Interview with Corey Glover

By Ron Wynn

Vocalist Corey Glover’s dynamic, cascading sound was a central component in the success of the Grammy winning band Living Colour. The group that earned consecutive Grammys for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1989 and 1990 also repeatedly demonstrated their ability to be both sonically explosive and musically arresting. The group also was among the few highly visible and successful black rock ensembles then or now. They disbanded after four albums in 1995, but have recently reunited for periodic projects. A new anthology Everything Is Possible: The Very Best of In Living Colour was released in mid-January, and last year, during a tour that included a Nashville appearance, we spoke for a few minutes with Glover on a variety of subjects.

Q: What brought you guys back together again and how has the music changed over time?
A: Well we always maintained contact with each other, and had plans to do things again. It was never anywhere as dramatic as portrayed. Everyone in the band has other things and interests, and we were attending to those for a time. We’ll do these dates, and then see how things work out.

Q: From the beginning, you guys maintained that there shouldn’t be anything strange about an African-American rock group. Some have said that what you were doing shouldn’t be viewed as political, but just a natural musical extension. How do you feel about that?
A: No, we certainly did some songs that were distinctly political. We were and continue to be advocates for other black rock bands and for fairness and equity in the music business. You can’t uphold those things and not have a strong political message. At the same time, we’ve never ignored the musical end, making sure that we have good songs and maintaining cohesion on stage. So if you mean political in the sense of the message, yes, we’re a political band, but not exclusively.

Q: Every band wants to attain a level of success and exposure, but Living Colour probably exceeded your expectations. After the hits and awards, did it become difficult to sustain those levels?
A: We’ve never approached what we do in terms of awards and expectations. We were and still are most concerned with quality and excellence. No one has higher expectations of our music than we have, and just meeting our own goals keeps things on a high level. We’ve never gotten caught up in the whole industry awards and politics thing, because you can be the flavor of the month one day and then off a label the next. The quickest way to have problems is to believe in any of that buildup and hype.

Q: How much material from the early albums gets covered in your current shows, and do you incorporate anything from your own solo releases?
A: We’re constantly evolving and changing as a group, so even if we do songs from our early releases, the arrangements have been updated and they sound quite different. I guess that there will be always people out there who want to hear “Cult of Personality” or something like that, but we don’t ever do any song the same way in any show, so it’s really like doing new material all the time.

Q: Do you view yourselves as trailblazers, a term that probably makes you sound much older than you are?
A: I hope that we’ve been an inspiration to others, because we’ve certainly been inspired by groups like Parliament/Funkadelic and many, many other great performers and bands. The term rock has been defined in such an exclusionary manner and that’s one of the things that we’ve always fought to change. We cover a wealth of sounds and styles and all those can be incorporated into what people consider a rock band. There are no limitations and restrictions on the musical imagination, and we’ve always emphasized that on all our recordings and during our concerts.

Q: What about audience composition for the shows?
A: We also get a broad cross-section of fans, and that’s despite the fact we’ve never been particularly well received on some radio formats. That’s just a sign that the audience is always more open-minded and broad than many in the industry think. They’ve gotten the music, appreciated and accepted it, and supported us since the beginning.

Q: Any feelings or thoughts about how much longer Living Colour will continue?
A: No, although I think once things start becoming less enjoyable musically, then you have to re-evaluate things. But at this point, we’re all enjoying playing together and also maintaining our own things. So I don’t anticipate any difficulties or problems in the future.

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