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BY TIM SHELLBERG
Times Correspondent | Monday, December 01, 2003 | (No comments posted.)
It took Japanese food and an old band locker to help bring Living Colour out of retirement in late 1999.
"We had to resolve this space, and in doing that it made us have some conversations," bassist Doug Wimbish said. "We went out for Japanese, and ... we just started talking as friends, and parked everything else on the side. We had a nice evening ... it's amazing what Japanese food will do you."
Scheduled to perform an all-ages show Tuesday at Chicago's Park West in support of "Collideoscope," their first new album of new material in a decade, the New York City-bred hard-rockers first assaulted the airwaves in 1987 with "Cult of Personality," from their debut album "Vivid." They found continued success with "Vivid's" 1990 follow-up "Time's Up," performed in the first Lollapalooza tour, and showed staying power in the grunge era while keeping true to themselves with 1993's "Stain."
But in 1995, cults of musical personalities within the band clashed, and they called it a day. At least for the time being.
"When the band hit the shank, it happened abruptly," Wimbish said. "The ball just got dropped, (but) there was always this question of what and when could possibly something happen again."
Frontman Corey Glover released a solo set in 1998, "Hymns," and served briefly as a VJ on cable music station VH1. Guitarist Vernon Reid also released a solo album, "Mistaken Identity," in 1996, performed with his new band, Masque, and performed on and/or produced recordings by everyone from blues guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer to Cream bassist Jack Bruce to funnyman Chris Rock.
Wimbish, a long in-demand bassist who has performed on record and stage with everyone from the Rolling Stones to Madonna to Annie Lennox, released his solo set, "Trippy Notes for Bass," in 1999, and formed a pair of bands with drummer Will Calhoun, Headfake and Jungle Funk.
While still apart in name, Glover and Reid made selected appearances with Wimbish and Calhoun in the late 1990s. The above-mentioned Japanese dinner resulted in a Living Colour gig at CBGB's, the legendary New York City venue where the band got their start more than a dozen years earlier.
"But we all still had other things happening," Wimbish said. "It wasn't like we said ‘Yeah! We're going to stop everything else we're doing and jump back into (the band).' We slowly took our time to let it mean something for us to get to this point."
The band returned to the road for a successful tour in 2001 and convened at Wimbish's Massachusetts home base to record what would become "Collideoscope." Released Oct. 7, Living Colour effortlessly picks up where they left off on "Stain," with covers of AC/DC's hard-rock anthem "Back in Black" and the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" alongside more than a dozen originals.
"I'm so thankful that we were given the opportunity to park our indifferences, whatever they may be, and what really isn't anything now, and to just be able and enjoy the music," he said. "A lot of real good music out there today, to me, is rare. So you have to love it while you can. And to be a part of it is just so beautiful."
The band kicked off their current tour opening for pioneering prog-rockers King Crimson before venturing out on their own. Their current tour is scheduled to conclude in New Haven, Conn., on Dec. 7, but Wimbish says the band doesn't plan to stay dormant for another near-decade.
"Right now, there's a few things we have in the works," Wimbish said. "The album just came out (re-released) in 5.1 digital sound, and maybe we'll do an acoustic record of some kind. We've got a lot of great songs, and they sound really good not (performed) heavy -- we really have something timeless and special right now."
onstage
Living Colour
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (all-ages show)
Where: Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago
Tickets: $25
For more info: (773) 929-5959
onstage
Living Colour
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (all-ages show)
Where: Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago
Tickets: $25
For more info: (773) 929-5959
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