We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Colorjoy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Colorjoy, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever head any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?
Honestly, creative blocks have been hard to avoid – especially because our sound is continually evolving along with our personal tastes. Most of our writer’s block surprisingly comes from us hearing so many different directions our music could go in, and it not being easy to decide which path to go down. After we get stuck in the process of weighing so many options over and over, we’ve had to learn that what matters most in the decision-making is our gut reaction to the music – what feels the best, what makes us want more, and, honestly, what’s the most fun. This has been a pretty common thing for us lately, but whenever we reach that point of reminding ourselves that it’s important to focus on what makes us happiest, everything feels so much freer.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
We’re Emily and Sam, aka Colorjoy, an alt-rock/pop band based in NYC. After almost a decade of playing together, we decided it was time to create a space for the two of us to write and perform, focusing completely on the passion and joy making music together makes us feel. Colorjoy represents who we are as a duo – always changing but consistently coming back to what keeps us grounded. Our debut album, Golden Age (released May 2023), is a reflection of that idea. With tracks touching on various concepts – from the feeling of blind optimism to our reflections on introversion – we aim to explore different aspects of who we are, while always sticking to how we truly feel.
Coming up, we have a bunch of shows to kick off 2024! We’re playing The Bowery Electric 3/18, Bar Freda 3/24, Rockwood Music Hall 4/7, and Pianos 4/20 (with Breaking Sound). We also have new music in the works and we’ll be previewing it at every show.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Knowing how to run an efficient rehearsal is something that can really have an impact, especially in the independent music scene. Maximizing the time spent is important, particularly because you not only have to pay by the hour for rehearsal space, but you also want to make sure that any musicians you hire feel like their time is respected. It’s important for us to have a balance between having a fun, low-pressure environment and approaching everything professionally.
Something we’ve learned with Colorjoy is how to give ourselves grace when things aren’t clicking right away and use that to push ourselves forward. There are countless times when we feel like progress isn’t being made, but in those moments, the best thing to do is remind ourselves that “progress” isn’t always a tangible thing. Everything simply takes time.
Having personal motivation is fundamental to any artist’s path and it’s something that we wouldn’t be anywhere without. When it comes to being a gigging musician, you have to constantly be searching and preparing for possibilities that aren’t guaranteed – multiply that exponentially when you’re also an independent artist. Having internal motivators is key to getting us through the rough patches and reminding ourselves why we’re doing it all in the first place.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
Our “ideal audience” doesn’t have any particular demographic – instead, it’s made up of people who can hear the joy we put into our music. For an indie band, finding our audience is how we find our footing. It plays a huge role in deciding where we should book shows, what kind of merch to make, and factors into the content we put out. Marketing to our listeners also helps our reach extend to people who our music will really speak to. Those people create a welcoming environment at every show we play and we can’t wait to meet more of them as time goes on.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.colorjoyofficial.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colorjoyofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colorjoyofficial
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/colorjoyofcl
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIZElN_6JZmYE8jFdygT5yQ
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/colorjoyofficial
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@colorjoyofficial?lang=en
Image Credits
Manasa Gudavalli
