 "Photo: Photo Courtesy of Gary Ventura")
Being in a band while having two members in Manhattan and the other two in central Jersey is no easy feat. But Kelsey and the Chaos can do it, and they do it well. The first two members of the band were the singer Kelsey Merritt, 19, and the drummer, Nick Rotunno, 18. They met at Berklee College of Music and knew they wanted to start something.
"We knew we wanted to base the band out of the New York/Tri-State Area, so we posted topics and forums on every website we could saying we needed two guitarists. And luckily enough, Brian was looking through the forums on Myspace a little after we posted, and [he] messaged us," said Nick and Kelsey.
"The experience [of] searching for members was very hectic because we knew we were being solicited for Warped Tour and had plenty of other shows in the works. We were lucky enough to find Brian and Justin, bring them into practice, and we all just clicked from that point on," they said. The two guitarists that they found were Justin Stabler, 20, and Brian Pascoe, 20. Creating the band's current lineup began in late November of 2007 and took until late January of 2008. Justin and Brian were previously in a band called Even the Odds, Kelsey was a solo artist and Nick was in a band called Take the Fall.
How long have they been together? "Less than a year," said the two of them. "We formed in January [of] 2008, and played our first show in March [of] 2008."
In order for these guys to practice, at least two of the four must make a commute to get where they need to be.
"We are only separated by about an hour and a half by car or train. We just really have to commit to what we are doing because traveling an hour and a half three times a week for band practice is very tiring. We have two practice facilities so we can split up who has to travel so it isn't always [the same] two people traveling while the others don't have to," Nick and Kelsey told me.
The type of music they play would be pop/rock. "Simple and easy," they said. "Kelsey writes the lyrics and melody ideas. The band comes up with the rest of the music. We all have an active say in the writing process and try to mix up all of our ideas."
Where does inspiration come from? "Finding inspiration for a song can come from other songs we like and even everyday experiences," they said. "Everything we listen to influences how we write and sound. We all like a variety of music and bands.
We're inspired by 80s rock. Pat Benatar [and] Joan Jett are a couple of favorites. We all like modern rock as well. Kelsey draws inspiration from No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, as well as some old R&B music. Basically everything!"
Playing at Warped Tour is a big deal, as is performing at 10 shows for a brand new band. "We are managed by East Coast Independent, and [we] solicited ourselves to be on the East Coast Independent Warped Tour Stage. They hooked us up with three dates on their stage.
We also contacted another stage, The Shiragirl Stage, who also booked us on four dates. After our run was over, East Coast Independent asked us if we would like to stay on for another three dates, and we gladly accepted," they said.
"We did our first real tour this summer [of] 2008, which just happened to be the Vans Warped Tour…It was a blast and extremely rewarding, but a ton of hard work on very little sleep.
We have a bunch of great tours in the works and will be playing shows on the East Coast the next few months."
The Vans Warped Tour gave Kelsey and the Chaos the opportunity to share the stage with bigger-name bands.
Some bands they have played with are: From First to Last, Mae, Bret Michaels, The Pink Spiders, Sound the Alarm and Split Fifty. "We've played a lot of shows in such a short amount of time of being a band. The best one so far was probably the MTV2 Battle of the Bands we recently played. We played for over 500 people. Our performance was judged by Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional and two band members of Panic at the Disco. There was a ton of energy and that made it so much fun." They released their first EP Against the Wall in June of 2008. They said they are "…currently touring off that, and are planning on writing again in 2009." With the shows they have they "…try to play as many shows as possible! We are currently working on a touring schedule that would have us playing 15 to 20 shows a month.
I asked them about their worst onstage experience. They replied with, "It's pretty hard to pick out one particular experience. Every time you go onstage there is usually something you have to overcome.Whether it be bad sound, being sick, playing [or] singing a wrong note, etc. You just have to overcome it." Even with all the unusual things that they have to do in order to practice, they do just that. Overcome it. And it seems to work pretty well for them.
Check them out on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/kelseyandthechaos or purchase goodies at http://www.kelseyandthechaos.bigcartel.com/
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