The Color Fred
The Color Fred photo by: Jessica Perl
He takes the stage alone, picks up his guitar, and walks up to the microphone. His ensuing set showcases his skill on his instrument, and he sings his songs, old and new, to a room full of adoring, screaming fans.
Fred Mascherino has been on his own for 2 years now with his solo project The Color Fred, and he is doing magnificently well. His second album is due to release this winter, and he is in the midst of an East Coast acoustic tour, to be followed shortly by a West Coast one. We are sitting in the basement of the Blender Theatre on East 23rd Street, an old movie theater-turned-concert-venue, discussing his journey over the past years. I am immediately struck by Fred’s down-to-earth, easy-going nature, and its not hard to picture him behind the wheel of his 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit that runs on vegetable oil. We are quickly at ease. My first question gravitates to one of the main reasons we are here today: his decision to leave the band, Taking Back Sunday.
“I wasn’t happy doing what I was doing. The result of that was this thing that was designed to be a side project became full time” Now that it’s my main focus, I’m writing more of what I wanted to write the first time around. [The situation] definitely got made into more drama than it needed to be.”
Does he ever regret the choice?
“No, not at all. People ask me, ‘Oh, was that a smart business decision?’ And I’m like, ‘It wasn’t a business decision at all; it was a necessary decision for my life.”
That is not to say this new venture isn’t without its difficulties.
“I’m not gonna go out [on stage] and have everyone know my name. But that’s never bummed me out. I actually kind of like being challenged; it’s inspiring, and it gets boring when it’s too easy.”
He will certainly be carving a new name out for himself in the music scene with the different sound he presents on his upcoming album.
“My second album has this really sad subject matter going on, and it’s created much darker music. I have a loose concept going on with the record, and it’s really cool because I’ve never written with a single concept in mind for a whole album, but it’s really been something to push me forward and inspire me. It’s basically about this couple going through terrible things – their town is under siege. But it’s inspired by something that happened earlier this year in my hometown of Coatesville, PA. We had over 50 arsons in one year, and in the month of January alone there were 17 fires. One fire would be 12 row homes, ya know so that happened like 50 times, and people weren’t sleeping at night, and there was a lot of anxiety. It was really bad and definitely stressed me out. I decided I was gonna write a song about it, and that turned into 3 songs about it, and then I started to build this fictional story about a couple who lived there. So you see why it’s sort of taken a darker turn, with the whole city-burning-down thought.”
[They eventually caught the people who were causing the fires.]
The Color Fred debuted some of it’s new songs on it’s most recent EP, The Intervention, which was released on April 18th, 2009, also known as National Record Store Day. In celebration of the holiday, the EP was only available in independent record stores.
“Actually, it was Ryan Russell’s idea. He’s a photographer that takes a lot of pictures of people on the scene. I always thought it was such a cool thing to be involved with [National Record Store Day], especially now when the stores are hurting so badly now you can get [the EP] on I-Tunes. That just happened this month, though. We kept it away from digital until the stores ran out.”
After this show in New York, The Color Fred is heading to Philadelphia for the next night’s performance. This also means an opportunity for him to head home to visit with his family and sleep in his own bed. Obviously, having a musician for a father means a deeper glimpse into that world for his children. When I asked about his hope for his 3 children to follow in his musical footsteps, he laughed and responded, “I think that they will have an obvious interest in it, but I try not to push it. I don’t care “like, what if my kid was gonna help poor people or help cure some disease, and instead I forced him to play the drums?! What a waste. At least I know I couldn’t have cured much.”
Either way, it is apparent in his glowing demeanor after the show that he has found his true calling in music. The Color Fred is just taking off, and it will be very exciting to see what comes next!
