One of Australia's finest purveyors of blues rock, Chase The Sun are celebrating a decade together in 2017.
We cornered the group's guitarist Jan Rynsaardt ahead of a slew of shows in August and September.
2017 marks a decade that the band have been together; quite the journey no doubt?
[Jan] Yep.
Does it feel like ten years have past or has it mostly been a blur?
It feels like 20 years, not a blur. Many good times for sure.
'Ain't No Love' tour precedes the group's third album; has it been recorded? What can listeners expect?
We are currently still tracking it, but definitely getting close to finishing it. It's shaping up to be combination of the last two albums, but with a lot more in-studio jamming, several songs are over nine-minutes long.
Recording an album; for you guys is it a process you enjoy or are there pitfalls you'd rather not encounter?
Definitely enjoyable. For me it can be monotonous trying to get the right take down; it's not always smooth sailing especially if you have had a few too many drinks the night before. Ha ha ha. We record at our bass player's studio in the Blue Mountains. It is a pretty relaxed and creative space to make music. It's also good to record in a space that you aren’t always looking at the clock.
Did you have a set idea of what you wanted to achieve musically with this release?
Not at all. I think it just comes out, no expectations. Just trying to do the best we can and be as creative as we can; trying to make music that I like myself is what I’m doing.
The tour weaves its way across the country, with a number of regional areas visited… how important is it to visit areas that don't receive as much live music as the cities?
It's important for sure. I find these shows are sometimes the better gigs; people really get into it in areas that are starved for music. I also like the smaller, country towns.
Do you find your crowds usually end up sweatier than the band by the end of the gig?
Yes and no. No one in the room is sweatier than our drummer at the end of our gigs. Ha ha ha. People tend to watch more at our shows, rather than jump around.
Life on the road… do you guys still enjoy hitting the open roads together?
Absolutely, still great fun. We all get along really well and are good friends.
Tell us a funny/ weird story from the road that won't land anyone in hot water (unless you want to throw someone under the bus!)?
Oooohhh, so many. Mostly drunk and disorderly behaviour that we are ashamed of: too drunk to play in Singapore; falling off stages; our drummer handing out flyers in a latex chicken suit in summer; destroyed a few hire cars; we pretended to steal the drummer's kit at the show.
I went on tour with no shoes and couldn’t get into the first gig; hit a kangaroo in a truck and in the efforts to save money on insurance, I spent the following day and night replacing the front end of the truck only to wake up to the entire side of that truck having being graffed while we slept. There are many more but we are hoping that they will stay forgotten.
The Australian blues, funk, soul scene has really flourished the past ten years… since the band formed have you seen much change yourselves to the industry in general?
I haven't seen to many bands over the past ten years that have blown me away, not like in the '90s when their was heaps of artists that were popular doing interesting stuff. There are a handful of good bands these days, but mostly it's all pop crap.
With the current onslaught of digital media fighting for everyone's attention, how difficult is it for an indie band to prosper? Or are the age-old factors of hard work and taking advantage of opportunities still in play?
I’m not even on the Facebook. I leave all that shit to the other guys in the band.
What's the one thing about being in a band that you wouldn't change for anything?
The music for a start. We aren’t going to be pop stars and will just keep doing what we are doing. I guess making music with my mates is the best thing that I wouldn’t change.
Next ten years for Chase The Sun; what's the grand plan?
Arghh…. would be nice to take the music to some new audiences. Europe and Japan for instance.
Chase The Sun Shows
Thu 10 Aug - Catfish (Melbourne)Fri 18 Aug - Brass Monkey (Sydney)
Fri 25 Aug - Solbar (Sunshine Coast)
Sat 26 Aug - Soundlounge (Gold Coast)
Fri 1 Sep - Leadbelly (Sydney)
Sat 2 Sep - The Stag & Hunter (Newcastle)
