Those who have followed the independent synthpop scene during the last decade have probably, at one point or another, run across the band name Color Theory. Brian Hazard released his first album under the Color Theory name in 1994, Sketches In Grey. This has been followed by four more albums plus numerous compilation appearances. And prior to the release of his last album, Something Beautiful, Brian posted copies of the demos he was working on at MP3.com for fans to listen to and voice their opinions on. In a little over a week, on November 25th, his sixth album, Color Theory Presents Depeche Mode, will be released. We recently got the chance to bounce emails back and forth with Brian to talk about the band, the new album, and a few other things.

AeschTunes: Where did the band name of Color Theory come from?
Brian Hazard: A friend of mine in Fashion Design school had a class called Color Theory 101. I thought it sounded cool.

AT: Who are some of your musical influences?
BH: You can definitely hear the influence of Depeche Mode, the Cure, and the Smiths on my first album. Whatever I listen to rubs off in one way or another, so I suppose I should be more careful! Some other favorites are David Sylvian, the Blue Nile, and Rufus Wainwright.

AT: I'm surprised you didn't mention Tori Amos, since there are references to her on your website (at least, the last I looked there was :))
BH: I haven't kept up on all her releases, but her early work was definitely an influence. I'm sure I could name a dozen more influences I was looking at my CD collection.

AT: You are just about to release "Color Theory Presents Depeche Mode," a collection of cover versions you did of Depeche Mode songs (plus one original track). What made you decide to do an album of covers of a single artist, as opposed to doing an album of covers of several artists?
BH: The idea occurred to me after completing "I Want You Now" for a Depeche Mode tribute album coming out in the UK. I found myself energized and excited about the result, and thought of several other DM tracks that would be fun to do. There are a lot of DM tributes out there, but I set out to create something unique - a set of tracks and interludes that flow together like a true Depeche Mode album.

AT: Speaking of "I Want You Now", the original version of that song is primarily acapella. How did you approach the track?
BH: I created its evil twin. My version is aggressive, uptempo, and in your face. I expanded on the original structure by making the "And I don't want to be like one of the boys" section a chorus, and building on it with harmonies and countermelodies until it overflows with vocal lines.

[Color Theory Presents Depeche Mode]

AT: How did you select the songs that you recorded for this project?
BH: I stayed away from the singles and focused on songs that are well written, but might benefit from a different arrangement. Some of my favorite DM songs aren't included, such as "Somebody" and "The Things You Said", because I can't imagine them any other way.

AT: How did your approach to recording this material differ from recording an albums worth of your own material? Did you find that you approached the tracks in a different way at all?
BH: My mixing capabilities have really grown through working on this project. Because production values play such an important role in Depeche Mode's music, I worked hard to bring my mixes up to the same level. It was much easier to record Martin Gore's music than to record my own. I've lived with these songs for most of my adult life, so they were already a part of me before I recorded a note.

AT: Do you continue working on the writing of your own material throughout the recording process? In other words, you don't stop writing the song until you finish the recording?
BH: It depends on the project. For my previous album, Something Beautiful, all the parts were composed and scored before recording, because I needed to provide sheet music to the bass player, drummer, string players, and so on. But on my earlier albums, sometimes I'd have the arrangement essentially completed when I still needed lyrics for the second verse.

AT: Included with the Depeche Mode songs is one Color Theory original, "Ponytail Girl." Did you re-record this song, or is it the same version that appeared on "Life's Fairytale"? Also, in your opinion, what is it about this song that makes it fit in with an album of Depeche Mode covers?
BH: "Ponytail Girl" was mixed again from scratch using the same techniques and gear that I used on the rest of the tracks. The result blends in smoothly with the rest of the album. In my mind, the track fits in with the rest of the songs because Depeche Mode fans all over the world continue to mistake it as a Depeche Mode b-side from the Exciter sessions. It's meant to be just a little tongue-in-cheek.

AT: The previous two Color Theory albums (Life's Fairytale and Something Beautiful) were something of opposites; LF was predominantly electronic and SB was predominantly acoustic. Is the new album a return to the earlier Color Theory sound of blending acoustic and electronic elements? What was the reaction to "separating" the electronic and acoustic elements of the Color Theory sound?
BH: The new album is yet another new sound. It's predominantly electronic, dark, and even harsh at times. The piano does make a few appearances in trademark Color Theory style. Overall, I suppose it sits more comfortably in my back catalogue than the two albums before it. Fan response to Life's Fairytale and Something Beautiful was overwhelmingly positive, and not much different than the response to the albums before it. I think that the fans are most interested in the songwriting, which remains consistent despite the changes in instrumentation.

AT: You've been doing a "free MP3 of the month" download feature on your website, www.colortheory.com, for quite some time now; frequently with exclusive tracks. Is there a chance these will ever be compiled on a CD (or set of CDs)?
BH: You never know, though I tend to consider rarities albums a step backwards.

AT: I've seen your name popping up frequently on many recent independent synthpop releases as having mastered the CDs. How long have you been in the mastering business, and how has it affected your recording?
BH: 11th Records Mastering has been my "day job" for the past 10 years. I've been lucky enough to master a good percentage of independent synthpop releases. It's rewarding in so many ways. Besides giving me another outlet to be creative and musical, I get to participate in a music community where we're all striving towards a common goal.

AT: Is your mastering work primarily within the synthpop field or do you work in other musical genres too?
BH: Both actually. 90% of the stuff I get is electronic, but I do work in other styles. I've done a lot of audio restoration as well, on a number of new Jim Reeves releases.

AT: What is the difference between mastering a recording and producing or mixing it? I'm sure that some of us at least have seen albums simply labelled as being "remastered" that sound drastically different from what we're used to hearing.
BH: While a mixing engineer works to shape the individual elements of the mix into a coherent whole, a mastering engineer works to shape the individual songs into an album. I don't have access to individual tracks like bass, keyboards, guitar, vocals. Instead, I work with the entire stereo mix, to add power and punch, to bring it to a competitive volume level without degrading the sound quality, and to match the songs tonally so that they blend well together. All major label releases are professionally mastered. It's considered the first stage of manufacturing.

AT: The first two Color Theory albums only mention 11th Records as the label, while the other three also feature a logo for A Different Drum. You also refer here to "11th Records Mastering" - is 11th Records it's own record label?
BH: It's essentially what's called a "vanity label". A Different Drum agreed to distribute my label's releases back when I was planning to build the roster, which is why I include the logo. I guess I haven't come through on my end of the bargain though, because I've only released one non-Color Theory album. Instead, I chose to build my mastering business.

AT: A "free" question - what would you like to tell the readers of this newsletter, about the band, yourself, life in general...?
BH: Soon I'll be announcing a new web site at www.dmtribute.com devoted specifically to Color Theory presents Depeche Mode. There will be lots of information on the recording process, sound samples of every track, and a few surprises to keep you coming back! I hope you'll take a few minutes to visit.

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