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Ryan Hendrix On Colourmusic's Latest Album, Teaching And "Music's Call"

Ryan Hendrix (left) and Nick Ley of Colourmusic

Colourmusic's latest album, Swimsuit, marks a return for the band, who after a hiatus have played a string of live performances this year with another show happening tonight at Tower Theatre with Broncho and Deerpeople.

KOSU intern Matthew Viriyapah did this interview earlier this year with Ryan Hendrix of Colourmusic. In it, Hendrix talks about what he tries to teach his students, the latest album, and the future of music in Oklahoma.

Hear the interview above and read some highlights below.

On the album, Swimsuit

Imagine a noise rock band working with the sounds of R&B music of the 90's... That was the kind of musical goal to pull off.

I lost a friend... I had family members pass away. It was just a really heavy moment for me that left its imprint on the record. There are relationships in our lives that are going to be torn apart by death or by illness... And I kind of thought, "can I write a record that's like a bandaid for me so that when this stuff happens I can listen to this to help me deal with this?"

On the blue of water and the ocean's influence

When I write music, I watch like TV shows and stuff. And it was just like, I always had the Blue Planet on all the time and there's a movie that nobody liked called "Knight of Cups" that came out that had Christian Bale in it and just really kind of fit the feel of the record I was doing...

So remember—we have a British member of our band... But he'd (Nick Turner) always give me a hard time because I'd see the ocean and just be like, "the ocean is just so erotic" and he'd be like, "What are you talking about?"

On teaching at ACM@UCO and his advice to students

I would say that one is that it needs to be fun, but you need to make something you're really proud of, because it's so ultra competitive... So focus on the things that matter. I think if your goal is to just be commercially successful, then you have the wrong assumptions.

I don't see trends at ACM... It really is unbelievably diverse. There is no one repeating thing at all.

I think really in the end it's trying to help people—help students create something they're proud of and then just make them feel ready as artists or even if they go in on the business, to make a step forward.

On the direction of Oklahoma music

Oklahoma always really been a fertile music scene. And what happens is a lot of the people of talent move and they'll do something successful somewhere else and they won't necessarily claim their Oklahoma roots even though they're still Oklahoma artists.

I think the music is going to be become a little weirder and a little more dynamic. But I think that this is the place to watch for new artists, because there are just so many unbelievably talented people here. It's kind of crazy.

What are we living our life for? ...A lot of us are living our life because we want to have a great experience and we want to feel like our lives meant something. And that's kind of what music's call is—it's to give us that experience.

You can find more about Colourmusic hereand for more information on their concert at Tower Theatre, you can go to towertheatreokc.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nY2gmt0oo0

Matthew Viriyapah is KOSU's production assistant and host of the music podcast Songwriters & Tour Riders.
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