Rob Griffith, junior English major, and other members of the band Flying Colours perform at Union Night during Family Weekend 2012.
By Kate Benedetti
Online Editor
With thousands of YouTube views and more than 900 fans on Facebook, student pop band Flying Colours has definitely made a splash, both on campus and beyond.
Formerly known as the band Rice, Jay Griffith, junior French major, and junior English majors Rob Griffith and Taylor Hare have played together since their freshman year.
The group of two brothers and a roommate has long been a fixture at Open Mic events on campus and recently played an opening show at the release party of “The Rise,” a new album from Nashville pop/hip hop band Jamie, Joey, and the Movement.
Now the trio are anticipating the release of their own second album, as yet untitled. Following 2010’s “Music from a Farther Room” (available on iTunes), the new album “has been in the works for a really long time” and represents the band’s last two years compressed into one album, Rob Griffith said.
Many of the lyrics for the new songs are adapted from Hare’s poetry.
Jay Griffith cited Greek mythology as a major influence on his lyrical content, while his brother and Hare mentioned writers as diverse as Vladimir Nabokov, Ernest Hemingway and Douglas Adams.
The upcoming album was recorded over the summer in a friend’s studio, without formal producers because “we wanted it to be us,” Hare said.
Rob Griffith added that the former album “didn’t really represent the way that we wrote the songs,” due to extensive editing by producers; the second album will be “a more accurate representation of us as a band.”
Band members agree that while “Music from a Farther Room” was a rock album, the upcoming album will feature progressive pop music, with extensive instrumental layering, effects, and a more electronic sound.
They expect to feature 10 or 11 songs and hope to “remain true to that sound of a live show,” Jay Griffith said.
Hare mentioned that band members wrote different parts of the album.
“We’ve been learning a lot about the communal aspect of music,” he said.
He went on to describe the way all three members collaborate even on individual songs. The new album also will differ from “Music” in its increased emphasis on group vocals.
“I think there’s a lot of power when you have something to say and you have a really big group saying it,” Rob Griffith said.
The group’s new album will become available this winter.
Listen to the music
Find out more when you visit https://www.facebook.com/flyingcolourstn and http://www.youtube.com/user/flyingcolourstn.
