Q: Hey! I love your infectious, addicting track “Nights”! Your vocals, along with the captivating melody, tie together flawlessly. Can you walk me a little through the creative process of making this track?
CHALK LAKE: We always tend to start a song by coming up with a guitar riff or melody to create a vibe for the song and build from that. The song gave us an upbeat kind of hopeful vibe so we just kind of went from there. Our singer wrote lyrics to the song based on his experience meeting his now wife and they seem to fit the song perfectly.
Q: The instrumental on “Nights” is so well-produced I’m interested in what the production process was like?
CHALK LAKE: Much of the high production value can be accredited to our producer Keegan Boldin. Going into the studio is when the song really took its final form as we were able to take the time to meld all the individual parts together and really purposefully cater to the song. Keegan was a huge help when it came to serving the song and being open to trying the many different ideas we threw at him. As a gigging band it’s hard to take the time to sit down and really polish a song up, so we are very thankful for our time in the studio.
Q: If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only have three albums with you, which would they be?
CHALK LAKE: The Last Waltz soundtrack, Mt. Joy, The Union(Glorious Sons)
Q: What’s the best advice about the music industry you were given, and how has it helped you navigate your musical journey thus far?
CHALK LAKE: Honestly, I think the best way to think about the music industry/ being a musician is to focus on why you are doing it. The key for us is to focus on enjoying ourselves and making the best music we can make rather than worrying so much about where we are going or our level of success. We do this because we love it, plain and simple.
Q: Your raspy, uncompromising vocals give “Nights” a very hard-rock element which I love. The instrumental is compelling, yet it doesn’t overpower your voice, giving listeners afront seat to your vocals. What did you enjoy most about making this track?
CHALK LAKE: Thank you! The best part about making Nights were the “ah ha” moments, and there are 2 in particular that come to mind. The first was when ourn guitarist, Nate, came up with that super catchy riff in the bridge which we felt really added a lot of build up into that final chorus. The second was adding the gang vocals into the second half of the chorus, they just made the song feel a lot bigger in those parts.
Q: What has been one of the highlights of your music career so far?
CHALK LAKE: We would consider 2022 to be sort of one big highlight real for us as a band. We played our most shows in a year to date, played in multiple different cities and venues, played some of our bucket list venues( Horseshoe Tavern) and to top it all off we recorded our first EP.
Q: What would you like to say to your supporters out there?
CHALK LAKE: Thanks for coming out to our shows and supporting 4 guys who are having a blast making music.
Q: Thank you so much for talking with me! Tell everyone what’s coming up next for you; any fun projects/gigs in the works?
CHALK LAKE: We are super excited to be releasing our first EP titled “Welcome To” which is available December 23, featuring Nights. We will be celebrating the release with a show on December 23rd at Wixan’s Bridge in Uxbridge,ON. We are looking forward to carrying this momentum into the new year and hopefully making 2023 even better than last year.
Interviewed by Melissa Cusano
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