Living Colour readies new studio album

By Michael D. Ayers

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The cult of personality will be revived this fall, when purveyors of hard funk-rock Living Color return with "The Chair in the Doorway" -- the band's first set of new material in nearly six years.

Due September 15 on Megaforce Records, the 11-song set was recorded in numerous locations over the last few years, with a majority of the sessions taking place at Sono Studios outside Prague in the Czech Republic.

According to lead singer Corey Glover, most of the material came to fruition after the band was asked to re-record "Cult of Personality" for "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock." From there, the group fleshed out songs when on tour and while Glover had time off from touring duties as Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar."

"We recorded everywhere. We even recorded during shows -- ideas that came up during shows turned into songs," Glover told Billboard.com. "(Bassist) Doug (Wimbish) made up a lot of grooves; we took a lot of grooves we had from soundchecks and gigs -- and he sort of codified and made a library of that stuff."

In 1988, Living Color made its mark in the rock world with its multiplatinum debut, "Vivid," an album that yielded a Grammy for "Best Hard Rock Performance" for the song "Cult of Personality." In 1990, the follow-up album's titular track, "Time's Up," won in the same category. The group slowed down considerably after 1993's "Stain," but all the members have been active with various projects over the years.

Guitarist Vernon Reid has worked with Mick Jagger, Tracy Chapman and, recently, Somali-Canadian rapper K'Naan. Drummer Will Calhoun has contributed his talents to albums by Mos Def, Kaki King, Herb Alpert and Wayne Shorter, as well as recording his own jazz-oriented releases. Wimbish also has branched out to work in many genres, taking part in sessions with the Rolling Stones, Depeche Mode, Placebo, Talib Kweli, BT and Annie Lennox.

Glover said the perception over the years has been that Living Color broke up and have entered a reunion stage of their career, but he's quick to dispel those notions. "Everyone sees the video and thinks we're a band from the '80s or we broke up or we're not together," he said. "But it's not a reunion thing. In some form or another, all of us have been playing with each other. Will and Doug have a band that I would sit in every now and then. Vernon had a band that I'd come in and do some stuff. Even in those times when we weren't together, we were still playing together."

"The Chair in the Doorway" retains Glover's signature, impassioned vocals, set against a mix of hard rock, funk metal and blues-influenced arrangements. For Glover, the record revolves around the theme of introspection.

"Because we are older, we got kids -- that's the impetus for the name of the album," he said. "Sometimes it's the most ridiculous things (that) are the most obvious. The most obvious thing to me is 'Yeah, we are older. Yeah we live in a post-9/11 world.' ... But we still got to eat. I can't let the world stop me from being me."

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)

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