Today we’d like to introduce you to Chase Kemp.
Hi Chase, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We’re all weaving stories every day. That’s what makes us human. We’re really great storytellers, you see. Our lives, like chapters in this grand book of infinite pages and I am but one chapter in this endless library. My message is the same as many out there fighting the good fight. I almost feel as my life is an allegory, one that’s been experienced and read already and a story that will keep echoing in my lifetime and many others. My story is the age-old tale of awakening.
First off, I’m very sentimental, from a young age I grew up a religious child in the LDS faith – by birth but not by choice. Being raised in a spiritual environment amidst the beautiful Utah landscapes allowed me to have a greater reverence for nature. Yet growing up a conservative mormon child left a bad taste in my mouth; I always felt like there was much more to life beyond what was fed to me. I got the sense of there being more out there for me to discover. Eventually I had to seek answers myself, a taboo in a Christian upbringing. Around the age of 13, I began to distance myself from the religion of my family and ancestors; much to the dismay of my entire family. I remember reading Plato’s allegory of the cave around this time, and funny enough, my own personal story started to reflect that same journey. I still kept my fascination with nature, and my ‘temple’ became the forests and mountains.
As a youngin’ I was privileged enough to be able to pick up a guitar at the age of 6. As the ‘weird’ kid in school, a reject of the mormon clique, guitar quickly became my constant companion: my best friend always there for me, a way to deal with my emotions, escaping into nature to play music as a healing tool. In fact, when I told my parents I wanted to stop going to church I remember being locked in my room “grounded for life” until I changed my mind (and came to Jesus basically.) The only thing I could do shut in my room, was pick up the guitar. I guess I have my parents to thank for how my skills developed from there. Guitar became my tool for channeling all that teenage angst and emotions out of my body, a punk in the making. This continued on through my life; anytime I had an overwhelming sense of joy or sadness it became a song.
From this early age, I knew I wanted to play music in a band. I think I’ve always been working towards that, and always known what I wanted to be; ever since I first picked up my instrument. My convictions and dreams only became stronger as time went on, as I discovered more about who I am. As cheesy as this is, it felt more like waking up to my purpose rather than choosing this path. Everything I experienced seemed to point back to creating music.
I was lucky enough to find friends that liked to play around on instruments and fell in love with the process of jamming… and I’ve been jamming ever since. You could call this the prologue of my story, the real story is just beginning…
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There is a consensus among artists everywhere that you shouldn’t choose this path if you want something to come easy. I tend to agree. In my opinion, to choose the path of the artist, one needs to have the ‘itch’. It’s more like a creative need rather than a choice. There’s a lot of patience, discipline, and luck required to even start making any sort of money in this field. So most artists like myself, resign themselves of needing to make money at all, money is beside the point. I simply want to create and keep creating. The job I have now is only there to fund my creative need – to satiate a burning desire to “say something.” There’s a reason the “starving artist” archetype exists.
Sometimes it can feel as if nobody cares, or nobody is listening. In my darker hours I find myself thinking “Well everyone makes music, why should I? Does anybody really care what I have to say? Am I any good compared to other artists?” This kind of negative thinking has dragged me down into a depression before but I’ve learned it’s important to fend off these and other toxic thoughts of comparison. As part of my guitar philosophy, it’s crucial to not compare oneself to others in order to continue building your own sound.
The way I got through this kind of thinking was having one person truly care about the music I make. Even just one person who really “gets it” can make everything worth it for me, because I know I changed at least one life. Shoutout to my friend Loren. This beautiful soul shows up to virtually every gig, dancing his ass off. There were others that would come out to the show consistently that really made me feel like singing and performing in front of people was worth it. I think everyone should experience this beautiful form of escapism and forget our troubles for a few moments of respite.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In the music scene I’m known for my guitar playing, singing, songwriting, and my ability to improvise a jam. I’ve been around the Salt Lake City area playing all sorts of clubs and house parties since high school. I’ve been in many bands, some notable mentions are The Monarchs, The Lingo, Year of the Human (YOTH), Dead Cat Caravan, and The Magpipes. I’m currently working towards a new project, producing it in the past few years has been my passion. As a natural consequence of loving the art of jamming with people, it heavily shaped the music I continue to put out there.
Trailing off in a jam is home to me, the uncertainty carves out some kind of magic in the air, something greater than I could’ve hoped to plan for. Whenever possible I like to take my years-old tunes and change them completely to fit the current room. I have mostly been a live musician, a performer and clown, only recently I’ve really dug into recording songs. To me a recorded song is the teaser trailer for the real show. Where I really shine is surfing the moment LIVE in the flesh. I read once that “visual art decorates space, music decorates time” and I really resonated with that. The present moment is ever-changing just like the notes I play. It would be boring to me if I played the same solo or same riff over and over again every weekend. When I put out a song my hopes are to get more people in the crowd dancing and responding to each others energy. The energy of the crowd in turn feeds us and changes the music in a sort of energetic feedback loop. I hope to make people think about something in a completely new or different way within their inner dialogue when they’re listening to my playing. The same way I’m changed when I listen to my favorite artists, the same way I’m moved by music.
I think what sets apart my playing is you never know what you’re going to get, it could be a flurry of angry notes, or a laid-back exploration of a different mode. It could be the same “section” of our song but another day. In a sense, all jam bands are like this but what makes a band unique is the way they do it. I like to think that I’m creating my own sounds that’s unique and can stand on its own. Coloring outside the lines of traditional rock or genre-fied musique. I hope to create a sense of “something new” while still honoring the traditional examples of the giants that inspired me.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I have been pretty concerned with the industry as a whole ever since Spotify became a thing. Everybody knows that even artists that have “made it” still seem to make pennies for streaming. The exchange rate for a single Spotify stream is $0.003. How can a thousandth of a cent even exist? Beyond that I’m concerned about the overwhelming amount of content released. Spotify puts out about 49,000 songs A DAY. Who can listen to all of it? And now, to take it one step further, the AI-driven music that is being generated now takes less time to create a “hit song” than it does for me to tune my guitar. This over-saturation I feel has led to an overwhelming homogenization of music in their respective genres as well. Everybody sounds the same, mimicking the same artists and just trying to get their slice of it. Haha there are so many problems with the modern music industry. For me I think it started with the fact we went away from real physical albums. Everything is digital and so very one-dimensional, consumed on a phone. We consume it while doom-scrolling by and maybe we stay for a few seconds and just save a song for later. This causes the artist out there to be overly concerned with the rat-race of constant content creation – just to stay relevant. For me though, the real art is being done alone, disconnected, and inside some guy’s garage at night…and maybe nobody has even heard the best song created, buried in a sea of consumerism they are lost. This is yet another reason why live music is everything to me.
Pricing:
- $1
Contact Info:
- Website: https://themagpipes.bandcamp.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_magpipes
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themagpipes
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45FtQ6iDaOY
- Other: https://magpipes.com/
Image Credits
John Lapay + other friends and family ツ
