Welcome to Our Song Shop

It was February 2010 and bands still had Myspace pages. I know this because I'd stumbled across a singer/songwriter named Ben Rector. At the time, he'd just put out a record called Into the Morning. 

The song that hooked me was called The Beat. I had started writing my own songs a few years earlier and I was writing on the piano.  The Beat was something that I hadn't heard a lot of; a piano driven pop song. I ordered the album, probably paying more for shipping than for the album itself, and waited patiently for it to arrive at my parents' house in London, Canada. 

That album, when it arrived, sent my songwriting and song listening in a new direction. It sent me towards guys like Matt Wertz, Drew Holcomb, Parachute, Green River Ordinance, Jon McLaughlin and Mat Kearney. I became an unabashed fan of some kind of Nashville influenced pop/rock/folk that felt current and sepia-toned at the same time. If there is such a thing, Ben Rector was my gateway into a whole new world of songwriters who focused on great songs, stories, and doing music the way they wanted to. 

Now, nearly seven years later, I find myself thinking a lot about the idea of doing the music the way that I want to. I still have dreams about lots of people hearing the music that I make, but to be honest, I'm more concerned with having a message. I told a friend recently that I want to be publicly proud of what I create; I want to have a message when I'm onstage with The Chase.

I sit in my makeshift studio in London, Canada and I think about the message that we, Tom and Adam, The Chase, have to share. We haven't played a lot in recent years, our first EP barely made it into the hands of our friends and family, and we can't quite seem to find a way to get life out of our music's way. Yet, there's something that we feel compelled to share.

I think, for now, what we have to share is our process. A window into the way that we keep our friendship, our songwriting, and our dreams alive. A process for chasing, I think. The message, if you want to call it that, is that anyone can have a creative process. Songwriting is a form of creating; something that we can all do. Occasionally our creative process results in verses, choruses, and bridges, and sometimes there's no song to capture. The important thing is that we keep showing up and keep noticing the moments that make us to feel alive.

So, welcome to our Song Shop. This is where we're going to show you our process. We're starting out by bringing you into our (almost) weekly songwriting sessions. You'll hear quarter-baked ideas, random melodies, and whatever else we make. Let me warn you; this ain't all gonna be pretty, so buckle up for some warbling.

We hope that you're interested! Take a listen to the first Songwriting Session here.