Lucid: The T.R.U.T.H. Movement


By Ryan Colvard

Rock. Hip hop. Two great tastes that taste great together. For the past year, the trio of Kyle Colson, Jake Bollinger, and Landon Wells – combining, as the mighty Voltron, to form the “grunge hop” band LuciD – has been establishing their distinct sound in the Springfield music scene. Deitra Mag and Lucid sit down over a pint to discuss genre, music, and Truth (oh yeah, that’s a capital T).



DM: How long have you guys been on the scene as LuciD?

Kyle Colson: It’ll be a year next month. I was doing some solo stuff, and it didn’t really work out the way I was thinking it was. Jake and I were working together at the time, and we had been talking about collaborating on a track, just kind of with a beat and him playing guitar. I was talking to a producer out on the east coast, and he was going to send me beats, but I got with Landon - who we also worked with – we were going to see the Deftones together. We got to talking, and he said, "I can actually make these too." And I was like, “Why have somebody send it over when we could just do it all here as a band?" So we got together last August, and started messing around – and we had five songs within a month and recorded an EP.

DM: The T.R.U.T.H. album?

Colson: Yeah, T.R.U.T.H.

DM: Where did you have your CD release?

Colson: The (Outland) Ballroom. And props to the Ballroom; they’re doing great things for the music scene in town for sure.

DM: How did you guys come up your particular sound?

Jake Bollinger: We all come from different backgrounds. It’s one of those weird coincidences where, it’s chaos, but it kind of works together. I mean, I played with a metal band for several years, and Landon was a DJ, and it’s weird in how it works.

Landon Wells: I started DJ-ing in a band when I was 19. It was kind of a grunge hip hop band. I’ve always been in love with DJ Kilmore from Incubus, and I just kind of started adding my own flagrant flare to what I liked, that’s just how hip hop goes, and when I met up with these guys – that was just something I’d always wanted to do, make a hip hop grunge band. And it’s pretty damn great, I love it. I love being able to do kind of off-the-wall samples that you normally aren’t able to do in hip hop.

DM: So what brought all of these elements together?

Wells: It was all sort of dumb luck really.

Colson: Just one day it was, "Do you guys want to get together and jam?" He started making beats, and I would just start spitting out lyrics that were in my head. Jake started playing guitar. I’d had a hook that I was told wasn’t good at all, people were saying, "No, don’t use that," but within fifteen minutes we had "Mary-Go-Round."

Wells: The funny part is that Kyle kept saying, Make it dark and ominous, but upbeat," so I’d switch it over to just my headphones in the mixer, just trying to strip it down to the raw bones of the beat, with maybe some horns or organ or whatever. I turn it back up, and Kyle – who’s pacing around the room – is like, "No. No. No. N- I love it!" He’s telling me no for the first thirty seconds, and then he’s, "I dig that, let’s go with it."

Colson: The guitar riff in the very beginning is when I knew,"This is it." That was the first song we had, and we just kept writing more. I think with this album that we're getting ready to write, we’re more comfortable with each other. We’ve done some shows; we understand the dynamics of working together more.

DM: Do you guys tend to book with more rock acts, or hip hop?

Bollinger: Well it’s kind of hard, really, to get a good line up. It’s usually just a ‘metal’ band or a ‘rap’ band. There’s not a lot of in between, and we’re kind of in that middle. And at a lot of shows we’re sore thumbs.

Wells: A lot of people don’t know what to think when they hear that we’re on the bill and that we’re a hip hop/rock band. But then we come on stage and the overall response has been awesome.

DM: Tell me about the “Truth Movement”.

Colson: A lot of people might call it a conspiracy (theory), but there’s so much information out there, that if it’s the truth, I don’t see how it can be called a conspiracy. You know a lot of people say things even though they don’t have a lot of evidence to back it up, so I would say that whatever you hear us say in our music, go out a looked it up for yourself. I talk a lot about how corporate America has infiltrated our government, and even though they seem to be dumping more and more money into the economy, gas is still through the roof, we’re still fighting these wars. It’s a lot different now in the music scene, I feel. With the way radio is now, it’s just the same stuff over and over, and I don’t think it has any meaning to it. It’s all just studio written. I mean they're not even writing their own lyrics anymore. (laughs) I kind of got off on a tangent there…

Bollinger: It’s "go do your own research." If the news tell you something, and sounds fishy, go look it up.

Wells: And nine times out of ten, the truth isn’t all in there.

DM: So is that message the primary driving force behind your lyrics?

Colson: I wouldn’t call it the primary, but it’s a good foundation.

Bollinger: We have songs that aren’t anything about that. I think Kyle writes a lot about real world experiences, and that happens to fall into the truth movement. As well as, you know, crazy bitches or stuff like that.

Colson: Everyone has someone to look up to lyrically. For me I’d say Chino Moreno from the Deftones. He writes kind of these fantasy situations, and I take things that I see and develop a story around it. I can’t rap around rims, or having money, or selling drugs, or planes and yachts…shit that don’t happen. I can’t go up on stage and rap about what I don’t have; I’d just feel like a fake.

Wells: Also what I think falls under the Truth Movement, it’s not just about conspiracy as far as the government goes, but it also involves society as well. Things like Jersey Shore and the effect of reality TV.

Colson: What becomes important to somebody – how you look, or what you have. People have become very materialistic, and they’ve forgotten what really makes a person a person. It’s who you are, not what you have.

DM: Will this next album take a different direction than T.R.U.T.H.?

Wells: I think as an artist you always have to try to evolve. If you get too mundane with your music, then really, what’s the point? You try evolve, and keep doing new things to keep your listeners impacted by your music. That’s ultimately what’s important.

Colson: And staying true to what you do. Don’t try to conform to a genre. Do what’s right, do what feels good, do what sounds good – and you can’t go wrong.



All contents property of Deitra Productions
Copyright 2011, all rights reserved
Photos property of LuciD
Copyright 2011, all rights reserved


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2 comments

  1. I mean great article and statements by the band Lucid I think they are unique, talented and one of a kind but what are your thoughts Ryan? Looks mire like questions and answers rather than discussions.
    What are your likes and dislikes about Lucid? How do they make you feel?
    How does the music make you feel? Comparisons? Feelings?
    Or is this a neutralized mag with no opinions, likes or dis-likes?
    If so that's cool but you should change the article to T.R.U.T.H (Oh yeah thats with a capital T) by Lucid- Kyle Colson, Jake Bollinger, Landon Wells and Chris Tilley.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, the point was to highlight the band. One of the main goals of DM is to support Springfield's local music scene, and part of that is giving artists a chance to get their message out - say their piece. This wasn't an album review, or a column where I presuppose to tell LuciD what they should or shouldn't be doing with their music. It's an opportunity for a local band to connect with new fans.

    ReplyDelete

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