LIVING COLOUR's guitar virtuoso
Vernon Reid and singer
Corey Glover stopped by
Billboard.com's studios to talk about the new album,
"The Chair In The Doorway", how the music business has changed since they began recording as a band, and how the their classic track
"Cult of Personality" can be reconsidered in the age of
Obama.
"We were talking about the cult of personality around
Ronald Reagan, so it's always weird when people talk about the Age of Obama and
'Cult of Personality' and the Cult of Personality around
Barack Obama," explains
Glover. "You could look at it at in so many different ways and from so many different perspectives that it loses its meaning after a while. And for us, when we play it, we're not thinking about the Age of Obama, we're thinking about us."
Watch the chat below.
"The Chair In The Doorway" sold around 2,800 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 159 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was written and recorded at
Sono Studios outside of Prague in the Czech Republic during the fall of 2008 and spring of 2009. The results stretch from the modern soul anthem
"Behind The Sun" to the politically-charged, heavy rock of
"DecaDance" to the sacred steel blues of
"Bless Those".
Having helped to pave the way for a number of contemporary African-American artists to follow in their wake, ranging from
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE to
LENNY KRAVITZ to
BEN HARPER, with a multi-dimensional sound that drew equally from
JIMI HENDRIX,
BAD BRAINS,
TALKING HEADS and
ORNETTE COLEMAN, the success of
LIVING COLOUR broke down the color barriers in rock music. Guitarist and founding member
Vernon Reid also founded the
Black Rock Coalition to use his influence to further this cause.
Discovered by
Mick Jagger who produced their first demo and later offered them an opening slot with
THE ROLLING STONES,
LIVING COLOUR would go on to create a repertoire that includes a multitude of classic songs, including
"Cult Of Personality",
"Elvis Is Dead",
"Open Letter To A Landlord",
"Glamour Boys" and
"Love Rears Its Ugly Head". With
"The Chair In The Doorway", the fifth album of the band's storied career,
LIVING COLOUR expands the scope of its timeless body of work and, in the process, proves vital as ever.