True Colors | it

There are at least two bands with the name True Colors:

1. Summer 2004: former JUSTICE-guitarplayer Dunk had been without a band for a while when things started to itch, so he started a Straight Edge band that would sound like YOUTH OF TODAY’s ‘Break down the Walls’ and the TURNING POINT demo, with maybe a small hint of IN MY EYES… Dunk remembered Packo from his days of fronting BUILDING and figured the guy had everything this newfound band needed: a strong Edge, band-experience, outspokenness and most important of all: too much energy! Packo was down right away, so Dunk started looking for a drummer, which he soon found in Peers. The three-piece started rehearsing for a while and wrote the first couple of songs. Soon after they asked their friend and Hardcore-enthousiast Hingie to join on bass and the very first time they rehearsed with the complete line-up, it just clicked: the chemistry was there so they didn’t sit around and just booked some studio time right away!

A couple of months later they jumped on during JUSTICE’s set to play three songs and right away the word got spread and people already got their hopes up for TRUE COLORS’ (as they decided the bandname would be, right before entering the stage) first official show and the demo! That first show soon followed in March 2005 and the ‘Get Em’ demo was released about a month later. TRUE COLORS started intensively playing shows, surprising hardcore kids all over Europe with their tight and energetic performances. In January 2006 TRUE COLORS recorded 6 songs for their self-titled EP, which was released not much later on Not Just Words Records. They didn’t wait for things to calm down and in between playing shows they quickly sneaked into the studio again to record some songs for the Light The Fuse and Hustler Compilations.

August 2006 found TRUE COLORS still playing shows all over the place and writing, re-writing and perfecting the songs for their first LP to be released by their longtime friends of Powered Records.

The debut full-length entitled ‘Focus On The Light’ was released on CD and vinyl format with a extensive release party, held on March 10th 2007 in a sold-out Lintfabriek. Barely three months later the entire first press of ‘Focus On The Light’ is almost sold out and Powered Records is getting ready for a second press.

2. True Colors were a New York hardcore band that existed from 1987 to 1989 and featured members of Citizens Arrest and Our Gang. The lineup was Chuck Gomez (guitar), Daryl Kahan (vocals), Lewis Dimmick (bass) and Patrick Winter (drums).

Daryl Kahan talking about True Colors (excerpt from an interview with the blog You Breed Like Rats):

"True Colors was a band I formed after meeting several guys in a band called Our Gang. I used to hang out and rehearse at a great place on 14th street in New York City called Giant Studios. Many well-known NYHC bands used to rehearse there including Lifesblood, Sick Of It All, Side By Side, YDL, Krakdown, Breakdown, Mental Abuse, Warzone, Death Before Dishonor, NY Hoods etc. There were rooms A through Z so you could just walk in and hang out and listen to each band rehearse. Through this process I ran into a band my age called Our Gang. They had a friend named Chuck who attended these rehearsals (which were more like small shows complete with a pit and sing alongs etc..- great times!). Chuck and I became friends and decided to form our own band, True Colors. Lou Dimmick of Our Gang joined along with Pat Winter. I originally was the drummer of True Colors until our singer quit and Pat joined. We recorded two demos at Don Fury's studio and played two shows, one in Connecticut with our friends Pressure Release and another with Underdog in Albany, NY. We recorded one song called "No Way To Live" at Don Fury's which appeared on Freddy Alva's New Breed Compilation. Fred Alva later formed Wardance which later signed Citizens Arrest for our first EP and album. After a while I lost interest in True Colors and started looking for members to form a new band which became Citizens Arrest." .