DESCRIPTION:
A few words from Laura:

“The first time I really hung out with Colin, was in his van – a gold colored Dodge Ram, with bald tires and purple tinted windows. It was 2003 and we went out with a few friends after school one night, to get coffees in downtown Buffalo. We left the crowded café tables behind, to hang out in the van, in the parking lot.

The group of us, barely 17 years old, sat cross-legged or sprawled out inside, talking and laughing for hours that night, and on so many other nights in the months that followed.

The interior of Velma, as she was later dubbed, consisted of two seats in front, a big empty space in the middle, and one bench in the far back. There was only one functioning seat belt, the gas meter always read ¾ tank (though we were coasting on fumes), and the driver side door was permanently rusted shut - so that everyone had to get in and out through the same side, like a clown car.

It was awesome.

Velma also served to transport Colin’s instruments around town. In addition to the usual drum kit, guitars, and a Fender Rhodes piano – his band also had two enormous guitar cabs, each one about the size of a mattress – which they toted around more for show, than for sound quality. Because he owned the van, Colin usually ended up lugging all of the equipment up and down his parents’ basement stairs by himself. We still laugh about the night he slipped on a patch of ice in the driveway, and lay in a daze, with arms and legs splayed out from beneath one of the enormous speaker cabs…

A lot has changed since then. Velma was put to rest before we graduated high school. That parking lot we first hung out in had a 3-story building placed on top of it this past year.

Colin has started and halted about a dozen musical projects since then, too - a few of which I’ve been glad to be a part of. The amps are smaller, but the band has grown. We usually play with 6–7 musicians, and drive to shows in almost as many cars.

Parade Chic came together in 2014. We self-recorded and released our first full-length album in December of 2015, and we’re currently writing our second album. It’s a project that we are passionate about, and it’s going to be around for a long time. We’re planning on taking it on the road this summer.” - Laura

arrangement by Colin Griffin
performed by Colin Griffin, Brett Griffin, and Laura Bowen