SBN: To start off could you state your name and role in the band?
Brennan Smiley: My name is Brennan Smiley, I’m the singer of the band and I also play the guitar.
SBN: So the obligatory tour question, how has touring been going for you?
BS: It’s been going really well. It’s been kind of a wild ride because we’ve had some stuff on the trailer break down. Just one of those tours where every day it kind of has its own thing like a new challenge every day. It’s really stretched us in terms of how we handle those things and how you try to use those things to fire you up and keep going versus letting them beat you down. But otherwise it’s been really good.
SBN: How about fan receptions, old fans coming out to see you and new fans from this tour?
BS: Yeah, we are the first band on this bill so.
SBN: So is it kind of hard to capture the new fans who come in late?
BS: Yeah, there is a little bit of that but honestly it’s been really cool because we’ve had a lot of our old fans come but we found that with these kind of bills, not as many of them come because we’re the first band and we’re not playing for very long. We’ve seen more old fans than we thought we would, but we also found ourselves playing in front of more new fans or new people who have never heard of us and have really enjoyed that since it pulls something else out of our performance that you don’t really have when you’re playing in front of an audience that knows your tunes, and make you feel good and makes things easy but instead kind of makes you have to prove yourself. We’ve done a lot of that, we enjoy doing a lot of that, we’re really comfortable in doing that and we kind of find joy in that. So that’s kind of what this tours been like for us.
SBN: Talking about tunes, I know that you guys seem to evoke from the LP and EP that you’ve put out, kind of reminiscent to the classic rock and roll sound, and your vocals have been compared to very Beatle sounding and 60’s vibe influenced but at the same time in your latest EP it seems to constantly be evolving in terms of direction. What would you say your sound is?
BS: Yeah so when we first kind of gave it a shot and put out a record, it was very much like you said, little bit more throwback and the influences lead us to a that vibe, that combined with the Britpop thing. We still love all that stuff. The last EP that we just put out was to try out a lot of different styles and see which ones really connect live. So I guess by intention this last EP is a little bit all over the place stylistically. We also wanted to challenge ourselves and tie all in. We actually started writing before we came out on tour and we’ve changed our writing process, we know a little bit more about who we are going into it so by nature all the songs are sounding very cohesive and more focused. By being more focused it allows us to be more creative and try new things. We also want to challenge ourselves in new ways since we’re more confident in ourselves and the kind of band that we want to be, and honestly a lot of that is taken from a live show, so ultimately the answer to the question of what our sound is would be to see us live would be the best way to know since we’re doing old songs in a little bit of a different way and the thing we’re doing with the newer stuff is all harnessed from this one thing that is The Technicolors.
SBN: So would you say that you want to be a band that is more live oriented, or be more experimental in the studio and see what that brings to live shows?
BS: It’s a bit of both honestly because I think our seasons might be a little longer than most other bands. So when we get into the studio mode, we want to use the studio as an instrument and specially where we’re at right now we’re more excited and more inspired than we’ve ever been. We’re very excited to be in the studio to be writing music and creating. We plan to put a lot of focus into that and take the time we need to do all that stuff. At the same time we want to be a band that is equally defined by being on the road, we want to be on the road as much as possible. But thats the thing is that those two things go hand in hand and for us as a band our songs change a lot. We find that our recordings of songs are just like the birth of them, they’re just the baby, and they change so much when you go out and play them and see how people react them, see the new dynamics and find new ways to connect to people. Songs take on a life of their own. I would answer your question by saying both, we’re passionate about both and we’d never want to take one away from the other because theres a time and a place for each one.
SBN: So to wrap up the interview my favorite last question is, what is your dream tour? Including people past and present.
BS: I never have an answer for it. Trying to come up with something creative that I haven’t said yet. Man. I would love to tour with Jeff Buckley.
Bio: American rock band The Technicolors started off as the brainchild of Phoenix-native Brennan Smiley.
The formation of the band itself started back when Smiley was acoustically supporting other local music acts by performing his songs live. After a few shows, the project began to grow and soon turned into a more serious approach, taking on the form of The Technicolors.
Inspired by the New Millennium’s garage rock and mid 90’s Brit-pop, The Technicolors combine elements of those two genres with classic and modern components and subject matters to introduce a completely new and exclusive sound.
Today, The Technicolors is Brennan Smiley (Vocals, Guitar), Troy Lowney (Keys), Mike (Nico) Nicolette (Bass), and Sean Silverman (Guitar, Vocals).
