Dan Pelic - Chambers
Dan Pelic - Chambers
Interview with vocalist Dan Pelic of Chambers
By Rob”Bubbs”Harris
New Jersey rockers Chambers are most likely the coolest band you haven’t heard yet. But, if my buddy Jon over at Freeman Promotions has anything to say about it, you will soon be swallowed whole by this beast of a rock band. Call it metal. Call it punk. Just don’t call it late for dinner, ‘cause these dudes are hungry and are eager to take a bite out of the heavy music scene. Metal Exiles caught up with singer (if that’s what you want to call it) Dan Pelic to talk about the baddest new band on the block and good ‘ol Jersey.
Metal Exiles: Congratulations on the shear gnarliness of Old Love. Albums like that come by none too often. How long did it take to find the sound you wanted and get that shit done?
Dan: Well, thank you very much. To be gnarly is a great honor. Well, the band was supposed to be a “70s influenced rock band” and when the audition demos were given to me by John, one of our guitarists, to try out, I was expecting something to do clean vocals over. Then I was like “what the fuck?” It was super aggressive and I tried screaming over it instead. I didn’t know how they would like it when I came in to jam but it worked out splendidly. I think we had the primordial version of our sound within a couple months and recorded a demo. After writing for ‘Old Love’ commenced about four months later, I think we had our shit together sound-wise and felt a collective identity for the first time.
Metal Exiles: Having a unique sound in a sea of bands that couldn’t pass the Pepsi challenge with every other band out there, does it start to get old when people ask “What kind of band are you in?”. I find it odd that, now with so many little subgenres, folks look at you weird if you say you just play metal or rock.
Dan: The first people in the press to classify us or whatever, were at Metal Hammer magazine. They called us “metallic hardcore.” I don’t know if they set some sort of precedence there or something, but something consistently said is that we bridge the gap between metal and hardcore but keep it rock n roll. Now, when I think of metal and hardcore fused together, I think of bands from modern day Converge to old Poison The Well. We are far from that. I think the rock n roll swagger we have in our music is what sets us apart in the metal-core genre if people want to put us there. It’s a bit annoying to get pigeonholed, but we are confident that our music stands out. I just tell people we are a really aggressive rock and roll band and keep it simple as that.
Metal Exiles: With the state of metal these days, it is seriously difficult to find other dudes that want to play something outside the box. How did you guys find each other and get into the same mindset?
Dan: Gregg, our lead guitarist, and Vinnie, our drummer, had been playing together for years. They were doing kind of stoner rock stuff and were never really happy with it. John, our other guitarist, was a mutual friend with Gregg and they decided to see if they could write stuff they could get really get excited about. Jesse, our bass player, was friendly with everyone in the band and a recently began living with Gregg. I’d recently become friends with John and he posted something on this local message board we both read about needed a vocalist so I tried out and it just worked right on the spot. Everyone in the band has different influences and they just crashed together in the right way to create this sound we have going on. We all know we come from different musical backgrounds and have strongly different personalities, but we love the music we create and embrace our diversity. How politically correct!
Metal Exiles: With such an eclectic sound, I’m curious to know if there are any certain bands or artists in general that you would consider strong building blocks in the foundation of Chambers.
Dan: There’s definitely a good serving of Guns N’ Roses, Black Flag, Black Sabbath, Dead Guy, in there as far as the instrumentation goes. Vocally and lyrically, I’ve been strongly influenced by Wes Eisold (American Nightmare, Some Girls) and Jake Bannon (Converge) among others. Jesse, our bassist, loves the old punk shit like Nick Cave and The Stooges. That puts a little spice in our mélange of sound. He’s like the cilantro at Houlihan’s. It’s in almost every dish.
Metal Exiles: You guys did Old Love totally D.I.Y. style, which is rad. In fact, with all the praises it has been receiving, you would think that it was your third release on a major label. How happy does it make you to know that all that hard work wasn’t for nothing?
Dan: Wow, that is giving us a lot of credit. Thank you. I’d say that we are very happy but in no way complacent. You sit on your ass and look at yourself in the mirror for too long and you’re not going to go anywhere because someone has already passed you, you know?
Metal Exiles: Have any big labels been contacting you since this thing started exploding?
Dan: Not yet. It just came out this week. We hope the PR will keep snowballing, the profile of the shows will keep rising, the trips to go play with get further and further from our home state, and so on. With any luck and persistence, maybe some will want to have a sit down.
Metal Exiles: How are tour plans going? I noticed that you have a few dates around your neck of the woods, but you need to come down here to Florida to party with us crazy rednecks.
Dan: Well, shoot. We’d love to. It hasn’t even been a year since we played our first show and a good four months were taken up writing our album. We are going to start touring regionally now that that shit is out and we can ride on it. Weekend warrior stuff, mainly. We hope to be offered some extending touring opportunities after we start breaking ground elsewhere first. We were offered a tour with Trash Talk in the UK to support the demo EP we released over there but it just wouldn’t have worked out financially for us. We are fine with losing money to do what we’ve got to do, but it was like…we would have lost thousands of dollars the money was so terrible.
Metal Exiles: Speaking of touring and gigging, what kinds of bands have you been going out with? I bet it’s hard to steer completely clear of having to be the big sore thumb on some of those hardcore shows. I can see you fitting with pretty much any type of band, so is that who you play with, anyone?
Dan: Dystrophy is a metal band I thoroughly enjoy watching and playing with. We’ve played a bunch of shows with The Casting Out from Deleware. They are a driving, rocking, kind of pop-punk band. People seemed to have enjoyed seeing us play together. Um, we’ve played with Communication Redlight who is also a pop-punk band a bunch and the response has been the same. We usually end up as the heaviest band on the show and we are fine with that. We are pretty wild live and have our light show if the venue allows so if it turns people’s attention to us, we usually have no problem giving them a good time because the music is good. Like I said previously, we are rooted in rock n roll, so who the fuck couldn’t get down with that, you know what I mean?
Metal Exiles: So, how does it feel to be the whitest people in New Jersey? I kid, I kid. It does seem that the media portrays Jersey as a state filled with orangish colored herpe cannons. Did you decide that tattoos and beards were better than spray tans and Ed Hardy shirts?
Dan: Well, New Jersey is the most densely populated and coincidentally, the most diverse state in the United States. Obviously, these guido and guidette freak shows are going to be a lot easier to exploit than dudes like us. Consequently, that is what’s shoved in one’s face while one’s being a couch potato.
Metal Exiles: Does it get to you when you see all these Jersey shoes on television making your home out to be a shithole full of douche bags? It’s kind of like when I grew up in Alabama. When I told people where I was from, they automatically got the idea of toothless rednecks who liked fuckin’ their sisters. Now Jersey folk have become the in breeders, so to speak. Does it annoy the shit out of you, as the people on those shows annoy the shit out of the rest of the world? (I hope you don’t take this the wrong way.)
Dan: You’re talking about ‘Jersey Shore’ and ‘Housewives’ and shit like that right? What a lot of people seem to not know about ‘Jersey Shore,’ is that almost all those people are NOT from New Jersey…but rather from Staten Island/New York City who just simply go down the Shore to vacation. In fact, they are hated down the Shore by locals. I can’t really understand or relate to these people on TV, so I can’t really be bothered by it. Plastering them all over the media is a trend that will fade away like many others.
Metal Exiles: Are there any other Jersey bands that should be getting some more attention from us media dogs?
Dan: Definitely check out Dystrophy from New Brunswick, NJ. They are a mish-mosh of all sorts of heavy metal, but rooted in traditional death. Someone needs to sign those guys and get them solo-pedestals and fans to blow their hair while they shred.
Metal Exiles: Thanks for answering my silly questions. Once again, bring your asses down South so we can do some beers and rock out. Cheers!
Dan: Thanks for a not boring interview. We’ll see you as soon as we can and have a case race!
By Rob”Bubbs”Harris
New Jersey rockers Chambers are most likely the coolest band you haven’t heard yet. But, if my buddy Jon over at Freeman Promotions has anything to say about it, you will soon be swallowed whole by this beast of a rock band. Call it metal. Call it punk. Just don’t call it late for dinner, ‘cause these dudes are hungry and are eager to take a bite out of the heavy music scene. Metal Exiles caught up with singer (if that’s what you want to call it) Dan Pelic to talk about the baddest new band on the block and good ‘ol Jersey.
Metal Exiles: Congratulations on the shear gnarliness of Old Love. Albums like that come by none too often. How long did it take to find the sound you wanted and get that shit done?
Dan: Well, thank you very much. To be gnarly is a great honor. Well, the band was supposed to be a “70s influenced rock band” and when the audition demos were given to me by John, one of our guitarists, to try out, I was expecting something to do clean vocals over. Then I was like “what the fuck?” It was super aggressive and I tried screaming over it instead. I didn’t know how they would like it when I came in to jam but it worked out splendidly. I think we had the primordial version of our sound within a couple months and recorded a demo. After writing for ‘Old Love’ commenced about four months later, I think we had our shit together sound-wise and felt a collective identity for the first time.
Metal Exiles: Having a unique sound in a sea of bands that couldn’t pass the Pepsi challenge with every other band out there, does it start to get old when people ask “What kind of band are you in?”. I find it odd that, now with so many little subgenres, folks look at you weird if you say you just play metal or rock.
Dan: The first people in the press to classify us or whatever, were at Metal Hammer magazine. They called us “metallic hardcore.” I don’t know if they set some sort of precedence there or something, but something consistently said is that we bridge the gap between metal and hardcore but keep it rock n roll. Now, when I think of metal and hardcore fused together, I think of bands from modern day Converge to old Poison The Well. We are far from that. I think the rock n roll swagger we have in our music is what sets us apart in the metal-core genre if people want to put us there. It’s a bit annoying to get pigeonholed, but we are confident that our music stands out. I just tell people we are a really aggressive rock and roll band and keep it simple as that.
Metal Exiles: With the state of metal these days, it is seriously difficult to find other dudes that want to play something outside the box. How did you guys find each other and get into the same mindset?
Dan: Gregg, our lead guitarist, and Vinnie, our drummer, had been playing together for years. They were doing kind of stoner rock stuff and were never really happy with it. John, our other guitarist, was a mutual friend with Gregg and they decided to see if they could write stuff they could get really get excited about. Jesse, our bass player, was friendly with everyone in the band and a recently began living with Gregg. I’d recently become friends with John and he posted something on this local message board we both read about needed a vocalist so I tried out and it just worked right on the spot. Everyone in the band has different influences and they just crashed together in the right way to create this sound we have going on. We all know we come from different musical backgrounds and have strongly different personalities, but we love the music we create and embrace our diversity. How politically correct!
Metal Exiles: With such an eclectic sound, I’m curious to know if there are any certain bands or artists in general that you would consider strong building blocks in the foundation of Chambers.
Dan: There’s definitely a good serving of Guns N’ Roses, Black Flag, Black Sabbath, Dead Guy, in there as far as the instrumentation goes. Vocally and lyrically, I’ve been strongly influenced by Wes Eisold (American Nightmare, Some Girls) and Jake Bannon (Converge) among others. Jesse, our bassist, loves the old punk shit like Nick Cave and The Stooges. That puts a little spice in our mélange of sound. He’s like the cilantro at Houlihan’s. It’s in almost every dish.
Metal Exiles: You guys did Old Love totally D.I.Y. style, which is rad. In fact, with all the praises it has been receiving, you would think that it was your third release on a major label. How happy does it make you to know that all that hard work wasn’t for nothing?
Dan: Wow, that is giving us a lot of credit. Thank you. I’d say that we are very happy but in no way complacent. You sit on your ass and look at yourself in the mirror for too long and you’re not going to go anywhere because someone has already passed you, you know?
Metal Exiles: Have any big labels been contacting you since this thing started exploding?
Dan: Not yet. It just came out this week. We hope the PR will keep snowballing, the profile of the shows will keep rising, the trips to go play with get further and further from our home state, and so on. With any luck and persistence, maybe some will want to have a sit down.
Metal Exiles: How are tour plans going? I noticed that you have a few dates around your neck of the woods, but you need to come down here to Florida to party with us crazy rednecks.
Dan: Well, shoot. We’d love to. It hasn’t even been a year since we played our first show and a good four months were taken up writing our album. We are going to start touring regionally now that that shit is out and we can ride on it. Weekend warrior stuff, mainly. We hope to be offered some extending touring opportunities after we start breaking ground elsewhere first. We were offered a tour with Trash Talk in the UK to support the demo EP we released over there but it just wouldn’t have worked out financially for us. We are fine with losing money to do what we’ve got to do, but it was like…we would have lost thousands of dollars the money was so terrible.
Metal Exiles: Speaking of touring and gigging, what kinds of bands have you been going out with? I bet it’s hard to steer completely clear of having to be the big sore thumb on some of those hardcore shows. I can see you fitting with pretty much any type of band, so is that who you play with, anyone?
Dan: Dystrophy is a metal band I thoroughly enjoy watching and playing with. We’ve played a bunch of shows with The Casting Out from Deleware. They are a driving, rocking, kind of pop-punk band. People seemed to have enjoyed seeing us play together. Um, we’ve played with Communication Redlight who is also a pop-punk band a bunch and the response has been the same. We usually end up as the heaviest band on the show and we are fine with that. We are pretty wild live and have our light show if the venue allows so if it turns people’s attention to us, we usually have no problem giving them a good time because the music is good. Like I said previously, we are rooted in rock n roll, so who the fuck couldn’t get down with that, you know what I mean?
Metal Exiles: So, how does it feel to be the whitest people in New Jersey? I kid, I kid. It does seem that the media portrays Jersey as a state filled with orangish colored herpe cannons. Did you decide that tattoos and beards were better than spray tans and Ed Hardy shirts?
Dan: Well, New Jersey is the most densely populated and coincidentally, the most diverse state in the United States. Obviously, these guido and guidette freak shows are going to be a lot easier to exploit than dudes like us. Consequently, that is what’s shoved in one’s face while one’s being a couch potato.
Metal Exiles: Does it get to you when you see all these Jersey shoes on television making your home out to be a shithole full of douche bags? It’s kind of like when I grew up in Alabama. When I told people where I was from, they automatically got the idea of toothless rednecks who liked fuckin’ their sisters. Now Jersey folk have become the in breeders, so to speak. Does it annoy the shit out of you, as the people on those shows annoy the shit out of the rest of the world? (I hope you don’t take this the wrong way.)
Dan: You’re talking about ‘Jersey Shore’ and ‘Housewives’ and shit like that right? What a lot of people seem to not know about ‘Jersey Shore,’ is that almost all those people are NOT from New Jersey…but rather from Staten Island/New York City who just simply go down the Shore to vacation. In fact, they are hated down the Shore by locals. I can’t really understand or relate to these people on TV, so I can’t really be bothered by it. Plastering them all over the media is a trend that will fade away like many others.
Metal Exiles: Are there any other Jersey bands that should be getting some more attention from us media dogs?
Dan: Definitely check out Dystrophy from New Brunswick, NJ. They are a mish-mosh of all sorts of heavy metal, but rooted in traditional death. Someone needs to sign those guys and get them solo-pedestals and fans to blow their hair while they shred.
Metal Exiles: Thanks for answering my silly questions. Once again, bring your asses down South so we can do some beers and rock out. Cheers!
Dan: Thanks for a not boring interview. We’ll see you as soon as we can and have a case race!
