Graham Colton: Living Your Songs
For Graham Colton, music reflects life.
By MaryAlice Bitts
SundayNews (Lancaster, PA)
September 12, 2004
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There are two kinds of travelers: those who seldom look back, pressing onward in their quest for new experiences; and those who gaze up at the stars, finding themselves or thinking of loved ones back home.
Then there is Graham Colton, who hasn't quite made up his mind yet. Or maybe it's just that he's had so much time on the road over the last two years, he's had the luxury of doing both.
Colton, 22, is front man and principal songwriter for the indie rock 'n' roll Graham Colton Band. Two years ago he and guitarists Brian "Turtle" Turton and Drew Nichols, bassist Ryan Tallent and drummer Jordan Elder were living in obscurity in their college town of Dallas, Texas.
They have since played more than 300 shows nationwide, both solo and opening for acts such as Counting Crows, John Mayer, the Wallflowers, Jewel, and the Dave Matthews Band.
They also released their debut album, "Drive," in May and will be playing Tuesday at the Chameleon Club in support of it.
"It's a dream come true. It's the ultimate high, being able to play songs I wrote in my college dorm room and have people sing them back to me," Colton said.
It all began ...
The band's story began four years ago, when Colton left his Oklahoma City home to go to Southern Methodist University.
"I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I came with a demo tape in my hand, and I knew I wanted to get my acoustic guitar and play some coffeehouses and clubs and stuff, maybe some frat parties," he said. "Basically, I met all of the guys in my band kind of on a whim, at different concerts, playing in different bands."
At the request of a local club owner, he formed a band. "And all five of us are still together," he proudly noted.
It wasn't until they made a demo tape and put it up on the Web that things got cooking.
"A lot of kids (from all over the United States) were asking us to play, and we had never left Texas!" Colton said. "I guess the word through the grapevine is that (Counting Crows) needed an opener, and (lead singer Adam Duritz) heard our CD and liked it and called us up. Now we've done six tours with them. It was a perfect match."
For Colton, "It's happened very fast. Too fast!" That belief may account for the occasionally wistful tone on the otherwise ultimately hopeful "Drive."
All of the songs were written during touring,which explains the album's title.
"It was a really interesting experience, leaving home for the first time as a 19-20- year-old and touring the country with my friends in a van. I think both the positive and negative effects of touring - being in a hotel room every night and the routines and being away from home - all of those things show through.
"It was really the first time that I had left home," Colton said. "I had gone one way, and my friends had gone the other way, you know? I chose a path, and it just so happened that that path was filled with hotel rooms and backstage areas and sold-out clubs, and huge venues, and even meeting some of my biggest influences."
Songs must click
As thrilling as that is, he emphasizes that he can't just play any old song:
"The biggest thing that I do every day is get up and play those songs for people. So, really and truly, those songs are more than just songs; they're really the whole driving force for my daily life," Colton said. "You really do live those songs, so they better be the most honest things ever.
"The difficulty of writing songs is in making myself as uncomfortable and vulnerable as possible - not just trying to make everything rhyme perfectly. That's the hardest thing that I'm continuing to learn to do, is to really and truly say what I feel, even if it doesn't come off the tongue in the right way.
"And it's a struggle. I started working on that album when I was 19 or 20, and I'm growing. I'm experiencing different things. Sometimes I even contradict what I say, but I say what I feel."
Colton is speaking from his parents' residence in Oklahoma City, which he still calls home, after just wrapping up a tour with Dave Matthews.
Family ties
The oldest of three siblings, Colton notes that his younger sister, who was a kid when he left to tour two years ago, is now dating.
"It's really strange," he said, speaking in an earnest tone about the unique phenomenon of publicly discovering who one is.
"I'm a little younger than your typical road veteran," he said. "This is my college, my fraternity. This is my education, right now.
"In the song, 'Don't Give Up on Me,' I say, 'Every day I get closer to myself, but the more I find I don't know.'
"That's really and truly exactly how I feel. Every day I feel I've come so far.
"There's just so much more I want to do, and just so many more things that I'm learning and that I'm influenced by and inspired by that I wasn't the week before. I think that's good news. I think when that stops, you've got a problem."
Go to the Top
By MaryAlice Bitts
SundayNews (Lancaster, PA)
September 12, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are two kinds of travelers: those who seldom look back, pressing onward in their quest for new experiences; and those who gaze up at the stars, finding themselves or thinking of loved ones back home.
Then there is Graham Colton, who hasn't quite made up his mind yet. Or maybe it's just that he's had so much time on the road over the last two years, he's had the luxury of doing both.
Colton, 22, is front man and principal songwriter for the indie rock 'n' roll Graham Colton Band. Two years ago he and guitarists Brian "Turtle" Turton and Drew Nichols, bassist Ryan Tallent and drummer Jordan Elder were living in obscurity in their college town of Dallas, Texas.
They have since played more than 300 shows nationwide, both solo and opening for acts such as Counting Crows, John Mayer, the Wallflowers, Jewel, and the Dave Matthews Band.
They also released their debut album, "Drive," in May and will be playing Tuesday at the Chameleon Club in support of it.
"It's a dream come true. It's the ultimate high, being able to play songs I wrote in my college dorm room and have people sing them back to me," Colton said.
It all began ...
The band's story began four years ago, when Colton left his Oklahoma City home to go to Southern Methodist University.
"I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I came with a demo tape in my hand, and I knew I wanted to get my acoustic guitar and play some coffeehouses and clubs and stuff, maybe some frat parties," he said. "Basically, I met all of the guys in my band kind of on a whim, at different concerts, playing in different bands."
At the request of a local club owner, he formed a band. "And all five of us are still together," he proudly noted.
It wasn't until they made a demo tape and put it up on the Web that things got cooking.
"A lot of kids (from all over the United States) were asking us to play, and we had never left Texas!" Colton said. "I guess the word through the grapevine is that (Counting Crows) needed an opener, and (lead singer Adam Duritz) heard our CD and liked it and called us up. Now we've done six tours with them. It was a perfect match."
For Colton, "It's happened very fast. Too fast!" That belief may account for the occasionally wistful tone on the otherwise ultimately hopeful "Drive."
All of the songs were written during touring,which explains the album's title.
"It was a really interesting experience, leaving home for the first time as a 19-20- year-old and touring the country with my friends in a van. I think both the positive and negative effects of touring - being in a hotel room every night and the routines and being away from home - all of those things show through.
"It was really the first time that I had left home," Colton said. "I had gone one way, and my friends had gone the other way, you know? I chose a path, and it just so happened that that path was filled with hotel rooms and backstage areas and sold-out clubs, and huge venues, and even meeting some of my biggest influences."
Songs must click
As thrilling as that is, he emphasizes that he can't just play any old song:
"The biggest thing that I do every day is get up and play those songs for people. So, really and truly, those songs are more than just songs; they're really the whole driving force for my daily life," Colton said. "You really do live those songs, so they better be the most honest things ever.
"The difficulty of writing songs is in making myself as uncomfortable and vulnerable as possible - not just trying to make everything rhyme perfectly. That's the hardest thing that I'm continuing to learn to do, is to really and truly say what I feel, even if it doesn't come off the tongue in the right way.
"And it's a struggle. I started working on that album when I was 19 or 20, and I'm growing. I'm experiencing different things. Sometimes I even contradict what I say, but I say what I feel."
Colton is speaking from his parents' residence in Oklahoma City, which he still calls home, after just wrapping up a tour with Dave Matthews.
Family ties
The oldest of three siblings, Colton notes that his younger sister, who was a kid when he left to tour two years ago, is now dating.
"It's really strange," he said, speaking in an earnest tone about the unique phenomenon of publicly discovering who one is.
"I'm a little younger than your typical road veteran," he said. "This is my college, my fraternity. This is my education, right now.
"In the song, 'Don't Give Up on Me,' I say, 'Every day I get closer to myself, but the more I find I don't know.'
"That's really and truly exactly how I feel. Every day I feel I've come so far.
"There's just so much more I want to do, and just so many more things that I'm learning and that I'm influenced by and inspired by that I wasn't the week before. I think that's good news. I think when that stops, you've got a problem."
Go to the Top
Labels: graham colton, mary alice bitts, MaryAlice Bitts
posted by MaryAlice Bitts at 9:28 AM
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