By: David Schultz
Live shot photos via LivingColor.com & Flickr.

As a member of the hard-rocking, socio-politically conscious Living Colour, Vernon Reid solidified his position as one of rock and roll's most inventive and intriguing lead guitarists. In the late eighties, Reid's transcendent guitar solo from "Cult Of Personality" emanated from classic rock radio, top 40 radio and MTV. Sadly, bright stars burn fiercely; Living Colour split up in the early nineties, their vigilantly defiant voice of conscience silent until reforming in the summer of 2001.

In the aftermath of Living Colour's split, Reid released his first solo album Mistaken Identity in 1996 with the members of Masque. For the follow-up, the 2004 Known Unknown, Masque received equal billing. Taking less time to release their next album, Vernon Reid and Masque's Other True Self hits stores April 18. While awaiting the release of his new album, Reid graciously invited Earvolution into his New York City home to discuss Other True Self, Masque and the unavoidable topic of Living Colour.

Masque grew out of longtime relationships between Reid, bassist Hank Schroy and keyboardist Leon Gruenbaum. Schroy came to Masque from the alternative rock band No Walls and Gruenbaum "came from outer space by way of Brookline, Massachusetts." With a chuckle, Reid describes meeting Gruenbaum at one of his photo exhibitions where the keyboardist gave him a tape that floored the seemingly unflappable guitarist. "He's a brilliant keyboard player as well as being an inventor, incredibly knowledgeable in all types of music," says Reid of Gruenbaum. "Genius is a word that gets thrown around, but he truly is that." The term "genius" has often been applied to Reid, but when asked if he feels like one, he quickly dismissed the suggestion, succinctly and modestly responding, "Nope. I am an ongoing and developing experience."

With Masque, Reid explores different and varying musical styles. While Living Colour in no way hid Reid's guitar virtuosity, Masque gives Reid the opportunity to show off his skills in genres outside of his other band's hard rock bailiwick. On Other True Self, Reid offers a collection of instrumentals ranging from the Caribbean flavored reggae of "Flatbush And Church Revisited," the jazz, funk, metal fusion of "Game Is Rigged," a grandiose cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" and an inspired reworking of Radiohead's "National Anthem." Don McKenzie, a member of the Mistaken Identity touring band, replaces Marlon Browden on drums for the new album. "Don brings something new, he's very hard-hitting," explains Reid. "Whereas Marlon has a very different style, intense, a very jazz, improvised type of thing, Don has a more funk and pocket type background."

Reid's solo projects have always dealt with the concept of identity and, as the name would lead you to believe, Other True Self continues Reid's exploration. The new album's ideological origins stem from discussions Reid had with Cream bassist Jack Bruce about their not-so-different backgrounds. Like Reid, Bruce has been involved in numerous projects. "We've lived so many lives inside of our lives," Bruce told Reid. The notion of evolving persona and psyche has always been inextricably entwined with Reid's solo work. "The idea of all these records is that by looking at identity, looking at who it is that's addressing you now, what is 'I'?" explains Reid. "What does that mean? What does it mean to be a guitarist of a certain style? What does it mean to be of a certain ethnic group? What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be an American in the world now?"

Bringing the analysis closer to home, Reid looks at his albums as a snapshot of where he's at now. With respect to the idea of having separate selves, Reid takes an existential view. "It's like another side of me, the same me but a different side," he says. "Mistaken Identity was so much about, there's the Living Colour thing, there's Vernon Reid and all of that and then there's this kind of darkie figurine and what does the darkie figurine have to do with Vernon Reid inside of Living Colour and outside of Living Colour," he explains. "It purports to be me and is supposed to represent me," Reid says of Mistaken Identity's cover image. "Examining what [the figurine actually represents], that's an ongoing fascination." Broadening the metaphor further, Reid concludes that, "In a way, [his Masque albums and solo projects] are all different aspects of a central question, who is this and why does he have a guitar around his neck."

Reid's intrigued by the contrast between the identity you feel for yourself and the identity projected onto you by others, a theme that runs beyond the music and into Other True Self's cover art, especially the wild helmet/mask sported by Reid. Instead of seeing the mask as an instrument of concealment, Reid sees it as a way to disclose a more complex nature. "The idea of the mask as revealing and bringing forth an aspect of one's nature," interests Reid. Enjoying the juxtaposition of wearing a suit while wearing a primitive headdress and holding a Tony Fitzpatrick painted guitar, Reid explicates that, "Masking hides the self but it also projects another true self."

While Reid's latest album reflects a distinct side of his personality, he eschews simplifying identity into a dichotomy. "Don't limit it to a duality," Reid answers deliberately. "It's like a kind of circle. I came into this really into Santana and Jimi Hendrix, then I got into [jazz guitarist] John McLaughlin and underneath all that was the blues thing, Freddie King, B.B. King. From there to The Decoding Society and Ronald Shannon Jackson, which went 'out there' into the so called avant-garde." Reid speaks reverentially about the avant-garde. "You have to have those extreme elements in music. From the avant-garde, you get to the mainstream. Working with Jackson, meeting Ornette Coleman and even what happened with Living Colour," has brought Reid to the place he is today. "You don’t get to the center without going onto the edge." Completing the circle, Reid defines his new album within that context. "Other True Self is the space between the very extreme avant-garde and the mainstream."

Other True Self succeeds by avoiding the pitfalls of becoming mired in its own heaviness, steering well clear of the stereotypical guitar histrionics that habitually weigh down full-length rock instrumental albums. Reid accomplishes the task by keeping the mix of songs fresh. "The sequence of the album is very much the journey," proclaims Reid. The opening two songs, "Game Is Rigged" and "National Anthem," comprise a gripping opening couplet. "I like how they came across, how they go from one to the other," Reid says with pride. "Game Is Rigged" seamlessly moves through funk, jazz, blues and a little metal, with Reid's guitar skating on the surface of Masque's skillful backing. The Radiohead cover may seem an odd choice, but the replacement of Thom Yorke's ethereal, ghostly voice with Reid's soulful guitar succeeds on a grand scale. "We got the bass sound just right," Reid says, unsurprisingly agreeing with the assessment. "After Soundgarden (Reid's favorite Living Colour contemporaries) broke up, I was devastated. I got a taste of what it was like for fans of Living Colour to hear that Living Colour broke up. Radiohead was one of the bands that made rock fascinating again." Plus, the title alone peaked Reid's interest as a provocateur. "You can't not think about 'The Star Spangled Banner' and I like the tension of thinking about 'The Star Spangled Banner' but playing the Radiohead tune."

"Flatbush And Church Revisited" is a reggae-tinged soundtrack for the Brooklyn intersection frequented by those who trace their ancestry to the Caribbean. Through "Flatbush," Reid best describes his affinity for instrumentals. "Instrumental music can serve to say things you can't say with lyrics but it can also serve as a soundtrack for a very particular place in time," describes Reid. "It can be a soundtrack for an emotion as well as a physical place or a mental landscape. That's how I relate to instrumental music." The song also has a small sentimental attachment for Reid as his parents are from the Caribbean, thus revealing yet another side of the guitarist, but possibly not a significant one. "I don't identify as Caribbean. I guess I do inasmuch as I'm an African-Caribbean American, but I grew up in New York. I grew up in America. The only thing I know is America, I identify as American, whatever that means," Reid says with a laugh.

The pounding beat of "Whiteface" and the bouncing "Mind Of My Mind" overlaps a little with Reid's Living Colour work, but on the whole Other True Self is as much a separate project as Will Calhoun's jazz recordings. Gruenbaum injects a little Emerson, Lake & Palmer keyboard action into "Afrerika" and the interplay between Reid's guitar and Gruenbaum's Hammond organ turn Depeche Mode's 1990 hit "Enjoy The Silence" into a laid back, elegiac anthem. "Prof. Bebey" has the joyful pacing of a medieval folk tune and concludes the album with a pleasant reverie. Known for roaring guitar solos, "Prof. Bebey" has given Reid the impetus to further exploring the potential of acoustic music. "'Prof. Bebey' was actually a cue for the film, The 12 Disciples of Nelson Mandela," Reid explains. "I kept thinking about it and recorded it with the band and it came out really well. Where the acoustic melds with the electronics," Reid says and then pauses. "I'm not sure what that's going to mean, but it's something I'm interested in."

Masque has worked out the new material on stage in Europe and Reid seemed pleased with the development. "'Game Is Rigged' really kind of grew and changes from day to day. The Radiohead and Depeche Mode songs also went over well. Mistaken Identity's 'CP Time' and Known Unknown's 'The Slouch' were also well received." There will always be those amongst Masque's audience that want to see Reid bust out a Living Colour tune but they have faded into the background over time. Reid's not bothered by those people who call for "Cult Of Personality" or their other favorite Living Colour songs. "It's gratifying to have people that have been with it since the first record." While no Living Colour covers have made their way into Masque's set, Reid's considering incorporating a song or two, thinking Vivid's "Broken Hearts" would work well. He also would like to work in a Talking Heads Fear Of Music track into the set, leaning towards "Mind."

Not one to suffer fools lightly; there is nothing frivolous about Reid. Don't take that to mean he's without humor as Reid has a very witty, amiable way about him. Rather, Reid brings a hyperactive intellect to all his pursuits. Reid can and will expound on sports, politics and especially music, offering perspectives from a unique and informed point of view. It's Reid's interpretation of the world around him that helped fuel Living Colour's success. In fact, whether Living Colour has more to say is the quandary the band presently faces. "Now I'm at a place, is this going to be an evolving thing, is this stuck in time or are we just playing the songs that everyone knows. Is it ongoing?" Reid says of Living Colour's future. "At what point do we all make that happen, and that's really a question for the band right now."



Reid was not hesitant to discuss his former band, although conceding that he was not always so forthcoming. "There's a time period in my life that if you brought up Living Colour, I would have been, next question." Reid then became momentarily pensive. "It happens, you're so close. It's funny about being intimate with people and close to them, it's weird. The disappointment is that much stronger." When asked if the true story of Living Colour's split has ever been told, Reid grinned and with a playful laugh said, "I don't think the real story's ever been told and I ain't going to tell it now." After pausing for a moment, Reid implies that there's no simple answer to that question, saying that there were many different aspects to Living Colour's breakup. "One thing I will say, we probably needed to have a serious cooling off period after [original bassist] Muzz [Skillings] left the band. Having said that, I'm really happy that Doug joined the band and all those other things you can speculate on."

Living Colour has never been shy to lend their voice or time to a cause they feel worthy. Last summer, Living Colour returned to CBGB to play a benefit show in support of the legendary punk-rock club's fight with its landlord to remain in its iconic East Village home. Reid has fond memories for CBGB and its owner Hilly Kristal and regrets the club becoming a casualty to the ever-changing New York landscape. "It's sad," Reid says of the development of the East Village. "It's turning into a miniature midtown. Low high rises all over the place. I hate the fact that it's become a scrubbed up shadow of itself. No one wants to deal with crime and unsavory elements but New York City used to have a real edge. The meat packing district has become a super-expensive, high fashion, exclusive club place and that's what happening to the East Village, it's sad."

Reid remains non-committal as to what should happen to CBGB when its lease expires later this year. "It's funny because some people are very nostalgic of CBGB," says Reid, noting the varying range of opinions on the proper course of action for the club's future. "Other people had a bad time because they didn't become famous and are very negative. Hilly gave me a fair shake. If he wants to cash out; I think he should do whatever he wants to do with it." While taking no exception with whatever Kristal eventually decides to do with his club, Reid takes issue with the circumstances that have brought the situation to bear. "CBGB should have been landmarked." Noting the similarities between CBGB's fight and the battle to save the Electric Ladyland studios, Reid posits, "On a certain level, real estate is about hubris and ego. It's about 'I can do this because I can.' It really speaks to the ferocity of the great game of New York real estate, the blood sport of it. Another generation is going to come along and no one's going to understand what it is until it's taken away from them." Reid's last thought is lyrically elegant. "You don't miss your water 'til the well runs dry."

At their CBGB concert, "Open Letter (To A Landlord)" took on added meaning and Reid compared that performance to Living Colour's cover of Bruce Springsteen's controversial "American Skin (41 Shots)" at Central Park's Summerstage in the summer of 2001, shortly after the band reformed. "We had been working up to doing '41 Shots' in Central Park and once we did it there, we didn't need to do the song again," said Reid. "The story arc of that song and Amadou Diallo was complete and to repeat the story doesn't do anything. Some things are funny that way, some things need closure. The CBGB thing, I was surprised at the people who didn't show up and didn't want to go back, but I understand that."

For many, the Central Park show marked Living Colour's reunion, even though they had played some live shows in preparation for the free concert. While fans flocked to Central Park to see Living Colour again, Reid had mixed feelings about the way Living Colour returned. "I would have liked to get together, play and write new songs," he explains. However, never one to shy from a potentially controversial position, Reid and Living Colour felt once more that they had something to say. "One thing that mattered to me was '41 Shots.' The rest of that show felt like we were playing a weird kind ofbarbecuee or weird block party, just very weird. '41 Shots' was the moment in that show where the actual Living Colour, the Living Colour that was vital, the Living Colour that meant something, actually did something."

Shortly after Living Colour's return, New York City was beset by the September 11th terrorist attacks that scarred a whole generation of New Yorkers and Americans. "I don't know if the band would have continued without September 11," explained Reid. "We're a New York band and September 11 was a moment and a thing that really brought that into focus. We'd been working on songs; 'A ? Of When' was written before the attacks but took on more meaning afterwards," says Reid before concisely summing up their return. "We still had something to say."

Living Colour returned to a different landscape that greeted them upon their late eighties debut. Reid realizes the public's reaction to Living Colour, a black band playing rock and roll, would differ if they came along today. "The novelty of being black would be less a part of the story," reasons Reid. "After Living Colour there has been Rage Against The Machine, the band that came after us that stylistically extended the boundaries, there are mixed-race bands like the Dave Matthews Band and Sevendust. Things have evolved and Living Colour was part of that reintegration and re-evolution." Reid's modest about Living Colour's role in changing people's perceptions, stressing that they made it more possible for these bands to gain acceptance but that "everyone has to stand or fall on their music. I'm not going to take credit for other people's music," he states firmly. "Lenny Kravitz became a bona-fide rock star without anyone saying 'oh he's black.' Before us it was Prince, before that Bad Brains, even as far back as The Isley Brothers."

Reid comfortably looks back on the past, but isn't content to reside there. "I'm glad that Living Colour affected the landscape of rock and roll," he says proudly. "My main concern now is whether the story is ongoing or is the story complete. What is it that we’re talking about now? What do we as, a collective, have to bring to it? What's the chapter that's going to be written next? It's an open question." However, Reid will never shy away from playing the songs that earned Living Colour legions of loyal fans that still come to see the band whenever and wherever they play. "The sentiment feels dated but for the most part when we get out of the way of the music, it's pretty fun." As to whether he will ever grow tired of playing "Cult Of Personality," Reid answers reflectively. "Has Santana ever played a show without playing 'Black Magic Woman?' It would be weird for him to get to the point where he could do a show and not play it; you would realize that a whole generation has passed out of his audience."

In discussing whether Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish brings out anything extra from Reid ("Doug's a bad motherfucker isn't he?" Reid says with a laugh and an impish grin), you learn that Reid is very self aware of the reasons for his, and Living Colour's success. After joking that when Wimbish gets going, "I just try and stay out of the way," Reid gives a fascinating dissertation on making great rock and roll. "It's about getting out of the way of the music," he explains. "When you see a bad Living Colour show you see four guys not agreeing, colliding into one another, scrabbling for their space. When you see a great Living Colour show, the songs play themselves. The music has to play the musician."

Reid then brings up King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp and his theory of the totality of the experience. "Rock audiences are attuned to when things are real and when things are fake. They know when a real moment's happening or when a real moment's not happening. I became fascinated with the idea that people can tell when you're playing well. They don't know scales, they don't know music theory, but they will know when you’re not playing well. If you play for musicians, half of them don't know either. It's interesting the way people respond to certain things, if someone does a flashy thing that's actually not that deep musically, people respond to it because he did a flashy thing. But it's real interesting when they respond to something really edgy, really risk-taking because they get it, they hear it."

Once again, bringing the general around to the specific, Reid explains how this works for him. "Getting out of the way of yourself, getting out of the way of what you want [the music] to be and actually being and doing what [the music] is. It can be very difficult," he says deliberately. "It's a lot easier to get in the way than to get out of the way." Reid continues, "I know for myself, when I want want want, I get into trouble. I want to be cool. I want you to like me. I want you to like this song. I want you to buy the record. I want. I want. I want. The things that I want are barriers, which is weird, because you have to have desire on a certain level and you have to execute. Really being who you are at the moment and playing the music to the best of your ability without an expectation of reward. I'm going to play this thing and you're going to love it," he reveals. "That's what works for me."

Labels: CBGB, Living Colour, Masque, Vernon Reid