Colour Revolt

by William Ruhlmann
The indie rock band Colour Revolt was formed by five college students from Jackson and Oxford, MS: lead singer, guitarist, and keyboard player Jesse Coppenbarger; guitarist Jimmy Cajoleas; guitarist, keyboard player, and singer Sean Kirkpatrick; drummer and singer Len Clark; and bassist Drew Mellon. Formerly known as Fletcher, the band took its current name from Edwin Abbott's 19th century social commentary Flatland. Plans to record a debut EP in a friend's basement in Jackson were disrupted in August 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, which filled the space with evacuees; instead, the bandmates worked in the living room of the owner of the local Esperanza Plantation label, which eventually issued their self-titled disc on a small-scale basis in December 2005. Colour Revolt undertook a five-week national tour opening for Brand New in the summer of 2006. Tiny Evil, an imprint of Interscope Records, picked up the EP and gave it a national release on October 31, 2006. After moving to Fat Possum in 2007 (and after Patrick Addison replaced Drew Mellon on bass), the band released its first full-length album, Plunder, Beg and Curse, in April of 2008.