BTBAM Guitarist Explains Why Band Decided to Make a Colors Sequel
Between the Buried and Me guitarist Paul Waggoner was our guest on a recent episode of The MetalSucks Podcast to discuss the band’s new album, Colors II, the emotional experience of returning to touring after a year and a half off, his thoughts on the role of livestreams in the future of heavy music, and more.
Concerning Colors II, Paul elaborated on why the band decided this was the right moment to produce a sequel to their fan-favorite 2007 record, Colors. He explained:
“Well, actually, the ‘Colors II’ idea kind of came about towards the end of 2019. We just felt like we were in a similar mental state as far as where we were with the band back in 2007 when we wrote ‘Colors I.’ We were kinda in, I don’t know if I would describe it as desperation. We felt like we were at a point where we really needed to do something special, next level, to push ourselves a little more creatively and establish ourselves moving forward.
“We’re obviously getting older so we were like, ‘If we’re going to keep doing this for a long time, we need another kind of landmark record.’ I keep describing it as almost a spiritual or philosophical sequel to ‘Colors’ moreso than an actual… we weren’t trying to re-write ‘Colors.’ We were just in a similar mind-frame and creative headspace as we were in 2007. Kind of backs against the wall scenario where we just felt we really gotta bring it on this one. It was born from that.
“Of course [then] the pandemic happened. We spent the majority of that time writing the thing, which was a whole other thing. In a lot of ways, it just the amalgamation of everything that was honestly perfect for a really creative outpouring from us.”
Speaking on the emotional experience of returning to putting on live shows again after a year and a half off, Paul said:
“I’m 42 years old and that’s the longest I’ve gone without playing a show since I was 16. It is an emotional experience, it is weird.
“There’s no getting around that, it’s a little bit… even us being out on tour now, there’s a level of paranoia. We are all vaccinated, we’re all super duper careful, we wear masks everywhere except for on stage, we request that all venue personnel wear masks and everything. But even with all that said, there is some risk there and it sucks.
“But at the same time, it’s good to be back out here and we feel like we’ve done everything we can do to ensure our own safety and the safety of the people close to us.
“I hope everyone in the crowd has done the same, I can’t guarantee that right now but I hope they have. We just try to make the best of it. But those 2.5 hours we’re on stage, man, it’s the best part of my day and I love doing it. I’m happy to be back out here doing it even though it is not the most ideal condition, as you know. [laughs]”
Colors II is out now and available to order here. You can listen to our full chat with Paul below or here.
