Colour By Numbers

About

Colour By Numbers, Winnipeg’s self-professed nerdiest alt-rock band began when Alex Kozub (vocals/bass) and Jared Adams (vocals/guitar) started jamming together in the early 2010s. After releasing the folk-inspired Colour By Numbers EP in 2013, they rounded out their sound by adding punk-inspired band geek Mike McDermid (drums/vocals) and celebrated Winnipeg multi-instrumentalist Jesse Millar (guitar/synth/vocals). 

Soon after, songwriting, formerly a solitary task, became a group effort, with everyone chiming in to flesh out arrangements, chords, lyrics and song forms. Synthesizers, silly time signatures, sometimes overly-ambitious harmonies and increasingly self-effacing lyrics found their way into the songs, making for a more layered sound and new level of sophistication. Much heavier and more anthemic than the first, CBN’s second EP, Among the Stars, was released in August 2017 and was followed by the “Colouring Outside the Lines Tour” through western Canada.

Over the next several years and throughout the Covid era, Colour By Numbers set to work on their most ambitious project yet: a rock opera trilogy centred around a downtrodden Winnipeg punk rocker. Its flawed but earnest protagonist, Thaddeus, is set on making it big in spite of the universe’s numerous suggestions that perhaps it’s not meant to be. This first volume of the trilogy was recorded at No Fun Club with Rob Hill and Aaron Bartel (Apollo Suns), who also was tapped to mix the EP and play saxophone. Guest artist Flora Luna contributed vocals, offering a more eclectic and varied soundscape than the previous two releases.

Thaddeus Vol. 1 was released on March 7, 2025. The release show at Sidestage in Winnipeg marked Millar’s amicable departure from the band after over a decade of service. Colour By Numbers will continue on as a three-piece band, powering ahead with the second volume in the Thaddeus trilogy, set for release in 2026.