The Color Atlantic Is: Bryan Haring – Vocals/Keys, Kyle Rinfret – Guitar/ vocals, Joe Vena – Bass, Ryan Kroon – Drums
We Formed In: September 2011 as Seasons. January 2015- as The Color Atlantic
We’re Based Out Of: Monroe Twp, NJ
The Story Behind Our Name:
Ryan Kroon: we had a very democratic voting process, The Color Atlantic was chosen, Bryan had thought of the name. If I’m not mistaken we had one of our voting rounds in the back room of the Saint!
Bryan Haring: Due to the need to change our name from Seasons, we each wrote down suggestions on a piece of paper and after many rounds of voting, “The Color Atlantic” was chosen. I’m kinda amped that it was my suggestion that became our name.
Kyle Rinfret: Out of 25 name ideas, “The Color Atlantic” was elected by way of a three round voting process, each round eliminating sub par names. But if that’s a bit boring, then God came down from heaven in a ray of white light during practice one day and gave Bryan the name.
New Music Coming Out?
RK: We have just released our first EP as The Color Atlantic called The Color Atlantic EP. It is available as a physical CD, and on iTunes, you can also stream it on Spotify.
BH: We’ve just begun work on a new string of material for our next release. It’s good for us to stay busy and not reflect too hard on the work already completed.
KR: Content is a priority for us, we just put out “The Color Atlantic EP” and we have been assembling more material to freshen things up before we get stale. Expect something new to listen to ideally before the summer is out.
Who are your musical inspirations – from your own personal lives and from the world of music?
RK: My personal influences are Avenged Sevenfold, Coheed and Cambria, and Incubus.
BH: Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, Bill Evans, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Claude Debussy, Beethoven and various others. Anyone that gets the wheels turning in my head is of influence to me, especially when I see other locals putting on brilliant performances. It makes me want to go home and write until I create something I think is interesting.
KR: My musical inspirations, among plenty of others, include Jethro Tull, Genesis, Frank Zappa, Elbow, Noel Gallagher, The Doors, etc etc. I like cool lyrics, interesting music, all held together with a good chorus.
You guys were known as Seasons, but changed the name of the band to The Color Atlantic – can you talk about the change of the name, and has does this name change reflect a change in your sound?
RK: The name change happened because of the difficulty people had finding our name on the internet, obviously when you search “Seasons” on the internet you’re going to see things related to the seasons. It lacked originality and we needed a name that would stand out better. The name change wasn’t supposed to purposely come with a new sound, but in a way it did.
BH: It was a marketing thing. If people couldn’t find us by googling us then it wasn’t much of a good name. The change came with a change in our mentalities as well as a line-up change, which resulted in a change in our sound. We’re still evolving, which is exciting to me.
KR: The name change came at an interesting time. We had grown up and matured for 3 years as Seasons, and recorded “The Color Atlantic EP” while still Seasons. Then we decided to change the name in The Saint bathroom or back room or something. Then, our good friend and guitar player Dylan decided that he could no longer commit to the band, so along with a new name, we had to rework our sound a little to fit a four piece band. It’s still too early to comment on a change in sound, but there definitely has been one.
What Do You Love Most About Being in The Color Atlantic?
RK: Well there is nothing more rewarding than performing the songs you have written in front of a crowd. It’s exciting every time!
BH: Being weird and energetic on stage. It’s most important that we have fun performing, because that allows us to better entertain our audience.
KR: I think fleshing out songs as a band is my favorite part. To write lyrics and sing them with an acoustic guitar sure is songwriting, but there’s nothing like putting the full power of four musical minds into turning that one-instrument song into a full band affair. And don’t get me started on playing new songs in front of people…
There are so many bands out there that play Asbury Park. What do you think separates you from everyone else?
RK: Well for the longest time I thought it was Bryan’s Hair, but now that he got a haircut I’d have to say it’s the synthesizers.
BH: One of the main things is that we use keyboards in our sound. This adds a whole new element that makes us stand out against the standard guitar setup that most bands use.
KR: I’d like to believe that our noticeable verse-chorus structures are a big plus to our sound
If someone had never heard your music before, and you had to recommend a track for them to listen to in order to fully understand what The Color Atlantic is – what would that song be and why?
BH: I’d say that ‘The Vines’ and ‘Ivy Gates’ and ‘Say Nothing’ best explain to a listener what we’re all about. ‘Vines’ is heavier and rock motivated, and ‘Say Nothing’ is more emotional and visceral.
RK: This is a tough question! I say this because I feel like our music is pretty diverse. No matter what kind of music one listens to, I’m sure they’d be able to pick one of our songs and say “I really like that one!”
KR: Being that we only have four songs to choose from out on that internet, I’d say ‘Say Nothing’ would explain our band pretty well. Go listen to it if you don’t understand our band and let me know if it clarifies anything.
What do you have planned for the rest of summer? The rest of 2015?
BH: World domination. And tea drinking.
KR: Write a ton of songs, scrap the bad ones, and put out some dang content!
RK: we have a lot of shows coming up!
Langosta Lounge – Asbury Park – Sat. June 27th
Old Canal Inn – Nutley, NJ- Fri July 17th
Final Score – Bensalem, Pa – Sat. July 18th
The Saint – Asbury Park – Fri July 24th
The Court Tavern – New Brunswick – Sun. August 9th
The Legendary Dobbs – Philadelphia – Fri. August 21st
Pianos – Manhattan – Sat. August 22nd
The Court Tavern – New Brunswick – Sat. August 29th
The Color Atlantic performs at Happy Mondays at The Wonder Bar tonight in Asbury Park, NJ along with Dollys and Atlas Bloom.
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