College seniors Marlon Booker, Gary Clark, and Julian Booker make up Gold Shades, an Atlanta-based music group on the fast-track for major success. From their humble beginnings as hall-mates at Morehouse College to their performances at the renowned Apollo Theater, these three have certainly come a long way. When they’re not making music, they’re balancing schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and meetings with some music-industry heavyweights. No matter how much success comes their way, they make sure to put school, family, and the music first.
How did you three actually come together as a group and how did you come up with the name Gold Shades?
JB: We were all students in the same freshman hall, Graves Hall, That’s where we first learned about doing music together. We didn’t start doing music together until we became a part of the Graves Hall vocal ensemble, The Heeltones. We started singing a lot of songs together because the Heeltones’ songs were the ones we knew and we grew closer as a group of friends. Marlon, Gary, and I were particularly close.
GC: We went on a spring break trip together freshmen year and we went to New York. We were kinda just singing around and everyone thought were a group already and we had this great energy and chemistry and all that good stuff and we started to look like a group walking around the city and we had these bags and looked like we were on tour. So when we got back to Atlanta, we decided to go ahead and make it official and become a group.
How would you describe your particular sound?
MB: We’re a Rhythm and Funk Pop-fusion group. It’s a mouthful but I think it’s the best way to describe our current sound.
JB: I guess a way to put that more concretely is that we’re kind of teetering the line between Bruno Mars and Janelle Monae and then outing the pop group aspect onto that. Because right now the focus of our group is that we’re primarily a band so we sing and play at the same time.
What instruments do you all play?
GC: During performances, I sing obviously. I also play the guitar and sometimes piano but I also play cello and bass guitar and drums. I’m currently working on the flute and the trumpet.
MB: I sing too obviously, but my primary instrument is the drums. I play the clarinet, I also know soprano saxophone and I’m also working on tenor saxophone as well. I play bass clarinet as well I play some ʻukulele a little bit of piano.
JB: For me, obviously vocal as well. Bass is my primary instrument when we play as a band, sometimes I’ll switch to guitar. I also play ʻukulele. I was classically trained in French horn. I have a fundamental understanding of the dizi which is a Chinese bamboo flute. I’ve been learning didgeridoo. I also dabble in keys and I dabble in drums.
How do you balance the music with everything else?
MB: Our lives have pretty much just bled into each other. We know pretty much everyone’s entire family. We travel almost all the time together. We make work fun and we make fun work.
What all are you involved in on campus?
MB: We’re actually all members of the Golden Key International Society e-board (executive board).
MB: We’re also all members of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America.
MB: Gary’s actually the president, and Julian is the secretary, and I’m the historian. So I guess we’re all kind of on the e-board for that too.
GC: I’m also in the AUC orchestra, playing the cello. As Julian says I was “classically trained” on the cello.
MB: I’m on the e-board for Morehouse’s Sustainability Club (SOS). What else do we occupy our time with?
What was it like to perform at the Apollo?
GC: That was absolutely amazing! That was the best experience and the most fun ever. I t was a lot of work because when we went, we did an original medley and had to write the music ourselves and send it to the band ahead of time. And we had to come up with choreography, which we got help with from Jeremiah Thompson. He’s a senior here [at Morehouse] as well.
MB: I think what we got most out of the Apollo was that we actually have the heart and the determination to make our dreams come true.
JB: Marrion Caffey, he’s the producer of the amateur night show said, “What the Apollo is, is a test to see if you’re ready to pursue music and performing as a professional.” He said, if you can make it through that stage without a single boo, then you’re ready.”
What the best advice you’ve ever been given?
GC: The best piece of advice came from Janelle Monáe. She told us, “Keep practicing, keep performing, keep praying.” The Three “P’s”.
What are your favorite artists?
MB: Our top current artist would be Sam Smith, Pentatonix, Bruno Mars and the Hooligans, Janelle Monáe…
JB: I’d go with 5 Seconds of Summer.
MB: Ok! 5 Seconds of Summer.
GC: Ok all-time. Gotta have MJ (Michael Jackson).
MB: Gotta Have Prince. *NSYNC, Billy Joel, The Temptations.
Where do you see yourself in five, ten, and fifteen years?
MB: In five years, we’re expecting to have already debuted. Probably done at least two albums and at least two tours by then.
GC: A couple of Grammys and the TV show.
MB: In five years, also to have started The International Music Project which would be a travel channel TV show documenting Gold Shades…
JB: Traveling across the world, learning different instruments and incorporating them into a bigger piece of music that would promote world peace.
JB: In ten years, we hope to have a “versus” album where the three of us make separate albums, and it’ll be ten tracks for each album. It’s going to sound somewhat minimalist but what people will discover is that you can combine each album together to make one full song each.
GC: A few more Grammys and we want to open “The Gold Shades Kitchen”. We all cook. We all love to cook.
GC: In fifteen years, maybe have been in some movies. “Gold Shades Mansion” or castle, or whatever you want to call it. It’ll be epic. We’ve haven’t figured out the total layout but it’ll be awesome.
JB: Gold Shades Mansion, Gold Shades Yatch. We’re probably going to be all “booed up” in fifteen years.
MP: When can we expect some new material?
MB: We’re actually working on a Christmas EP.
JB: We’re really trying to release by the end of November or early December.
Anything else you would like to say to the Her Campus readers?
JB: Stay Golden!