Interview: CHASE BRYANT (Part 1)

The last few years have been something of a tornado for Chase Bryant - from getting a top ten hit with his debut single 'Take It On Back' to experiencing the darkest time of his life, Chase has now poured everything into his latest record Upbringing. We sat down to chat why Nashville wasn't right for him, old school influences, highlights from his own upbringing, & more - enjoy!

 

Ciara’s Country (CC): I'm thrilled to be joined today by the phenomenal Chase Bryant - I first saw Chase perform at C2C London back in 2017, so I'm really excited to be chatting with him! Chase, thank you so much for joining me.

 

Chase Bryant (CB): Thanks for having me, I appreciate it!

 

CC: Where in the world are you today?

 

CB: I'm in Texas, South Texas, so back home.

 

CC: Is this the place you grew up?

 

CB: It is! I'm actually in the house that my dad grew up in, that I bought about a year ago, but I grew up right down the road.

 

CC: Was this house ready to live in when you bought it or did you have to vamp it up a bit?

 

CB: I've pretty much renovated the whole thing, so it's been it's been a process for sure. I don't think I ever want to do that again! It's very worthwhile having done it once though - I was in Nashville for about 10 to 12 years, and it's been really nice to be able to get away from all the noise there and just settle down here.

 

CC: Home seems to be a pretty big deal for you - your new album is called Upbringing, and I heard that you felt like you had to go back to Texas in order to make it. Why was that?

 

CB: I felt it was crucial to find a place that I can unwind and be free of everything else that I felt was tying me down. I think it's important to find new areas to create - I've always wanted to build a studio but I knew I didn't want to build one in Nashville, just because I was already kind of past that. Then, Jon Randall and I came down to cut the record Upbringing in Austin, and it was shortly after that that I pulled the trigger and moved down here.

 

CC: Seems like a lovely place! What was it like working on the record with Jon Randall?

 

CB: He is amazing, he's such a class act, and he's one of my best friends on Earth. I completely adore what he does and I think he's a wealth of knowledge when it comes to music. He's a freak of nature as a guitar player, a great producer, a great friend, but more importantly, he's one of the greatest heroes I've ever had.

 

CC: Is Upbringing the kind of debut album you imagined releasing when you first started out in music?

 

CB: I don't know. I probably envisioned different things when I first started out - when I first started I wanted everything to sound like George Strait, Brooks & Dunn; but as time went along and I got a little older, I think I connected the dots.

 

CC: One thing that I've noticed from hearing your music throughout the years is that you definitely veer more towards the rocky side of country - you've got these gritty vocals, love a good guitar solo, and your tracks themselves often have a bit of edge. What was it that led you to that kind of style?

 

CB: Probably Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers! I'm such a Tom Petty fan, and Mike Campbell too. I think it was just part of growing up and then starting to listen to a lot of rock n roll as a kid going through junior high and high school. I think those things really influenced me to make a record that was that way.

 

CC: Those influences definitely shine through on the album! There's loads of variety on this album too - you've got a lot of fun songs like Cold Beer and Red Light, but there's also quite a lot of vulnerability coming as a culmination of your life over the last few years. Was it cathartic or challenging to put something so personal out into the world?

 

CB: I think it was definitely a change of pace for me to do that. It was a challenge for sure to be so open - it took a lot of years to get to that point, but I think it was crucial, I think I needed to do that. You think about those things over and over before the record comes out, you're worried, what's going to happen? What's it going to do? What are people going to think?

 

I think as it's gone on, I've just started to care less about what people may think of me, and by that I mean their judgmental side - I just don't care about somebody's judgement anymore. I've started to let go of that and  get out of my own way and out of my own head a little bit, just let things be what they're going to be and let everybody have their own take on you. That's just how this world goes round, so it was definitely a challenge but I'm so glad we did it, and I'm glad we did it the way we did it, too.

 

CC: Could you elaborate a bit more on what you mean by ‘the way we did it?’

 

CB: Yeah, I mean my story was so open, talking about my suicide attempt. I guess most people just wouldn't say anything about it, and I think that I probably wouldn't have said anything about it for so many years. I mean, I know I wouldn't, because I didn’t! But I think it was very crucial to talk about it to be who I really was. There was a lot to that equation, but I don't think about those things now, I just I go on with life, and I feel like I'm a better human today because of what happened to me then. I’m thankful for those moments of my life, that they changed my life, and now I just move forward.

 

CC: Is there one song on the album where you think ‘this is the song that people will really understand me from, this is the real me’?

 

CB: Well, I think Upbringing does a pretty good job of that, of stating the facts of how I grew up. You go into lines about backyard fights on Saturday nights, stuff like that - those things happened! I don't consider myself a fighter in that regard anymore, but when I was a kid, that's what we did, and those are the threads of the cloth that I wear today. It's all a part of who I am - I had such a cool childhood, and I think it really reflects through that song and it shows what made me who I am.

 

CC: What was one of the biggest highlights from your childhood?

 

CB: Oh, man, it was a pretty cool one. I was thinking about it the other day - when I was a kid, we had an ice cream parlour in our hometown - it was this little knickknack shop down on Main Street, and this lady had some of the greatest ice cream - all homemade ice cream that they made.  They had tonnes of flavours, pool tables, ping pong tables, books, record players, and they played different records.

 

It wasn't open very long, but I remember on Friday or Thursday nights in the summer, they stayed open late for the kids in my hometown, and we would go down there and shoot pool. I got all my teeth broken out one night when I got hit with a pool stick in the face, totally by accident! But it was just a great time - it was a gritty little place and I love those old school things like that. You know, I wish there were more diners and parlours like that where you could go and relax and hang out. I'm more of a traditional type person. I love those kinds of things, so I was thinking about that. That was pretty good one.

 

CC: I'm totally jealous of having the idea of growing up with diners and parlours - that's definitely not something that we have this side of the pond! I think they ought to bring them over.

 

CB: We had things like that growing up - we didn't have cell phones that do all the things they do now, they just had an on button and a call button! I don't even think you could store contacts at the time, you had to remember everybody's phone number. I still remember all my parents’ old phone numbers, my old phone numbers. I've had the same phone number since I was 10 or 11 years old when I first got my first phone that my mom would let me take sparingly to school or if I needed it on a trip or whatever.

 

CC: Such a different time. I'm sure all of those phone numbers stored in your head will come in useful at some point – maybe a song on the next record?

 

CB: Who knows! 

 

We got even deeper in the next part of our interview - discussing the memories and images that spawned Upbringing, how to say what no-one's said before, a new album he's already working on, and what he really wants to be asked in interviews. All that coming soon to the blog - stay tuned on my Twitter @CiarasCountry to be the first to know when it's posted. Thanks for reading!