CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Erik Roldan writes

CHIRP + Coach House Sounds Present: Canasta

Canasta’s brightly lit pop rock is unmistakable to a Chicago music fan. Gearing up for promotion of their new record, The Fakeout, the Tease and the Breather, Matt Priest answered these questions for CHIRP Radio’s fab-collab with Coach House Sounds. Priest and his new line-up in Canasta were the latest band to jam in a charming coach house in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. Hear the results when the session is release on June 21st at coachhousesounds.com and until then, catch preview tracks on CHIRPradio.org.

What the dumbest thing you’ve ever done in a basement?

My childhood home actually had a pretty big basement, so up until about age twelve, I used to plan these elaborate, maze-like haunted houses for the other kids in my neighborhood. But one Halloween, just after my dad returned from tagging along on an amateur archaeological dig, I made the mistake of using an actual human skull in my haunted house’s climax.

As my guests rounded the last corner, they came upon the skull on the ground, complete with rubber insects and beams of light pouring from its eye sockets. But the terror it induced would also serve as its downfall, as the very first kid to discover it completely freaked out and stomped it to pieces. Whoops.

Canasta has a long history in Chicago. Can you tell me about one time when you realized this was YOUR city?

As a sextet, there are very few things upon which all of us can agree. But a few years back, we were offered the chance to play alongside Barack Obama at a fundraiser for the then-Presidential candidate. When it comes to either political gigs or benefits, the band only plays if the cause is something we can all get behind 100%. And lucky for us, it just so happened that his campaign was one of those things.

The event took place at the Riviera Theater, one of Chicago’s most legendary venues, and also featured a set from the city’s rock n’ roll ambassadors, Wilco… two more aspects to the evening about which the band was unanimously stoked. Furthermore, Obama’s campaign had just started to take hold on a national level, so the energy throughout the hometown crowd was extremely positive and almost electric. The entire experience was one of Canasta’s proudest moments, as both a band and a group of six Chicagoans.

Describe a scenario where Canasta could be someone’s life coach and the top 2 life lessons you’d teach them.

We could probably offer some helpful advice to just about anyone who’s at a point in life where he/she is considering diving head-first into a scary, new endeavor… whether it be artistic, professional, romantic or whatever. Cuz when we started Canasta, most of us weren’t the sort of seasoned rockers who had spent our lives preparing in other bands.

The group originated organically – and somewhat offhandedly – so it was intimidating when things started going well and it came time to decide if we were serious about going a step further: making records, playing out, touring, etc. Obviously, we decided that we were. And since doing so, I’d say two of the most important things we have learned (though haven’t always remembered to observe, ourselves) are as follows…

1) Take chances. Often, the craziest things we’ve written into songs – the stuff it was far from certain we’d ever be able to pull off – ended up being our fans’ favorite moments, as well as our own. But if you do anything for awhile, eventually, things that once felt like risks will cease to. So be sure to keep from getting too comfortable; push yourself and continue to find new ways to take those chances.

2) Don’t get too caught up comparing what it is you do to the work of others around you. For starters, it tends to be a losing proposition… It’s easy to wonder why anyone ought to bother writing lyrics in a world that has already heard Bob Dylan or singing in a one that has already heard Sam Cooke. But more importantly, it’s just crucial to understand that the exact combination of elements you bring together and the precise way in which you do so is absolutely unique to you.

At the risk of invoking an overused snowflake analogy, rest assured it has never existed before and won’t ever be replicated again. And upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that you are the sole expert in your very own niche. Once you realize that, it becomes much easier to take full advantage of everything you have to offer the world. Cheesy, I know… But I’m pretty sure it’s actually true too.

Tell me about your CHS session—what did you like about it? Was there anything that surprised you or was spontaneous that came out in the recording?

To be honest, we’re notorious perfectionists about the structures and arrangements of our songs, so it’s not often you’ll find us recording a single-take live session to tape. But we did so here and it was actually kind of exhilarating. We were a bit out of our element though, a fact that seemed to manifest itself in nervy, amped-up tempos on a few of the tunes. That was scary at first, but I’d say it ended up adding an immediacy to those songs.

Also, I recall it being a fairly early morning session, which tends to lend the vocals a rougher, ramshackle quality… again, not the way we’d normally do things… but that gave the set a looseness that worked nicely too.

What’s happening? What are your current/upcoming shows or releases?

We’ve had a lot of changes to our line-up since the release of last year’s The Fakeout, the Tease and the Breather. So we were just recently able to begin work on the follow-up, which for the sake of expediency, will probably be somewhat shorter than a full-length. But in order to fund its recording, you can catch us playing a number of outdoor fests and street fairs this summer (which, for whatever reason, just happen to be far more lucrative than your average club gig).

We also just returned from Rock Island, Illinois, where we laid down a Daytrotter session, which should be posted online within the month. And we’re about halfway done with a ridiculously ambitious music video for The Fakeout single, “Mexico City,” which ought to be done by the middle of Summer. We can’t wait for folks to hear/see that stuff!