It’s a long way to the top, if you wanna Rock and Roll…
As a musician, I know how hard it is to get recognized, play gigs for people and get the band’s name out in the open. It’s no easy task, I can assure you. However, being a young musician, it always impresses me when I see musicians as young as myself or even younger, making a name for them selves in the business. It was just last month I went to Burlington’s YMCA show to check Burlington’s own Chaotic Blue. The band consists of 16 year olds Matt Browne on guitar, Holden Patteson on bass, Kevin Martins on vocals and acoustic guitar and 15 year-old Dean Farndell on drums. I sat down with the band last week and asked the boys a few questions about their band and the music scene.
Sam Payne: How did you guys come up with the name of your band?
Matt Browne: Well we had a box of crayons. Haha no. Um it was an old name my friend and I kind of came up with and I thought it was a cool name and kind of different. So different its always good and you get noticed if you’re different.
SP: What genre of music do you guys play?
Holden Patteson: What would you call it?
Dean Farndell: I don’t think you can necessarily define our genre.
MB: You can’t really describe it. We could fit into an indie kind of genre I guess. But we’re all over the place. We could be anything.
HP: There are elements of rock, elements of soft rock, blues influence.
MB: We don’t want to be a band with a specific genre. We play whatever we feel like. We play whatever we want to play.
SP: So when you talk about your influences, what bands influenced you the most?
Kevin Martins: Our Lady Peace!
DF: Zeppelin, definitely.
HP: The Beatles! Pink Floyd, I think.
MB: Definitely Pink Floyd for me.
DF: Lots of older stuff. Zeppelin and Frank Zappa. I listen to a lot of guitar parts too because the complexity sounds really cool.
MB: Mostly big guitar players. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix.
KM: Our Lady Peace!
SP: When did you form your band?
HP: Well it started off as just Matt and I in August.
MB: Actually yeah I approached Holden…
DF: Yeah and then it was Matt who approached me, because we had summer camp together and stuff, and he approached me about it. I had just started playing drums about three weeks before that.
KM: And then I came in about a month or so after that. I was playing rhythm guitar.
DF: At the beginning I really didn’t like Kevin.
KM: Then he heard me at the first acoustic show
DF: And I heard him sing and said “Oh my god”.
KM: So about three months later, I started being the lead singer
SP: Who was singing before Kevin?
KM: Matt.
MB: Very decently, I must say. But Kevin is a better singer than I am and more trained.
SP: Do you feel that this experience is more special due to the fact that you are young and experiencing some things other bands have yet to experience?
MB: I think we are lucky. Having a band at this age and we’re getting noticed.
KM: We all have a good time together.
DF: And as much as we argue, as much as we bitch at each other, when we get it done, and we all come together, it sounds great. What we have at 15 and 16 is pretty cool.
SP: How long have each of you been playing your instrument? Has it always been your instrument of choice?
MB: I’ve been playing for about five or six years now. It’s also been the instrument I wanted to play. I actually started off with piano but I got really bored and so I started guitar. And I’ve just learned by ear. I tried the theory stuff and the lessons but I was kind of just like screw this mentality because I play guitar for the love of playing guitar. I know you have to know some theory but it’s always been for the love of playing.
KM: I have been playing guitar for about two and a half years. And I usually play acoustic. And I sang in the shower for about seven or eight years. And I started singing in a band about 2 years ago.
HP: I’ve been playing bass for three years this Christmas. I first started off with guitar because I found this acoustic at my house. My friend Marcus was telling me “You suck on guitar, take up bass.”
DF: I’ve been playing drums for about seven months now. So not very long actually. But um, for four years before that I played guitar and stuff and unlike Matt I picked up the theory. So I ‘m kind of a guitar geek, I guess you could say because I play boring theory. But I do piano and bass too.
SP: What’s you ultimate direction for your band? Are you guys looking to make it big?
HP: I would really like to play a huge show and open for a big band. That’s my goal.
MB: As long as I’m making an impact or changing something for the better in the world, this isn’t a joke. As long as I’ve changed something for the better in the world with music, I’ll be happy.
HP: Yeah Matt plays a chord and it’s like “YEAH WORLD HUNGER! FEED THE CHILDREN”
SP: So what advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?
KM: Don’t quit!
HP: Make sure you can get along with the people because they aren’t just going to be your band mates, they are going to become like your family.
MB: It should be fun. I mean, it should be taken seriously, but you should have fun with it.
KM: A band is a dysfunctional family you choose. I got that off Guitar Hero 2.
DF: I mean if you get together and its stiff together, then it will work.
SP: How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?
HP: www.myspace.com/chaoticblueband. And then there is our Facebook group; Chaotic Blue.
SP: Any final words from Chaotic Blue?
HP: I’m attractive.
KM: I’m single.
DF: This is why it’s good to be in a band.
HP: Never wear green. Ska is dead.
MB: Our message to everybody is music can change things. It can change the world. It’s universal, it may sound a bit cliché but…
DF: Matt was rehearsing that speech last night in his bedroom.
HP: If you party with us, you have to have at least two drinks.
SP: You guys have a long way to go with that.
KM: I challenge you.
SP: I’m Irish.
DF: I’m English.
SP: All right, well thanks guys. And I’m sure we will see you at the top one of these days
