having said that there is still some pretty unconventional things on there. Overall it’s probably a little more upbeat and has shorter songs.

How often are you experimenting to find new guitar tones?

I do have a few pedals, but nothing really out of the ordinary, I guess I mess around with things until I get something that works. I used to try and get two tape decks and make proper tape delay (not that that’s a new idea), but it can be a lot of messing around. I’ve got a couple of things I’ve done with a tremolo pedal that I though was unique, sometimes those things appear in songs, but I think when I put them in the mix, they don’t feature so strongly.

What are some psych rock acts, old or new, that we have to check out?

Hmm, well I aside from the obvious famous artists, I’m afraid I don’t have anything particularly interesting to share. I quite like Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Toro Y Moi. Older stuff, maybe Genesis, Van Dyke Parks and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, are they psychedelic though? Maybe not. I’m probably listening to more music across different genres. A bit of funk, R&B, I’ve heard a couple of African things that I like. If you want one song, I would recommend “D’Gary & Jihe – Mbo Hahita Avao” 🙂