Additional Details

Additional details

Been Together Since: 2000

Sounds Like: '60s vibe, melodic, psychedelic, pop and rock 'n' roll.

Bio

The descendent of one of America’s first Gypsies and the great grandson of a Vaudeville songwriter, Chase Hamblin has been an energetic force in the Houston music scene for nearly a decade. Born in Italy and raised throughout Europe and Southeast Asia, Hamblin grew up with an odd and influential mix of culture, art, and music. Hamblin worked as a model and movie extra while attending school in NYC before moving to Houston. In Houston, Hamblin honed his skills performing in numerous professional bands including the critically-acclaimed Penny Royal. With the break up of Penny Royal in 2008, Hamblin began work on his debut solo EP, A Fine Time, with former Penny Royal front man Derek Dunivan as producer and arranger. A Fine Time was recorded at the historic Sugar Hill Studios in Houston, TX and was independently released in June 2009.

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A Fine Time

Audio Interview

Review

Chase Hamblin was surely dropped here from another era. He sings about love and hope surrounded by bouncy circus melodies; he has a high voice that male singers these days don’t often cultivate; he covers his thin frame in artfully chosen thrift-store clothes; and he admits to feeling a kinship with the songwriters from the ‘60s.

“I think we have a lot of the same influences because I listen to music from the ‘20s and ‘30s and ‘40s and ‘50s and early rock ‘n’ roll,” Hamblin says. “Also, now is a time that is similar to what was happening in the 60s; the wars, the economic problems. There’s a spirit of revolution; people are yearning for something different.”

“I was hoping to make my record back a few years ago, but then I joined Friends of Rock ‘n’ Roll and then just one thing after another happened.” He says he doesn’t regret the delay, instead attributing the disc’s polish to the time spent doing other things.

“It is absolutely a better record because it had to wait. A lot of people I know who rushed into making their first album hate everything about it. I cannot foresee in ten years thinking this is terrible. The songs are fully realized and I was able to select the best ones of many. If I had tried to do it earlier, it wouldn’t have come out this way.”

The five-song disc is layer upon layer of pure, ‘60s sunshine pop with a darkness that reveals itself slowly. The title-track opener champions hope in the face of the frailty of humanity, war and authority; the sugary-sweet chorus is part irony (it’s not really a fine time to be alive, is it?), part truth (isn’t it always a fine time to be alive?)

Think of the Good Times and We’re Gonna Make It are sweet love songs, but the brief disc wraps up with Bye Bye: “It’s about the end of our modern world, but it’s done in a way that’s a eulogy; it’s beautiful. There’s nobility in the fact that we were here at all, even if stuff doesn’t work out,” he says.

Just when he pulls you in with a sticky chorus, he casually throws in the end of humanity. Hamblin truly excels at revealing that sneaking, sobering truth.

“I don’t like downer music. I love music that’s upbeat and bouncy but I use it as a way to get across heavier messages. I used to make music that was much more aggressive, but I wanted to make music that was uplifting, even if the lyrics make you think. It tells you that we’re still alright.”

Hamblin will have a challenge in making these lush songs come alive on stage. Most of the instruments were recorded by just himself and bandmate/producer Derek Dunivan. For the live show, Ragged Hearts’ Corey Power, singer-songwriter Robert Ellis and the ubiquitous Geoffrey Muller (Sideshow Tramps, I Am Mesmer) will join them. The band will be unveiled at the CD-release show at the Continental Club on Friday. It will also do a Sugar Hill session and appear at the action-packed Free Press Summer Fest in August.

“It’s an all-star cast,” Hamblin says. “It won’t be exactly like the album; there will be sound effects on the record that won’t come out the same way. It would be like if you saw a ‘60s band, they weren’t going to pull off everything, like, backwards guitar. But the impact of the song is totally there.”

-- Sara Cress | June 2009