Dan Harris and John de Gruyther are The Colourful Fan. The are also polar opposites: Dan is loud; John is quiet. Dan clearly takes care of his hair; John doesn't seem to be bothered about his as long as it's...well, long.

Psychic Sidekicks:

There is a great rapport between the two musicians. They joke about sharing a psychic link and their banter demonstrates that maybe this could be true. They finish off each other's sentences and both laugh at unspoken jokes. One could be mistaken for thinking they were a married couple.

This rapport is an important part of the song writing process. 'We aren't scared to tell each other what we think of the other person's ideas,' Dan explains. 'If John comes up with an idea that sounds good, we don't talk about it, it's just written down, straight away.'

It's a Guitar, Jim...

The two first met up at school, both being fans of Gloucester Rugby Club. It was only a lot later though that they decided to form a band. Dan had to teach John how to play the guitar first.

'What was the first thing I taught you to play?' Dan asks his partner in crime with something of a paternal pride.

John thinks for a moment before name checking a couple of Beatles songs.

'No. It was the theme to Star Trek. The original series, mind,' he adds, lest we foolish believe that he had been teaching his protégé the tunes to substandard sequels. There's another clarification coming: 'Don't think we're Trekkies, though.'

The thought never entered my mind.

Band Names From Amsterdam:

The Colourful Fan, it emerges, was chosen as a name after the two saw a painting with that title in an Amsterdam art gallery. Although John is happy with it, Dan is not entirely sure. 'But then "The Beatles" is a daft name for a band as well. It's only because they're so famous that we don't even think about it.'

The duo's aim is to make sure that their music is heard by enough people so that their name takes on a life of its own. 'That's the only way a name can come to mean anything,' Dan explains.

California Dreamers:

The band have big ambitions. They talk of taking on string and brass session musicians for recordings and performances in order to produce a bigger sound. They talk of writing songs for other artists. And they dream of record deals.

But these dreams and fantasies do have some grounding in reality. Through meeting people here and there, they are already amassing a variety of potential session musicians to help them out. And as for record deals, they've already found themselves on a CD.

'Yeah. We sent off our demo to Chromium Records in Cheshire,' John explains. 'They liked what we did and we've been put on a CD called Industry Standard III. They're going to select the best artist or two off the album and give them a record deal.

'But some runner ups will be given the chance to put together an E.P. which would be great because it would give us a chance to work in a proper studio.'

Bedroom Activity:

Currently, the band rehearse and record in Dan's bedroom. The room has been specially set up for the purpose of recording. 'The way we write and work, it would be too expensive to go into a proper studio and record layer upon layer of track with just the two of us,' Dan explains This way, I can stay up to five, six or seven in the morning working on the editing, and it won't cost us anything.'

Musical tasks are split neatly down the middle with both band members playing their part. Although both actively involved in all the activities, John is happy to offer Dan the credit for the production side while he is more comfortable with writing lyrics.

Songs:

I ask them where they get their inspiration for song writing. One song, 'The Truth Hurts' is clearly about an adulterous relationship. Are most of their songs like their style? The answer is a resolute "no".

'We tend to write songs about feelings rather than things,' Dan explains. '"Green and Golden Sun", for example, is a metaphor for people seeing something in someone that isn't really there. That could be about a romantic relationship, a friendship or something else. It's up to you to decide.'

There is, then, a desire to pursue a more abstract style. 'Jarvis Cocker would write a song about "touching a girl's breast",' Dan continues. 'You can't get more obvious than that. What we try to do is make it more about feelings and ideas than stark facts, but we always try to end on a happy note.'

Colour and Colourful:

The subject comes round to talk of Ocean Colour Scene. In my review, I suggested that there were some stylistic similarities between them and Simon Fowler's band. 'Yeah, it's something we're aware of,' Dan sighs.

'We try to avoid that kind of thing. If we, or anyone else, thinks that something we have written sounds like something else, then we try to change it. We readily admit that we are not one hundred per cent original. Maybe one day we'll get there, but in the meantime, we're going to do the best with what we've got.'

Plans:

As for immediate plans, the band are looking to get more gigging experience. They have already done a successful open mic session at the Guildhall and looking forward to doing another.

There are also plans for them to organise their own concert so that they can showcase their talents to family, friends, friends of friends and friends of friends of friends. 'We just want to find out what people think,' they explain.

What people will think is that Dan and John are highly ambitious, but with talents to match. Despite self mocking talk of unrealistic dreams, they share a feeling that they really 'could do so much more'. Maybe they could. Let's hope they do.

25/04/04 - First published on www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire under this link