All the Colors are a three piece rock band consisting of Dave McIntosh, Mark Allison and Joe Macrae who have recently started gigging (albeit acoustically)in the area and debut their full electric set on the 20th of April at The Eagle.
We caught up with Mark Allison, guitarist and lead vocalist of the band (and occasional contributor to Inverness Gigs) to have a chat about the band.
Before we go any where it is Colors, not colours, Mark explains “ from a graphic view I can do so much more with the word”. Best to get that out of the way….
Whilst the band are moving forward, Mark recognises it’s not as quick as he would like “I’m a planner…. and usually what I find it is it never achieves things at the time I would want”, philosophically he adds “life get’s in the way”. This also affects their ability to record “It’s seems to be taking for ever… we have recorded one track”, although hopefully they will have ten tracks to put together towards an album in Autumn.
Three gigs in a week sees them play two acoustic sets (one in Glachbeg and one in Dingwall) culminating in the gig at The Eagle. Mark acknowledges the importance of getting the name “out there” and obviously sees gigging, especially locally, as an integral part to this.
“I looking forward to playing the first electric set”, but he acknowledges some nerves; “there’s a lot of onus on me as I’m lead vocalist”. Indeed Mark noted that he had previously resisted the opportunity in the past due to lack of confidence in his ability, “it kinda happened by default …. I kinda secretly harboured an ambition to do it and the guys were happy for me to do it”. However Joe takes on responsibility for a couple of songs “He’s got a totally unique voice”.
When looking at the bands influences he simplifies it a little: ““Joe is an old punk, Dave is prog rock and I’m the pop-queen”, toungue in cheek, perhaps. The result is a “punky – rocky sound” although pop-sensibilities are clear: “I would rather be an average guitar player and have a song that people can sing along together”.
After some subtle questioning Mark revealed his current influences; “ Dave Grohl is my current day champion (both for music and his philosophy to life and people), musically I love something that gets in my head with a catchy tune, my recent purchases have been RED by Taylor Swift, Songs for the End of the World by Rick Springfield, Glen Campbell’s latest album and a few RUSH albums. I love guitar crunchie music and am a bit partial to some modern day country music like Keith Urban as well a lot of old and modern rock bands.”
It is fair to say that All the Colors are not the youngest band on the block and conversation moves to whether age has it’s benefits, “I think it’s down to who you are, society has been set up with a certain level of expectation”. “Music for me is a passion for life, if you have a passion regardless of your age you should pursue it”. “ If you want something bad enough, only you can either achieve it or stop yourself from achieving it. Belief and determination are the main ingredients.” Mark reflects, “I could have done a lot more at a younger age but I let my belief/determination be clouded by listening to negative/wrong people, now i’m older, wise-to-it and don’t really give a ‘F*$!’ what the negative people have to say.”
With a positive sentiment about having faith and confidence in your abilities it was time to leave, it will be interesting to see what happens next with the band. Watch this space…
All the Colors can be seen playing Glachbeg Croft on 16th of April, the Greenhouse,Dingwall on the 18th of April and on the 20th at the Eagle joined by Shaped and Craig Robertson.
For more information see the All the Colors Facebook Page and if you want to read Mark Allison’s articles for the site
