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MP3 The Farewell Letter - ROCK: Emo
10 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Emo
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Being a musician can be a thankless job. Why would you willingly sacrifice your time and energy to prepare a spectacle or an event like a concert where all eyes are focused upon you, every word spoken is amplified to a deity''s volume and every mistake you make is presented in it''s clearest form to an audience of your peers? Yes, it seems kind of foolish, yet all the time invested in creating The Farewell Letter couldn''t have been better spent.
Their catchy breed of high energy, melody conscious rock is a pleasant addition to Chico''s diverse sound. The quartet consists of Brian Chamlee (drums), Gray Harris (bass & vocals), Jay Darden (guitar & vocals), and Josh Funk (lead vocals & guitar). Funk, Darden and their original bassist/friend Jackson Shedd formed The Farewell Letter from a roster of old friends that slowly filtered back to Chico after experiencing life abroad (Chamlee lived in Utah for a spell, Harris did a stint in the Army Reserves). Drawing from many sources, including our own prolific local scene, the group has forged a sound raw with emotion and bursting to the rim with exciting youthful energy.
"I remember growing up, we''d come downtown every Saturday, skateboard down here and check out bands at night," says Funk, fresh from Tower with the latest Jimmy Eat World album. "I remember the music scene was a lot smaller then and i just wanted to be a part of it."
Perhaps the lack of youth-oriented centers like amusement parks, miniature golf courses and drive-ins convinced kids to pick up instruments in order to have a good time. Maybe there''s something in the water. I don''t know for sure, but the immense pool of talent that feeds the music youth of Chico is simply awesome. We have more bad ass musicians per capita than most industry-friendly metropolitan areas, all raised on fantastic local groups like Pitchfork Tuning, Deathstar and The iMPs.
"I think the iMPS kind of influenced me to want to play - it was pretty cool to watch them."
"Funk, a locally grown Chicoan has been playing around town for years in local bands like Isabell and Spencer.
"I don''t know how i got into this frame of mind," says Funk, as we sip off our coffee-filled pint glasses.
"You start off playing guitar in your room and writing songs and recording them just so you can listen to them yourself," says Funk. "Pretty soon someone hears it, they like it and it makes you feel good that somebody can understand where you''re coming from. The next thing you know, a few years down the road you''re sitting here and you''re just trying to get more people to understand where you''re coming from and maybe help them out by listening."
One of the most empowering feelings that a songwriter gets is when they reach somebody and that person gives the songwriter a positive response.
"It''s nice to have people that can meet on your level and understand it, so that''s kind of where it all comes from."
However, it doesn''t necessarily matter if the listener understands what the boys of The Farewell Letter are getting at lyrically as long as the listener gets something out of it.
"We''ll be singing about one thing and [the audience] will be thinking it''s something completely different. I don''t need to tell them what it''s really about it means something to them. It''s very personal lyrically, and i like to leave it at that and try not to think about it too much."
With his heart on his sleeve, copping an Elvis Costello croon, Josh imparts wrenching tales of many common human experiences, including heartbreak and struggles with spirituality. The latter has gotten him caught in the middle of a very touchy subject. Funk explained to me that he has many questions about God, and as one of the things on his mind, he finds himself writing about it, Unfortunately, some people take it to mean that he''s preaching about God, when in fact he''s "Questioning as to why things work out the way they do." His troubles come from both sides, as devout religious followers automatically assume he''s a Christian rocker. Funk just writes what he feels.
The position of the band''s main songwriter initially fell on Josh, but lately the band''s been becoming more cohesive in a writing sense.
"It started out me, but now we''re all putting in a lot of input, which is great ''cause we all come from different backgrounds in music. I still kind of put the structure [on] it, except the riffs that the other guys bring in, like Jay, our guitarist. He used to be just nothing but metal, but now that he''s been introduced into a lot of different genres of music [and] he can incorporate that tastefully into the music. It creates good stuff - a lot of picking patterns and the theory involved in it. He takes that and thinks it through and makes some good catchy riffs. "
"The band has been spending much time in the studio lately with friend and producer John Peters. "We want to make this sound good. Right off the bat we don''t want to just screw off, we wanted something good," says the eager frontman. The initial result is the On the Footsteps of Every Door EP, which the band has been promoting as a free introduction to their music. You can get it at their shows and on their website or through one of their "Letter Heads," the Farewell Letter street team.
"The whole point of this is just to get some people into the music," explains Funk. With their amount of talent and devotion to the cause that shouldn''t be a problem.
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