The Deafening Colors, a Morristown-based indie-rock band featuring two Patch.com contributors, rocked Saints and Sinners at O'Donoghue's on First Street Friday night.  They played alongside The O-Matics, Rainbow Fresh, and The Sheila Mark Band in a Friday night showcase of up-and-coming local talent. 

"I traveled all the way to Hoboken to see The Deafening Colors," said Chrissy Murphy, an attendee from Montclair.  "I was not disappointed!"

One would be hard-pressed to find a band whose name describes their music—the five-piece is vibrant and loud.  Despite threats of a heavy snowfall (which did not materialize), concertgoers made the trip from Morristown, Kearny, and Gladstone among other cities to see TDC's oftentimes melodic, occasionally atonal, but consistently catchy brand of rock, pop, and noisy chaos.   

"It's normally not my kind of music, but they turned me onto a new genre.  Amazing sounds, I liked it," said Donna Muller of Kearny.

The Deafening Colors took to the stage shortly after 11PM, beginning with uptempo tracks about salt-free diets and Tony Hawk, pausing for a tribute to meat remnants caught in dentures.  They continued with a dissonant and, well, deafening, ode to a favorite hill in Morristown, and finished with a lilting and jazzy closer that touched on Aztec crowns, among other things.

Part of the band's diverse sound comes from their collaborative nature: about half of the band's songs featured Tom De Vitis on rhythm guitar and Cris Slotoroff on drums, while the other half had Slotoroff on guitar and De Vitis behind the drum kit. 

"We have a lot of distinctive songwriting voices," Slotoroff said after the show.  "All five of us write songs and we've all been playing in bands with one another for years.  Now we finally have a group where all of us are free to get all those ideas out."

Pete Hilker, Mark Macor, and John Paul Arthur round out the lineup on lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and lead vocals, respectively.

Arthur's stage antics were something to behold: his frequent threats to disrobe were partially fulfilled, but his immense vocal talents were on display - channelling Sinatra's grandiosity as easily as Ira Kaplan's quiet simplicity.  They were in Hoboken, after all.

"We have been working on some new songs," Arthur said.  "We incorporated a few of them in our set tonight.  They were both more of a collaborative effort than most of our songs, with everyone in the band contributing in their own way."

"They have a great, original sound that is best listened to live," said Cara Castagna, of Manhattan. 

"The folks at Saints and Sinners have a great venue," Macor said.  "Everyone is super-welcoming, the bands were great, and the drinks are reasonable!"

TDC will be heading out on the road shortly, announcing dates periodically as they record a debut EP to peddle from the trunks of their car.