Less than 24 hours after metal icons Slayer announced their forthcoming break-up, post-hardcore veterans The Color Morale have just revealed they too will be going into hiatus mode for the foreseeable future.
“For the time being, we’re going to get back to being human…enjoy some other outlets, challenges, and comforts,” explains frontman Garret Rapp. “We’ll be prioritizing focuses we probably should have, and revisiting influences that drove us to create in the first place. Call that a hiatus if you will, but this will never be over.”
While it’s reassuring to know The Color Morale aren’t exactly calling it quits, it’s definitely heartbreaking to hear that the midwest outfit won’t be around for quite some time. To check out Rapp’s emotional goodbye for the time being, be sure to read his statement to fans below.
““this is where the devil goes to take a shit.”
I’ll never forget the day that I got to quit my job to be in a full time touring rock band. I set sail to the open asphalt with my best friends southbound to Florida, only to be completely broken down and stranded in Gulfport Mississippi just days after leaving home for the first time.
We met a local there that quoted the above to us as we were broken down and stranded at a local Gulfport gas station. Mississippi was hot that time of year, a perfect correlation between hell and the devil, and apparently the unforgiving world of touring in a rock band. Fast forward to nearly a decade later and here I am writing this eventuality.
The Color Morale was birthed as more than a band name, more than it’s members, and more than just the music. It was a mission statement and an idea of something greater. Even the name was a reflection of an alternative cognition, agreed upon by its creators. Whether that message was from a place of practiced spiritual refuge or some perplexed chaotic depressive sabotage, it was always brutally honest.
I can’t believe that nearly 10 years and 6 albums later, I still can’t go a single day without reading a message or comment about how that very same design affected and continues to affect you all in positive ways. That is the greatest privilege I have ever known in my life.
This is where you start to assume that this is The Color Morale announcing it’s break-up. When Steve and I started this band the goal was never to sell thousands of records, be on magazine covers, or even leave the midwest. The goal, along with the rest of my band mates was to have fun making art with my best friends. It always started there, in a garage across a field from a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere.
In the middle of nowhere is exactly where you discover who and why you are. Within the expanse of that idea, The Color Morale could never break up. If it broke, it was only because it wasn’t ours anymore. While we’ve been through many member changes over the years, the reason has been the same and for that same very reason this band will never expire. The truth is after over a decade, strife demands rest.
For the time being we’re going to get back to being human…enjoy some other outlets, challenges, and comforts. We’ll be prioritizing focuses we probably should have, and revisiting influences that drove us to create in the first place. Call that a hiatus if you will, but this will never be over.
I’m going to continue to post things on our social media, communicate as much as possible with you all, and get back to writing again eventually. The illustration above consists of thousands of photos of your tattoos together as one, a beautiful symbol of the community we share. You are all loved and greatly appreciated…beyond social media and beyond prose.
–Garret Rapp
“Ocean tides move to the voice of the moon,
Strange how we move.
How strange that I move to the voice of the moon,
Love ringing out of tune.
Leave your bad limbs behind,
For they are conduits to the heart.”
–as cities burn, tides“
