interview: living colour’s corey glover reaches out to his fans for solo project

No one can accuse singer/frontman Corey Glover of resting on his laurels. While he is best known as the lead singer of the seminal New York rock band Living Colour, Glover is also making a name for himself in the jam band circuit. That’s right; the hard rock/metal banshee frontman is now lending his compelling vocals to the band Galactic and to a whole host of other jam oriented groups. Glover is also working on a new solo record and he has just finished up a small club tour back east. I caught up with him while he was in New Orleans with Galactic on Halloween, and he hit me with the details regarding his upcoming disc and on everything else he has been up to.

Interview by David Carr

David Carr: Corey what has compelled you to record another solo disc?
Corey Glover: It’s my twenty year follow up to my disc Hymns! Ha!

David Carr: Yes, we wanted you to take your time and not feel pressured!
Corey Glover: I have been very blessed to work with the band Galactic. Through my travels I have met a lot of great folks and a lot of great musicians. The goal is to use them and to get their mojo on this record. Living Colour has not been playing out for a year now. This is a chance for me to do something different and deal with all of the things that have gone on in my life. Things in my life have changed since Hymns. I am married. I have two kids now. I am over 40!

David Carr: I assume these songs have a type of style and vibe that are just different from Living Colour.
Corey Glover: Exactly. This is a totally different vibe and these songs just wouldn’t work with Living Colour.

David Carr: How did you hook up with the band Galactic?
Corey Glover: Living Colour’s manager at the time referred me to them. I went to see them at Irving Plaza in New York. I ended up sitting in with them at that show and then there was another show and another after that and another after that. It sounded good and it all seemed to work out nicely.

David Carr: You actually got a chance to play Bonaroo with Galactic this year and I believe you met Mavis Staples at that show. First of all, what was it like to meet one of your influences?
Corey Glover: It was great and she was great! She didn’t know me at all but she gave me a huge hug like I was family! It was beautiful and amazing.

David Carr: What was it like for you to hit a big festival stage start singing and then look around and say, “Hey, that’s not Vernon! That’s not Will back there on the drums.”?
Corey Glover: It was definitely something new and I treated it as such. It’s just another way for me to express myself. On a certain level it was disconcerting but it was also great to be embraced by a section of people who I didn’t even know existed.

David Carr: There has to be a number of people who just aren’t familiar with Living Colour or at least are more familiar with Galactic and the jam band scene than LC. Is this the case?
Corey Glover: This is true and it’s ok. The weirdest part of all of this is, I am the youngest member of Living Colour but with Galactic I am the elder statesman! I am the older guy who has seen the great and not so great sides of the industry.

David Carr: You have also been busy with Soulive and Robert Randolph and the Family Band. How did those collaborations come about?
Corey Glover: We jammed and did shows with Soulive right after they got out of college so I have known them for a long time. I have also known Robert Randolph for years and jammed with him a lot. With a band like Soulive they are so singer friendly; they really showcase the vocals. In the jam band scene the vocals are treated like another instrument so the vocalist gets a chance to sing and then sit back, sing and then sit back.

David Carr: So with this latest solo disc you are not using a record company but you are asking your fans to help support the making of this disc, correct?
Corey Glover: That’s right. I am using Pledge Music http://pledgemusic.com/projects/coreyglovermusic
and I am asking folks to be a part of the making of this record. I am basically telling fans I have something to say with this disc and I want you to help me say it. I am trying to give them what they want. Once you take the record company out of the equation you have a direct line between the artist and the fans.

David Carr: I interviewed drummer Josh Freese (The Vandals, Weezer, Devo) and he did the same thing and gave away some pretty outlandish gifts. The more people gave the bigger and crazier the gifts became. Are you going to try the same thing?
Corey Glover: I am thinking about it. Depending on how much people give I am up for having dinner with them or doing a private show for them at their house. The whole goal of this is to create a real dialog between myself and the fans. It’s a way to have a real give and take with people.

David Carr: You recently completed a mini tour back east with Danielia Cotton correct? What was that like?
Corey Glover: It was great! It was a chance for me to try out some new things and do some old songs and Danielia is amazing! She combines so much power, feeling and emotion with what she does.

David Carr: I would be remiss if I did not ask what’s in store for your other band? What’s next for Living Colour?
Corey Glover: We have been writing and at the beginning of next year we will continue to write and record with the hopes of having something out by fall of next year.

David Carr: Do all of these other musical outlets help you reconnect with Living Colour when you rejoin the band?
Corey Glover: It gives me a different perspective, so when I come back to Living Colour it’s like putting on a sweater you love to put on. It’s comfortable and natural.
If you want to continue the dialog with Corey Glover get on over to pledge music and give what you can to make his next record happen. http://pledgemusic.com/projects/coreyglovermusic