Dedicated to their city, loving their music, giving full attention to their band. Chad is a really promising band with fresh and attractive, dreamy sound!
Enjoy our conversation with the Portland based band below.
Describe your sound in three words please!
Slacker indie pop!
Your song Days of Chunder is inspired by the lockdown and its negative experiences. With the song being part of your LP, should we suppose that it has a similar dystopian idea or have you followed a different, perhaps more mixed, direction? Tell us a few things about the concept!
Many of the songs on the upcoming LP do reflect a similarly hopeless, dystopian feel. Many of them were written during the pandemic, after all. That said, I generally don’t write about the things that make me happy. It’s usually when life is most turbulent when the songs really pour out of me.
You have said that the members of the band have finally found their match in CHAD, so now we are of course eager to learn what is the secret ingredient that glues you together. How did you all meet and reach the point you are now?
It was a very Portland way of starting a band. I met Trevor at a bar next to a rehearsal space where we both practiced with our former bands. He introduced me to Zach, who he played with in another band. Then there were three and CHAD was formed. Alex didn’t come into the picture until later when he started dating a mutual friend and she suggested he play with us. The rare, very unPortland thing about our project is that we’re no longer in other bands. I think it helps that we’re all focused on this band, rather than spreading our creativity thin with a bunch of projects.
What have been your main inspirations so far?
We all have different inspirations for playing and writing music. But I would say our band’s current influences are the Blue Nile, Air, Richard Hawley and Chromatics.
Which one of your songs represents you the most and why?
If I was talking for the whole band I’d say I Got Time. If I was speaking just for me, I’d say Tallboy. I’m a sucker for simple fingerpicking guitar songs. Elliott Smith is my guitar hero!
Bearing in mind the protests and disruption that took place in Portland the previous months, we were wondering how things are at the moment and what are your thoughts about the situation, if you feel comfortable sharing.
Things are pretty mellow here in Portland. The whole narrative about “Portland being on fire” was really overblown in the press and on social media. The protests were mostly held downtown in a four block radius so even if you live here, there’s a chance you never encountered any protests. Also, Portlanders always protest! It’s nothing new for this town. What made the situation escalate last summer was when the Portland Police Bureau and Federal agents sent in by the Trump Administration met the protesters with violence and agitated the situation on the ground. There should have been a good faith effort put forth by local officials right at the beginning to address police violence against people of color, not months later after they had already been tear-gassing the protesters. Also, it didn’t help that white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys have been targeting Portland for years, and they regularly come from out of town to terrorize local Portlanders.
All that said, Portland is a very nice place to live! It’s a gorgeous town with bridges, flowering trees and bike paths everywhere. There’s great beer, wine, music and food. And yes, we like to protest when things are not alright in the world.
If you could wake up and have a new skill, what would that be?
One of our bandmates would like to wake up with Jedi powers. I would like to wake up and know every language in the world.
Tell us something about you that has nothing to do with music!
I am very petite and often need someone to help me grab food off the top shelf in the grocery stores.
Thanks CHAD!
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