Chris Velan on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Chris Velan
Pop / Folk / Reggae

		Montreal Canada Profile Views: 77093 Last Login: 7/8/2009
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Contacting Chris Velan

MySpace URL:

www.myspace.com/chrisvelanmusic

Chris Velan: General Info

Member Since	1/5/2006
Band Website	www.chrisvelan.com
Influences	too many, too many... A Year Can Change a Lot: Third and final installment of the mini-doc by Bay area multi-media artist Banker White on the making of 'Solidago' In loving memory of Idrissa Mallam Bangura - March 10th 2009 - To our friend “Mallam Bongo” - An All Star bass man with a world class smile. Pauper in a Palace: Second of three installments (released October 08) of the mini-doc by Bay area multi-media artist Banker White on the making of the soon-to-be released album, Solidago House Upon the Hill: First of three installments (released June 08) of the mini-doc by Bay area multi-media artist Banker White on the making of the soon-to-be released album, Solidago Chris Velan Live Videos: "Oldest Trick" - Osheaga Festival, Montreal - August 2008 Many photos by: David Binkowski Fraser (www.808photographyonline.com) Cover art for the LiL Foundation compilation CD. Includes artists like: Chris Velan, John Butler Trio, John West, Martin Purtill, Naia Kete among many others. For more information visit LiL Foundation.org . CD soon to be also on iTunes, Digistation and CDbaby.
Record Label	NewSong Recordings
Type of Label	Indie

Upcoming Shows

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Jul 9 2009

8:00P

Festival International de Jazz de Montreal – Metroplis

Montreal, Quebec

Jul 15 2009

9:00P

The Media Club

Vancouver, British Columbia

Jul 17 2009

8:00P

Waverly Hotel

Cumberland, British Columbia

Jul 23 2009

8:00P

Flying Steamshovel

Rossland, British Columbia

Jul 25 2009

1:00P

Deer Lake Park - VIRGIN FESTIVAL!

Vancouver, British Columbia

Jul 30 2009

8:00P

Brixx (Starlite Room)

Edmonton, Alberta

Aug 4 2009

8:00P

The Apollo

Thunder Bay, Ontario

Aug 6 2009

8:00P

Loplops

Sault Ste Marie, Ontario

Aug 11 2009

8:00P

Phog Lounge

Windsor, Ontario

Aug 13 2009

8:00P

Zaphod Breeblebox

Ottawa, Ontario

Chris Velan's Latest Blog Entry [Subscribe to this Blog]

The Napkin Manifesto: Hard Way Learner (view more)

NEW ALBUM, "SOLIDAGO", AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER UNTIL FEB. 1 (view more)

LISTEN TO CHRIS ON MOUNTAIN STAGE (view more)

NEW SONGS FROM "SOLIDAGO" UP FOR LISTENING (view more)

The Show at The Green Room, Montreal (view more)

[View All Blog Entries]

About Chris Velan

A classically trained guitar player from the age of nine, Chris Velan grew up listening to an eclectic mix of his dad’s music: Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson, and Van Morrison, his sister’s early 80’s New Wave cassettes, and his uncle’s extensive reggae vinyl collection. At thirteen he first picked up an electric guitar and quickly began playing by ear, memorizing all of his favorite guitar solos. By fourteen he formed his first band, The Preachers, with friends from school. While they played mostly rock covers, Chris began writing songs and experimenting with his own sound.

At Middlebury College, he continued writing songs and formed The Arrival of Horatio, in which he sang, played lead guitar, and produced an EP, his first time in a recording studio. Velan’s instant passion for recording would eventually become part of his live shows in the form of a loop pedal.

After University, Velan traveled for a year, following his ears to New Zealand, Australia, India, Nepal and Indonesia. With a beater guitar strapped to his backpack, he rode camels across the Indian desert and hiked through the Himalayas collecting sounds and stories, and questioning his life’s purpose.

Seeing world poverty and inequality made a deep impression, and led him back to Montreal, where he formed the band Equalizer with his brothers in order to maintain sanity while working toward a law degree at McGill University. They played a hybrid of Roots, Reggae and Rock, blending Velan’s compassionate worldview and childhood inspirations with the modern sounds of bands like the Police and The Samples. Despite label interest and a growing fan base, Velan made the difficult decision to leave Equalizer after graduation and continue his pursuit of law as a means to affect social change.

Dressed in suits, Velan spent a year as an apprentice attorney at a Vancouver law firm while writing songs morning and night. “I felt like I was two different people” he recalls, “Tapping out songs at my desk at the office.” A call from two college friends presented what would be another life-changing decision. They had support from the United Nations, and wanted to make a documentary telling the story of a humanitarian crisis in West Africa through art and music.

Equipped with only a video camera and a guitar, they toured refugee camps in the Republic of Guinea. Chris played concerts for the refugees, a mission of music. These simple shows evolved into all-day events incorporating children’s dance troupes, skits and magic. They visited eight camps in a month while war raged in nearby Liberia. At a mud hut bar, they met a band of refugees who would become the subject of their documentary, and a lifelong inspiration. They called themselves The Refugee All Stars, and had also been touring camps performing to lift the spirits of fellow refugees. Each had stories of limbs lost, loved ones murdered, and other unfathomable horrors, and none had any doubt about what music meant to them. Chris describes meeting the All Stars as the first moment he knew that he was doing exactly what he was born to do. The film “Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars” helped bring the All Stars home to Freetown, where Velan produced their first studio work, some of the first live instrument recordings there since the start of the war.

With renewed inspiration and self-assurance, Velan returned to Montreal to record his own first solo album. A collection of songs from earlier chapters of his life, “It’s Not What You Think” is a mosaic of Velan’s storytelling, world music sensibilities, and personal search for identity. The songs “Getaway Van” and “Open Shut Case” speak of a bottled desire to escape. “Toenail Clipping Moon” tells a heartbreaking story of poverty and loss, with the thinnest sliver of hope. Velan toured regionally to promote the album’s independent release in 2003 while finishing the All Stars documentary and writing new music.

In 2005 Velan recorded his second album, “Twitter Buzz Howl” over three summer months in a barn in the Quebec countryside. The themes and storytelling emphasis of the first album continued, but this time with a stronger first person sensibility, and a confident blending of musical and thematic influences. “Shiver” is a short story with an unreliable narrator warning his son of dark forces to come. “Continental Divide” captures a rare awareness that a decision at hand will have permanent consequences.

Velan toured more extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada, refining elements of his performance, and began working with a loop pedal to create his own live samples. He describes the process as elemental and minimalist, but the live sounds he creates are rich, deeply layered, and constantly changing. A single man on stage becomes a textured sonic experience, an expression of his own duality.

No longer questioning the decision to pursue music full time, Velan decided to leave his comfort zone, and spent half a year in California, recording demos, touring, and performing frequently at LA’s Hotel Café. His time in Los Angeles won him many new fans and relationships with a larger community of musicians, including members of the Animal Liberation Orchestra, and Tim Bloom of The Mother Hips, who produced Velan’s latest album “Solidago.”

“Solidago” takes its name from the late-blooming Goldenrod, and represents a masterfully blossomed musical identity. Vivid imagery becomes sage advice on “A Year Can Change A Lot” and “Go Easy” while “Wobbly Bones” conveys the horrors and hopes witnessed in Africa. “House Upon A Hill” paints a loving and grateful sense of place. “May Your Soul Get To Heaven” finds profound spirituality in a book of superstitions and offers a blessing in the form of a lullaby. On “Solidago” can be heard the culmination of a journey from a nine year old boy taking guitar lessons to a mature artist finally giving himself permission to let go. Now twenty-five years removed from the classical training of his childhood, Chris still doesn’t play with a pick.

Chris Velan's Friend Space (Top 28)

Chris Velan has 2970 friends.

sara johnston

NewSong

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars

tim bluhm

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars Film

The Mother Hips

Mishka

EQUALIZER

Maikë Murray Maas

The Souljazz Orchestra

ALO

Lebo

The Brakes

Villa Borghese

Scott

BLACK NATURE of the Refugee All Stars

mist and mast

Adam Topol

Current Swell

dsb

banker

Nick Testa

jo Krasevich

the dub & the restless

David Brogan

Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers

Steve Adams

Jackie Greene

View Chris Velan's Friends: | |

Chris Velan's Friends Comments

Displaying 25 of 272 comments ( View All | Add Comment )

Colter Wilson	Jul 8 2009 8:41 PM Hey Chris, Just bought solidago on cdbaby. Looking forward to it. Keep up the good music and life. Peace, Colter
The Colour of Saying	Jul 8 2009 8:41 PM Awesome set last night!!!!
Nick Testa	Jun 30 2009 4:07 PM How's the road? LA misses you. No way I am going to run the canyon alone.
Big Tweed	Jun 16 2009 7:27 AM It was great playing with you Chris. Good luck on your tour!
Ben Farley Online Now!	Jun 12 2009 7:04 PM take these wobbly bones
Ben Farley Online Now!	Jun 12 2009 7:04 PM Thanks for adding my new my space music page (: I lost the password to my other one so, if you know anybody that digs my tunes Please ask them to add me as a friend @ www.myspace.com/benfarleyband thank you. (: p.s. we will have some new songs up soon & if you wanna come see us live this summer see our profile for upcoming shows.
Trekkinalong	Jun 10 2009 3:12 PM I'm more than happy to help out your music Chris!!! Have a great show-I wish I could be there. I normally wouldn't want you to go through the trouble of sending along "Same Clothes" but you played it in Vegas and it was one of my faves!!! I look forward to it on your next album-I hope. Love n' Peace to you...
Alexis Allan	Jun 8 2009 8:19 PM Hey Chris great playing with you Friday night! here's the link to the blog I posted about our show. http://offthewallvansgirls.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/meeting-new-artists/
Alexis Allan	Jun 8 2009 8:16 PM Hey Chris it was nice playing with you at Friday's show. Here's a link to the blog I posted about the show.Vans Girls Blog
Alexis Allan	Jun 5 2009 9:36 PM Look forward to playing with you at Lestat's
Locals Barbershop	May 25 2009 5:45 AM Thanks again for the add! We really would love to have you and your group down for a free haircut this month if you have time. As an active element of our neighborhood's scene, we will host local bands on our website and allow you to blog and post up show dates… Its not done but we will let you know when! ~ Leon "Local's Barbershop"... Adopting the sense of community that barbershops are known for through Arts, Music and Fashion, as well as getting the best haircut service possible at an affordable price .
Intrapolis	May 19 2009 4:17 AM Hey Chris, it was an honor meeting and playing with you this weekend!!!! I can't wait to jam again, and I hope we can be a part of your tour one of these days!!! We need someone like you to help us be heard by the right people! I'm so glad we have an awesome new friend. Oh, and btw.... you were right, your CD WAS awesome driving mojo. Haha, take it easy buddy!
Chris	May 8 2009 9:34 PM hey saw u in charleston wv been jammin to your cd since good stuff hope u come back soon
Kellie	May 8 2009 9:34 PM Hi! I just heard you on WYSO in Ohio. You have a great sound! Thanks for adding to the world.
The Apollo	Apr 29 2009 9:48 PM If you wanna see a good show, go see Chris Velan play live!
gibbs, andrew	Apr 29 2009 9:47 PM ok man, if youre playing in chicago tonight, PLEASE tell me i didnt miss you in detroit last night, or somewhere of equal or lesser distance from lansing michigan. if so, i think i might skip class to see your next midwest show. lol
Andre Longtin	Apr 22 2009 4:04 PM Hey chris! I put a new tune up on my myspace called "this is me" :) You should swing by and check it out when you get a chance! Thanks so much for all your love and support! PEACE~! dre
Lisa Dotolo	Apr 22 2009 4:04 PM Awesome! Hope to see you at the basement! Best of luck with the tour! Lisa ;)
Chris Burke Art	Apr 17 2009 10:42 PM Chris, I really love your music! it's beautiful! Can't wait for your album on tuesday! I'm about to go download your other two. wish you the best! Lots of love, Chris
Arisa	Apr 17 2009 10:42 PM Hello! Thank you for making friends with me! I live in Japan and I'm 14 years old. It's nice to meet you. I am your big fan! By the way, I'm really your fan. But I do not know whether your CD is sold in Japan. And I can't buy CD in a net. But I very very want your CD. So...Is there the place where your CD is available elsewhere? I know you're very busy and have a limited amount of time, but it would mean so much to me. I wait for a reply from you. See you later! From Arisa
Nick Hynes	Apr 17 2009 10:42 PM Hey Chris...Great songs man!!
Chris Burke Art	Apr 13 2009 10:28 PM Love the new cd!!! you need to come to missouri! :)
christian b	Apr 13 2009 10:27 PM Hey Chris, good times on the road with you! Hit me up when your in Cali
Bradford Entertainment	Mar 31 2009 4:02 PM Rats...we need an opener at Recher for Can't Hang/Badfish on April 9th! Anyway, still looking and will get you dets ASAP.
Michele Millet Songs	Feb 24 2009 7:18 AM Thanks for listening Chris! Beautiful songs :-) Wish you love <3 Michele

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