Graham Colton is a bit of a renaissance man. In many ways Colton HAS been the soundtrack to people’s lives. His story is one that aspiring musicians dream of – while playing local coffeehouses, he routinely handed out homemade CDs – one of which found its way onto the internet online tastemakers could provide. The chatter eventually reached one of his biggest influences, Adam Duritz, who asked him to open for the Counting Crows. Colton put a band together, went on tour and scored a label deal. Through sheer hard work and relentless perseverance, Colton went on tour with the likes of John Mayer, Maroon 5, OAR, Dave Matthews Band, Train, The Wallflowers and Kelly Clarkson. Along the way he wrote amazing songs, including “Best Days,” for the album Here Right Now, which was chosen as “Song of the Week” on iTunes, accruing over 700,000 downloads. “Best Days” became the exit music for American Idol, was used in a year-end commercial for HBO and was chosen by none other than Oprah Winfrey for her Big Give television specials. Here Right Now debuted at #2 on the Billboard New Artist chart and #4 on the iTunes Pop Chart, and led to Graham being asked to perform on a cavalcade of television shows including Ellen, The Tonight Show, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Today Show and Live! With Regis & Kelly. He is playing at Eddie’s Attic this Saturday, and joined us for our 5GB series. Easy on the eyes and ears…always the best combination.
What was the first gig you ever attended?
My first gig/ show i ever attended was Paul Macartney at arrowhead stadium in Kansas City. Amazing experience. The second was ‘Color Me Bad.’ Not the same.
What is the best gig that you ever played/performed?
The best gig i ever played most definitely one of the 4 concerts i played along side ‘Counting Crows & The Wallflowers’ at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. We did 4 nights in a row there and Adam asked us to join them for their 30 minute encore each night. We even played one of our songs during their encore!
What is the best gig you have ever seen?
The best show i have ever seen was the Flaming Lips at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
What is the gig you would most like to play?
I’d love to play one of the big festivals in the UK someday.
What would be the lineup for your dream gig?
My dream lineup for a show would be: Me, The Flaming Lips, & Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.
Catch Graham Colton, Saturday, June 2nd at Eddie’s Attic
