Chase The Sun

Bio:

‘Rednecks & Gentlemen’

“The blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll” So sang Muddy Waters in 1977, and once upon a time it used to be common for hard rocking bands to emerge from the blues scene; everyone from The Stones, Cream and Led Zeppelin cut their teeth on a 12-bar.
Chase The Sun is one Australian band with its roots in the blues scene who are letting their love of rock and roll fully hang out, infusing their take on the blues with loud guitar, blazing hard funk and a cranking 70’s southern rock feel. Rednecks & Gentlemen is Chase The Sun’s second album, and it features lashings of blues-inspired rock. It’s raw, low-down and dirty, full of effortless swagger and stagger and very, very good.

“Imagine a big, black Cadillac barrelling down the highway with three wily dudes sharing the ride. It’s moving fast and sounding loud, but rarely goes straight down the rock’n’roll road, often swerving to the left – almost off the shoulder with a cloud of dust and gravel – into heavy blues, then overcorrecting to the right side of the road with a jaunty country blend and funny lyrics. Sometimes it gets airborne with a thumpity-bump-bump, funk-style. Sometimes you’d think it lost a wheel on purpose, getting into low-down, grinding rock that’s spitting sparks and blowin’ smoke so thick you can’t even see the boys... Welcome to the road show that’s called Chase The Sun.” - Newcastle Herald.

A collection of tunes honed at hundreds of gigs over the past 18 months, Rednecks & Gentlemen is packed full of the band’s trademark big riffs, black humour and sardonic observations. The blazing guitar solos are courtesy of enigmatic front man Jan Rynsaardt: arguably the most exciting young guitarist in the country today - blues, rock or otherwise. Chase The Sun’s road show has seen them smash every major Blues Festival in Australia over the past couple of years including Byron Bay’s Bluesfest (2010, 2009); take out top honours in the Australian Blues and Music Oz Awards; debut on the U.S. Billboard Charts at 13 and release two albums in Japan through P-Vine Records. With the release of Rednecks & Gentlemen on April 26th through Only Blues Music, Chase The Sun put the pedal to the metal and head out on the highway once more. www.chasethesunband.com

Rednecks & Gentlemen - Track Listing

Rednecks & Gentlemen
It’s a brave move to open an album with an instrumental, but title track Rednecks & Gentlemen is just that - a heavy funk instrumental jam that came out of one of Chase The Sun’s rare rehearsal sessions. Being on the road constantly means there’s little time for the band to get together and freeform, but any time they do it tends to yield these kind of results. This song has been opening the band’s live set for the past year or so. Solo breaks feature Ryan Van Gennip on bass and drummer Jon ‘Howler’ Howell getting their ya-yas out.

Dream Maker
Spaced out guitar intro leads to rapid-fire unison riffage, blazing funk in the verse, hard-rock bridge and catchy chorus. After a soaring solo the song builds to end where it began back on the monster riff. The song features the rapid-fire Hammond organ of Lachlan Doley throughout.

Away On Business
Rynsaardt gets into character as a slightly demented jilted lover explaining the situation in no uncertain terms to the husband of his mistress: “I’ll give back the shirt, but I’m gonna keep the pants, while you’re away on business”. Sweeping dobro slide and junkyard percussion drive the sentiment home.

Girl Can Talk
Heavy intro pulls back into a 70’s chicken pickin’ funk groove that makes light of some women’s penchant for high-voltage chit-chat when they get together with their friends. Another monster riff takes this song out as Mr Rynsaardt joins in on the conversation with his guitar soloing as his mouthpiece.

Live On
Live On pulls the album back a few notches and finds its power in the quiet resignation of the chorus lyrics and sad melody. A whirling dervish middle section features Cass Eager on vocals, emulating the pain and sorrow of the character within. Rynsaardt takes a rare turn on classical guitar.

Sweet Candy
A menacing twist with another character-driven song, Sweet Candy delivers a slow stroking groove with it’s dobro and junk drums being the perfect platform for Jan to take on the Tom Waits-esque character of a dirty old sleaze trying to pick up a “little darlin”.

Living Free
The first single from the album and the first Chase The Sun song to feature a video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aoWnimomUI. Living Free is the driving song. Turn this number up and out loud, wind down the window and enjoy a slab of cranking southern rock, fast and loud, conjuring up images of escaping the desk and heading out to wherever you find freedom.

6 Feet Under
Chase the Sun at their foot-stomping redneck best. High-energy hillbilly rock with a blistering wah-wah slide solo. Picture a man on his porch with a shotgun getting set to exact his revenge by shooting his woman’s lover down.

Princess
The song about a girl you love to hate. It’s a good indication of the band’s burgeoning new sound and captures a taste of the excitement Chase The Sun generate with their rocking live shows at festivals and sweat box pubs all over the country. With rolling triplets, furious riffs and Rynsaardt spitting vitriol, Princess is the perfect showcase for a band with their sights set on eleven.

Living Free Part 2
Acoustic track Living Free Part 2 was recorded in one take late one night after just the right number of beers. Like Prince with a hangover jamming with Keb Mo, Rynsaardt delivers this simple solo blues number about the good things in life in a falsetto style that would surprise and delight even his mum.

Long Gone
Long Gone shows off the band at its heaviest, with the backbeat swagger of AC/DC to 7/8 metal reminiscent of Tool. If Chase The Sun’s self-titled debut album was the ‘Break Up’ album, this, the closing track of their second is the ‘Back on the Horse’: “Remember the days of whiskey and women, for one fish dead there’s five more swimming”.