The Color Wild
Born in 2015, The Color Wild is an Indie Pop band formed in Vacaville, CA by brothers Jesse Crosson (Keys, Guitars, Vocals), Kyle Crosson (Vocals), Jaden Crosson (Drums) (formerly from the band Cheating Daylight), and Robbie Jimenez (Bass/Vocals).
The three brothers toured and performed live together since 2011. They were known for their “in your face” live performances and 90s style teen rock sound, but now the boys are much older and their sound and songwriting has matured along with them.
Teaming up with Producer and Director, Robin DiMaggio (The Arsenio Hall show), the future for The Color Wild looks to be more vivid and brighter than ever before. While DiMaggio may bring in his own signature style on the production and engineering, the guys of The Color Wild look to capture your ears physically and emotionally.
Three former members of renowned indie-rock band Cheating Daylight have combined with multi-
instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Robbie Jimenez to form “The Color Wild,” an upbeat indie-pop quartet recently produced by world-class producer and drummer Robin DiMaggio.
“The Color Wild is a new taste of what America has been waiting for. Unpredictably energetic and upbeat with deep meaning. Bright future ahead of them,” says DiMaggio.
Featuring a blend of modern pop melodies and synth keyboards combined with a high-energy rhythmic drive, this cutting edge band is ready to transition from their success in Southern California to a takeover all of the West Coast, then eventually the wold. Find their brand new singles, “Lights in the Trees” and “Use Your Words” on iTunes, Spotify, and wherever music is sold!
Follow and share The Color Wild:
facebook.com/pages/The-Color-Wild/364786963721811
twitter.com/TheColorWild
instagram.com/TheColorWild
reverbnation.com/artist/index/thecolorwild
Jesse Crosson, Keyboards/Guitars/Vocals, age 21
Josh Hansen, Lead Guitar, age 19
Kyle Crosson, Vocals/Tambourine, age 19
Robbie Jimenez, Bass/Vocals, age 24
Jaden Crosson, Drums, age 16
Check out our Exclusive Interview below!
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
The Color Wild:
Jaden- We all grew up in Vacaville, California in between San Francisco and Sacramento. Coming from a smaller town, the community is pretty close. Every musician knows one another and feeds off each other. We grew up watching all these musicians play at town festivals, which inspired us to want to do our own thing.
Jesse: Music hit all of us at a young age. It’s more like an obsession than anything else. When you love it as much as all five of us do, it’s hard to imagine yourself doing anything other than what makes you the happiest. Jaden, Kyle and I were in a band called Cheating Daylight for almost four years, and we toured extensively, which was amazing, but when that group disbanded, we teamed up with Robbie, who had experienced and really successful young career as a solo artist. Josh came to us through our Facebook page actually. He came over one day, played some of our first songs for us, and it was an easy thing to see that he was meant to join us. The blend of our talents, interests and dreams just works for us, and we love it!
Josh: Music was a huge part of my life throughout high-school, where I sang in choir and played guitar and piano for jazz band, as well as clarinet for regular band. I think that all of the experience I got with making music with others really spoke to me and told me that music is what I really want to do for the rest of my life. The Color Wild is a project that I feel allows me to put all of the musical experience I’ve gained into use.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
TCW:
Jesse: The Color Wild is a name we chose because it perfectly explains our attitude toward our young lives. A fire truck is the color red, the sky is the color blue, and we are the color wild. There is a poem that inspired this name, and it has always spoken to us.
“As my heart of red beats loudly,
Under skies as blue as can be,
I am the color wild
In the deepest shade of free.”
Jesse: We know who wrote this poem, but we like to keep that a mystery. =) Maybe someday someone will figure it out!
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
TCW:
Josh: I believe that selling music is more than fair. An artist works extremely hard, spending years to build their talents and come together with others who have the same to create something unique. If a band is big enough and known well enough to have a fan base that is willing to buy their music, then they should sell it for a fair price. But I also believe in doing it simply for the enjoyment of sharing it with others. We’ve played several free small performances just because we want to spread our message and we enjoy doing it. I think finding a healthy balance between the two is what is important.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
TCW:
Jaden: From one band to another, I would strongly advise you to make strong connections with anybody and everybody. This isn’t the business to be shy in. The more connections you have, the more opportunities you’ll have.
Jesse: It’s all about being a part of the larger musical family around you.
Robbie: My best advice would be to make the experience fun, no matter what you’re doing. Successes will come, and so will failures, but remember why you play music in the first place and enjoy doing it.
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
TCW:
Kyle: Mistakes happen every once and a while. Lyrics can sometimes get thrown around in weird places but all you have to do is know that the guys beside you have your back and can cover you whenever you need it.
Jesse: If you’re surrounded by guys (or girls) who you can trust in the musical moment, it’s easy to recover from any situation. You have to be able to know that your team is filled with people who can be pros when the time comes.
Josh: Everyone makes mistakes! The last gig I played, I dropped my guitar pick during a solo, but I just used my fingers to finish it and it worked out just fine. I think the best way to deal with a mistake is to laugh it off and keep the show rolling. If it’s big enough for the crowd to notice, laugh with them, make it a funny little moment. The most important thing is to not let it kill the atmosphere.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
TCW:
Jesse: Robbie is really great with impressions and accents, and one time we got him to have a long conversation with a native Australian in a Los Angeles hot tub. He nailed the accent of course. They talked about so many things that only Australians would know to talk about, and I’m not sure if that speaks more to Robbie’s incredible gift of mimicry, or to the amount of beers that Australian man must have just knocked out. The best part is that as far as he will ever know, Robbie was Australian that day, and unless he reads this interview and connects the dots, it’ll stay that way!
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
TCW:
Jesse: I think the best songs come from real-life experiences. Robbie and I do a lot of the songwriting, and since we first began, that has always been what inspires us the most. Love, heartbreak, joy, happiness, and self-reflection all appear in life, so we enjoy taking that and creating music that people can relate to.
Josh: I personally gather my inspiration from all of the other music I listen to. I’ve never been a good lyricist, and I pretty much exclusively write instrumental music. When I’m writing, sometimes I just turn off my “instincts”. I let my hands go to random places on the fretboard and see what comes out. When I’m writing with the band, however, Jesse and Robbie tend to lay the groundwork and I like to add color and layers to it. I like to make music that has a lot of fine details that you might not notice until listening to it a few times.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
TCW:
Jesse: We are all very active on our social sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Reverbnation. We recently released a few singles on iTunes and Spotify, which we would love for everybody to check out, but the best way to experience our music is to come see us at one of our shows. That’s where the new music comes alive.
Exposed Vocals: What are some really embarrassing songs that we might find on your mp3 player?
TCW:
Jesse: I have no shame in my playlists and I never will!
Robbie: I have a random song called “Stuck Up in the Chimney” on my iTunes playlist. It’s weird to go from rock to R&B to a song that sounds like a 5 year old kid would listen to it.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
TCW:
Kyle: If I had a half a million dollars and a year off, I would probably look to invest a majority of the money and hope to increase my cash flow exponentially.
Jesse: I would invest in Kyle investing, in hopes that he could increase my cash flow as well. In all seriousness, I’d pay off my college loans and buy a new car. My ’98 Grand Cherokee is practically begging for retirement.
Josh: Music- hands down. I’d invest in some good studio gear and binge-learn how to record my own stuff. Recording and mixing is something I’ve always been interested in learning. And of course I’d work on improving my guitar playing. There’s always room for improvement!
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
TCW:
Jesse: We promote ourselves best by going out and performing for people. We love to find random places in which we can play an acoustic set. We don’t expect people to find us on their own; we like to go find THEM and show them who we are.
Robbie: I’ve always found that connecting with the audience every time you perform helps create an environment in which fans what to spread the word about what you’re doing. Everybody in the audience wants to feel valued, and helping them feel that way is important, not to mention really.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
TCW:
Jaden: If I could play with any artist, it would definitely be Paramore and the venue would probably be the Sydney Opera House just because I have an odd obsession for Australia. And I grew up listening to Paramore and saw them in concert about a year ago and I’ve learned a lot from their music and their work ethic.
Josh: I’d perform on the moon. It won’t really matter who I perform with at that point, because it would be on the moon! How cool would that be?
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
TCW:
Jesse: We’re currently writing new music and working toward another recording project that we can pair with a music video. Every day presents a new opportunity to create, and that’s what we’re doing to prepare for our next opportunity to tour!
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
TCW:
Kyle: If I wasn’t performing in a band, I would probably be pursuing my baseball career. I’d hope to be starting at my college of choice. Or I’d join a professional dodgeball team.
Jesse: I’ve always been really interested in talent evaluation for professional sports, so I’d probably want to be a General Manager for a pro sports team. I think I’d be really good at it. That or I’d be the GM for Kyle’s dodgeball team. He’d have to pay me well though.
Josh: I’d probably be doing the same thing I am right now: going to college, going to work, maybe playing some occasional video games. But I strongly believe that everyone should have a passion or a hobby aside from school and work. If I couldn’t sit down in my free time and play guitar or piano, I’d probably go crazy!
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
TCW:
Josh: The first album I ever bought was actually four albums in one. I bought it when I was in 7th grade. It was all of Muse’s first four albums. To this day I could recite every lyric to every song on those albums, and I can even play a lot of them on guitar or piano. That band opened up my mind to what modern music sounds like, and I would definitely put them down as a major inspiration of mine
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
TCW:
Kyle: It definitely isn’t easy working our music careers into our schooling but for some reason everything seems to work out. Without question, we owe the most to our teachers for that. They are always supportive and help us succeed.
Josh: Juggling responsibilities is super tough at times. Sometimes I have to sacrifice things (like sleep especially) but it’s worth it to be able to make music with the rest of these guys.
Jesse: It takes a lot of parental support, the love of our friends and families, and an amazing group of employers, teachers, and administrators that have made an impossible dream a little more possible. We owe everything we achieve to them!
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2015?
TCW:
Jesse: Look for us to continue creating and expanding our musical identity! We’re so excited to branch out and share our new music.
Robbie: Every single show we play, whether it’s for 500,000 people or 5 people, will be an absolute blast. If we are anything, we want to be fun!
