The Color Forty Nine is a four piece band formed in the attic of a house in Sherman Heights, San Diego California, with multi-instrumentalists whose lyrics are based on storytelling and reflections of their cross-border relationship with neighboring Tijuana, Mexico. Originally a bass player, singer Phil Beaumont bought a ukulele to simplify travel and keep making music while doing it. It ended up being the source of a majority of the song writing and a key element to their sound, matched with signature sound of Matt Resovich’s (The Black Heart Procession, The Album Leaf) violin and casiotone played through pedals he makes himself. Jason Hooper (The Black Heart Procession, Pinback) joined the band in its formative days adding bass and back-up vocals. The original drummer, John Meeks (The John Meeks Band) left the band for a move to the high desert of California and the band was joined by multi-instrumentalist Scott Mercado on drums, piano and post production.
It is hard to define the genre of The Color Forty Nine, they play with dynamics in a cinematic style mixed with expansive louder indie rock themes.
Their first EP was released in 2018 and rewarded with two San Diego Music Award nominations, including ‘Best New Artist’ Reneiro.
Collectively having been contributing musicians in bands such as The Black Heart Procession, Album Leaf, Pinback, Via Satelite, Manuok, the band mines their experience to create a sound that is both distinct and familiar. It is a sound that sits well with a wide range of companions, lending them to share the stage with bands as varied as Pinback, El Ten Eleven, Acid Mothers Temple, Eric Bachmann, Film School, and in the Fall of 2022, Mexican legends, Café Tacvba.
During the lockdown of 2020 the band invested their time to write and record 12 songs, seven of them part of their second EP, String Ladders, released in July of 2021.
The String Ladders EP features a collaboration with Café Tacvba vocalist, Rubén Albarrán called What Would I Know? / Yo Que Sé?, a song dealing with border issues and the obstacles of discrimination. The band further collaborated with 2019 Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery Prize winner, Hugo Crosthwaite to produce a hand drawn animated video for the song.
The band is set to release new music in the fall of 2022 to support a tour with Café Tacvba
“There’s a beautiful isolation at the core of The Color Forty Nine music… spare and haunting sounds that evoke visions of long expanses of land or skies filled with cotton-y clouds.”
—Paste Magazine
“This isn’t something you hear every day, it’s dark and brooding, yet an uplifting and jubilant classic at the same time.” —No Depression
“Their name invokes images of miners from a bygone era, there is gold to be found in the songs of The Color Forty Nine. The listener will be rewarded if they choose to wade through some murky waters with them in order to find it.” —San Diego City Beat
This release at the 2018 half mark contains some of the best indie music to be heard thus far in the year. --- Music Existence