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| Sunday, 5 January 2003 |
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Their music is wide, including not only soul bat everything from pop, rhythm and blues, gospel and reggae and with the 'high-energy' dancing by the front line trio singers, AOC is an act that should not be missed. Their performance at The Boom, Galadari are from Tuesdays through to Sundays. At a recent pow wow with the front line singers 'Danger', 'Preach' the Jackson twins and 'Toyy' Murphy we got to know them better. Why the name Absence of Colour and how did you come together: We had a series of band names which we put into a hat to draw one out, since we couldn't arrive at a decision. The one that was pulled out was AOC and that's us! We played in different bands in Georgia and we saw each other regularly. So it seemed that we naturally evolved. We were also gospel singers in church choirs and we enjoyed travelling, we found it fascinating to play in other countries. Japan was the first country we were booked into after we formed ourselves and were surprised to find that they have a large young generation into hip hop. What were your influences: Well gospel is our foundation but we drew our influences from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Earth Wind and Fire and EWF are back on the scene and that's great. We do a lot of composing although we sing 'covers'. We have originals, our CD 'Boom', contains fourteen tracks on themes like love, situations and relationship. While touring we record in our rooms. In fact we are putting down trades here at the Galadari. Our originals are well received at the nite club especially 'Boom', 'You Are The One' and 'Finally I Found Someone' - they are sort of becoming hits for us! You label yourself as a soul group how do you strike a balance between soul soul and todays hip hop and rap: You have to mix it together in order to keep the younger audience informed of the music of the 60's and 70's. We re-dress it for their appreciation and they say "Hey that's a new one, we haven't heard it before!" And now there is a scenario where people want to hear the music of the earlier years, so we re-mix the songs, giving it our arrangements. Also before it was talent, today it's all about clothes. If your musicianship is good why do you think it is necessary to include high energy dancing: People, want to see something different, especially today's youth audience. Every place we toured we experienced it. There were some places where we could be laid back and sing numbers like The Temptations' hit "My Girl". Which country did you have the best response and would like to go back again: In Spain. We performed at La Manga in a nite club. There were something like 1,500 dancers grooving to our music. We stayed there for three mouths performing from Tuesdays to Sundays. There was also Munich, we did a concert there at the Olympia Hall and it was big. Spain was like home. We had our own cars and we were living in condominium flats. We loved it. We were completely relaxed, doing our own thing after performances. How different are you from other soul groups: Our repertoire is wide. Our concept is different. Wherever we go we respect other's culture and we build a new repertoire. We take time off to relax and remember. Our concept on stage is the visual aspect. We are seven guys and we have power. We switch the songs around with great confidence. If another group sings one of our songs, we change it around and make it sound different. Making strong eye contact is very important especially in a small club. What's your fav Hot 5: It Wasn't Me - Shaggy From here what next: Dubai for two months and then Spain. Sri Lanka is good. The people are warm and friendly, we get many invitations to people's homes and we are enjoying ourselves. Oh boy! |
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| Produced by Lake House |
A first meeting with the members of
Absence of Colour and you find yourself at absolute case, enjoying their
sense of humour and their friendly vibes. They pride themselves on being a
band that defy "stereotypes". Although the name Absence of
Colour sounds drab and dull, they are hardly bland.
