A native of San Diego, Colin Armstrong found his passion for music in his early years. This discovery was largely due to growing up within a musical family. “My dad is a talented singer, not a professional, but great nonetheless,” shares Colin. Though it’s not uncommon for independent singer/songwriters to play the guitar and piano, Colin’s love of music evolved into learning how to play the bagpipes at just twelve years of age. He knew then that music was his calling. By the time he was fifteen, he was touring Europe and competing with bagpipes internationally, which lead to an invitation to play shows with the infamous band KORN. That’s when Colin got a glimpse of the rock lifestyle—while meeting and hanging out with Billy Idol and Robbie Krieger of the Doors.
Today, he is a world-class bagpiper.
As you can imagine though, playing the bagpipes didn’t lend itself to being a rock star or jamming with his buddies to Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Clapton. Colin knew he had to teach himself to sing and play the guitar. So he did. His desire to play songs with “hooks” that also had resonance is what led him to pursue his skills as a singer/songwriter.
Colin's first break came when he won the "BE A STAR" contest on Los Angeles’ leading rock radio station STAR 98.7. The victory landed him a demo deal with Hollywood Records. Although he was excited to garner a development deal with a prominent label, he didn’t feel like the time was right-- he wanted to work on his material. Good wouldn’t suffice, it had to be great.
In order to reach his musical goals, Colin knew he had to continue to write, record and hone his skills, gathering the best material possible for his future debut album. In the meantime, Colin's song "Lonely Fall" won “Best Male Vocal” and “Best Song” at the San Diego Music Awards followed by a “Best Pop Vocal” nomination for his song “Hey Yoko” at the Los Angeles Music Awards. His song “In Your Eyes" was also chosen for the top ten finals of the 2007 American Idol songwriter contest. It didn’t end here, early 2008 brought Colin a worldwide publishing agreement with NorthStar Media who placed one of his songs, “Nothing More to Say” on the hit Lifetime network show “Army Wives.”
Colin and his team have been busy in the second half of 2008 finishing up his record, forming his band and getting ready to hit the road in support of the January 2009 release of his full length debut album, “Lost and Anonymous.” Produced and mixed by Mikal Reid (Mick Jagger, Ben Harper, Aerosmith, Wang Chung), Colin has also collaborated with several A-List songwriters.
The title track "Lost and Anonymous" initially started out as a song title but eventually evolved into the main idea centered on the themes in the album. “I wanted to write something about the people and experiences I have had as I navigated my way through the business of music in Los Angeles or "Lost Angeles." Turns out that most of the artists you meet have all moved to L.A. from various parts of the world in search of their own slice of success. In this process of ‘making it,’ they lose the direction and passion for the very art form they have moved to L.A. to pursue. ‘Lost and Anonymous’ the song and subsequent record are a reminder to stay true to myself and the reasons I play and write music-- not losing sight in the pursuit of success,” shares Colin prudently.
Colin's dynamic vocals and honest lyrics have been compared to John Mayer, Tom Petty and Peter Gabriel. His sound has been described as reminiscent of George Martin’s arrangements with strings and textural guitars – a bit British meets old school with contemporary and clever lyrics. His songwriting comes from a Dylan-esque “fly on the wall” storytelling perspective— the way he views the world. “Even when a song seems to be on the surface ‘about a girl’ often times that girl is a metaphor for something deeper and larger in scope,” shares Colin.
Colin Armstrong’s debut album “Lost and Anonymous” will be available in January 2009.
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