All the Beautiful Colors: Donny Hue

Map It  U Street-Cardozo   Dupont Circle 

WHEN ED DONOHUE last toured with his band, Donny Hue and The Colors, some of the psychedelic pop band's best shows were not in bars.

"We played some club shows, but a lot of the shows we played were at art spaces, weird venues and people's apartments," he said. "Sometimes those are great. It's better to have 30 kids rocking out and having fun than a bunch of people who don't care at a venue. It's exhilarating to play those kinds of places and just meet those people and hang out with them. That's worth it in itself."

Donohue's live shows are always affairs to remember, with little separation between the energy of the audience and the seven backing musicians on stage. It's a raucous concoction — "chaos," even, in Donohue's own words.

"A lot of those songs came together at the same time. I was doing stream-of-consciousness writing, just spouting stuff out. I used a lot of that for the songs, which tends to lead to a chaotic element," Donohue explained.

Donny Hue and The Colors' debut, "Folkmote" (released Aug. 28 on local label Kora), is raucous and chaotic but it's by no means unmelodic. Donohue writes catchy, hummable tunes, rich with harmony and depth. While retaining an autoharp-influenced sound throughout the album, the songs vary from almost orchestral to simple guitar and vocal tunes, from rocking sing-a-longs to ethereal, mystical chants.

While Donohue writes the songs, The Colors are responsible for the group's sound. In fact, they played a large role in the initiation of the album itself. "I love playing with my friends and that's why I wanted to do ['Folkmote']. I got a bunch of friends together and recorded it and that's really all I expected out of it. From there, we ended up doing a show, then went on a tour, then Kora put it out," Donohue said.

"I had written songs, but they were very open-ended in terms of structure. I just brought them in and [The Colors] came over to my basement-studio thingy I have. We just kind of jammed on them and people had their input and ideas. It helped shape the structure of the sounds."

These Colors that Donohue reveres so highly aren't just some friends he picked up on the street. They've got their own rock 'n' roll pedigrees, including Donohue's former bandmates from The Carlsonics and members of Washington Social Club and Nethers. Besides The Carlsonics, Donohue paid his dues in groups including Meredith Bragg and The Terminals and Olivia and The Housemates.

Given this large cast of characters, touring can pose certain problems. "It's a completely different band," Donohue said of the touring setup. "It always ends up like that. Not everyone can tour — I just kind of mix it up," he continued, explaining that the makeup of the upcoming tour, which started September 4, will feature bandmates switching around instruments and ringers sitting in from across the country.

"We just get whoever we can," Donohue said. "It's kind of hard and frustrating, but fun … Everybody has their own style. The band definitely sounds different each time around. I trust everybody I'm playing with, so I feel it's just different. I think that's really awesome and can be beautiful."

» Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; with Meredith Bragg and The Terminals and Olivia Mancini and The Housemates, Fri., 9 p.m., $15; 202-397-7328. (U St.-Cardozo)

» Olssons, 1307 19th St. NW; Fri., 7 p.m., free; 202-785-1133. (Dupont Circle)

Written by Express contributor Katherine Silkaitis