Awesome Color

The collective hue of Awesome Color blends the slacker psychosis of Dinosaur Jr.'s Green Mind, Blue Cheer's "Summertime Blues," and the swaggering sexuality of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" to unveil an astral spectrum of vintage rock & roll kicked straight out of the Motor City.

"We play the most primitive form of high-octane music that reflects our roots and our spirits," explains singer and guitarist Derek Stanton. "We're just three kids from Michigan that are happy to be playing music."

The band's music and ethos is perhaps best understood in terms of what it lacks. There are no effects, no pedals, no glossy press shots or manager.

"We don't have shit," Stanton shrugs. "I just get my sounds from the guitar and amps; it's all natural and pure."

Without a release to their name, Thurston Moore somehow, someway, got word that these young punks had raw power.

"Apparently he heard that we were really heavy, so he got online and tried to research us," reccounts Stanton, who grew up across the street from the Stooges' Ron Asheton. "He listened to one of our songs on MySpace and halfway through decided to e-mail us, which I'm sure he had to go through the pain of making a profile to do. It took us weeks to get back to him because we were trying to figure out which one of our friends was pulling this prank on us."

Awesome Color's recent self-titled psychedelic debut, recorded at Sonic Youth's Echo Canyon with Moore twisting the knobs and "making shit happen," was a pivotal reason for the Ecstatic Peace!/Universal partnership. "I was hearing all of this raucous rock & roll music that every Joe in America could dig," enthuses Moore, "so I wanted to give them access to every Joe in America."