The story of Colour Design begins in 2015 when guitarist Jesse Kelly and bassist Aaron Wolfe were both playing in a post-metal band and wanted to try doing something a bit more melodic. The Little Rock, Arkansas-based musicians eventually invited guitarist Daniel Cox and vocalist Shawn Hood into the fold to begin penning material together. Drummer Shane Clinton completed the Colour Design lineup soon after.
"Within a year of forming, we put out our first record called Be Still," Shane tells No Echo via email. "We started playing out and around more and more. In 2018, we put out They Don’t Exist, also independently. We kept playing around town and doing the weekend-warrior thing regionally getting our shit out there when possible. We toured our way down to Fest 18 in Gainesville, Florida in 2019 and had a dope response down there.
"2020 hit and shit kinda went on hold for a second but we were still able to write during all that bullshit."
Pandemic setbacks aside, Colour Design focused on new material and the fruit of their labor can be heard on their brand-new record, Nothing Matters Now:
Shane gave No Echo the Colour Design influence rundown: "We’re most often described as some combination of shoegaze and post-hardcore, and that’s fair, for sure, especially these new songs which swing more toward post-hardcore. I’d say the older shit was much more shoegaze-influenced.
"The opening track on the new record, 'Oblivion,' is probably the only real-deal shoegazey song on there. We asked our friends Stan Liszewski [Terminal Nation] and Brett Campbell [Pallbearer] to hop on that song just because it already seemed so different from the rest of that batch that it seemed appropriate to mix it up vocally too.
"Our influences are pretty varied. The dudes playing guitar are big into the classic shoegaze bands so there’s My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Catherine Wheel, Slowdive, etc. But beyond that, I’d say they’re taking some cues from stuff like Bear vs. Shark, Fugazi, hell, even shit like The National. Wolfe’s into post-hardcore and metal, while Shawn and I are just hardcore kids that happen to listen to everything else too."
The Little Rock underground music scene is in a healthy state, according to Shane:
"Shit it is thriving right now. So many bands in Little Rock are making incredibly cool shit. Let’s see, Peach Blush, Terminal Nation, PETT, Zilla, Second Life, Morbid Visionz, LAP, MoonMane... I could go on and on."
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