Colour Of Fire
Live at Cockpit on Tuesday, 11th January 2005
When the Foo Fighters were born from the smouldering remains of Nirvana there was collective, worldwide pants wetting as the grunge world considered the possibility of the music to come. However, recent albums have not lived up to the anticipation, so step up Ten Seconds of Chaos to show us what could have been. Though they currently exist in a void of obscurity, their broken vocals should eventually scratch their way into popular conscience. If the voice alone does not sell the band then consider the addition of a drummer with the dexterity of Animal and the ability to make you realise why music really is better live, and a bass player who still manages to drive the songs with foundation-shaking force even when one of his strings goes slack and develops a mind of its own. Oh, and wear suspenders when you see them, because they will truly rock your socks off.
It is easy to make fun of New Legends in relation to such a trumpeting fanfare of a name despite its obvious flaws. It is also easy to make fun of a band that haven't realised that if they only swapped the lead vocalist with the vocally superior guitarist then they would be a lot more credible. However, instead of making fun of a band that could be great but just miss the mark, it is kinder to simply mark them out of ten.
If sarcasm could be put to music then it is probable that Colour Of Fire would be the ones to pull it off. Their lead singer's sneering and eternally-tired-with-it-all expression transcends obnoxiousness and becomes genuinely endearing. There is a self-realisation of the role of the band as ringmasters to the audience of seals, which he even mimicked at one point by returning their applause with a dewy-eyed sarcastic clap. However, far from only being a mocking stage show, they are actually a decent rock band as well. Unlike other bands who rely on a steady drum beat and a catchy riff, Colour Of Fire are one of the few contemporary bands to actually use their instruments to show what they are capable of.
Lead singer Owen uses his own mouth as an instrument, distorting and contorting it to grind every syllable from the words and make every song unique in its diction. This is not a band that simply appears on stage, does a skit and then slinks off. This is a band that stomps on, and refuses to leave without throwing a tongue lasso around the audience that provides lyrical licks long after the venue has emptied for the night.
