| Colorama | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Wales |
| Genres | Dream pop Psych folk Sunshine pop Psychedelic pop Baroque pop |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | Noise McCartney Records (Japan), Redbricks Recordings (UK) |
| Website | colorama.org.uk [3] MySpace page [1] Ning page [4] Facebook page [2] |
| Members | |
| Carwyn Ellis Luca Guernieri David Page David Fletcher Rupert Brown Tom Gardner Wendon Davis Matthew Evans Adrian Meehan Ed Turner Ben Dumville Barbara Snow Gwion Rowlands Dimitri Spiro Matt Radford Rachel Gardner |
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Colorama is a psych folk / dream pop group formed by multi-instrumentalist / singer-songwriter Carwyn Ellis. Other members currently include Luca Guernieri on drums and David Page on Bass. The line-up varies frequently, both in the studio and on stage.
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After a nomadic early childhood moving from town to town, Ellis' family settled in Anglesey, eventually moving to London where he worked with numerous bands through a myriad of genres. Among the artists that Ellis has collaborated or performed with are Edwyn Collins, Oasis, Shane MacGowan, UNKLE, North Mississippi Allstars, James Hunter, Lay Low, The 2 Bears (Joe Goddard from Hot Chip & Raf Rundell), Romeo Stodart (The Magic Numbers), Alex Kapranos and Nicholas McCarthy (Franz Ferdinand).[3]
In 2008, after a brief tenure in Liverpool, Ellis moved to Cardiff, emerging as a frontman in his own right and calling his band Colorama. They released their Japan only, debut album, Cookie Zoo on Noise McCartney / Bad News Records (Victor Entertainment) in April 2008,[4] and released their debut single, Sound via Redbricks Recordings in July 2008.[5]
The band started playing together in early July 2008 and have since played Glastonbury Festival, Latitude Festival, Home Game, The Sŵn Festival, Port Eliot Festival, Truck Festival, National Eisteddfodau, the Green Man Festival and many more.
In 2009, Colorama announced the tragic news that their double bass player David Fletcher had died at the age of 37 on 29 June, from a heart attack suffered in his sleep,[6][7] just days after Colorama’s appearance at Glastonbury Festival.[8]
September 2009 saw the UK release of Colorama's album, Magic Lantern Show on Redbricks Recordings, featuring songs in Welsh and English. Included was the song 'Dere Mewn' which has since become a modern classic in Wales. Described as 'incredible' by Huw Stephens and hailed a 'Soft Psych Classic' by Sean Rowley, Magic Lantern Show was enthusiastically received with extensive radio play on XFM, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Wales, C2 and BBC Radio Cymru.
In the autumn of 2010, Colorama released their third album BOX on Noise McCartney / Bad News Records (Victor Entertainment) in Japan and via See Monkey Do Monkey Recordings in UK.[9][10] Shortly afterwards, they released a Christmas single, 'Cerdyn Nadolig' ('Christmas Card') which garnered them the Welsh Christmas Number 1 on the BBC Radio Cymru chart.[11]