Localized: Chausie

The great Salt Lake City just keeps on rocking with the lineup for November’s edition of SLUG Localized! With alt-rock riffs from opener CAMO and heavy-hitting chords from both Seeking The Sun and Chausie, it’s a night you don’t want to miss! Be at Kilby Court on Nov. 18 to experience the truest form of local rock. Sponsored by Riso-Geist, the show costs just $5 for entry. Get your tickets here!

Preston Johnson and Landon Parker were high school classmates with ambitions of starting a band. Johnson had been playing guitar for four to five years, and Parker had previously played drums, but lacked a kit. Johnson provided the kit and suddenly the two were intent on making fast, riff-heavy garage rock inspired by punk rockers such as Meth Wax. This led to the formation of a group called The Pretty Kitties that ran as a three-piece before evolving into what is now Chausie (pronounced “chow-sea”) with the addition of Elliott Moore on guitar and substituting in Ammon Aholelei as the now-quartet’s bassist.

“There’s another energy that’s more about making people go crazy!”

Johnson and Parker say that while there are definitely similarities between The Pretty Kitties and Chausie, the addition of Moore and Aholelei has brought different perspectives, influences and techniques that have elevated the band’s sound in a way that everyone appreciates. The band’s newest members have displayed these differences during the release of their debut album Chow! and in the band’s new material. Johnson works as Chausie’s primary writer, coming up with lyrics, riffs and even fully structured tracks on his own before Parker, the group’s engineer/producer, adds his drumming and the two work on it from there. “After that, we’ll give that to Elliott and Ammon and they’ll figure out what they’d like to do,” Parker says, “and as a group we’ll experiment during shows and across multiple practices.”

I ask the band if, during the writing process, they think about how a song would sound live, or what the audience reception might be to certain songs. “There are definitely two forces I bring,” Johnson says. “One is a desire to make music that’s very experimental and more like ‘let’s have fun with this,’ and there’s another energy that’s more about making people go crazy!” Moore adds that they have ideas of what people will be receptive to live, naming “Add It Up” as a specific example. So far, they’ve tried to avoid overdubs and additional sounds in their mixes in order for their recorded songs to sound similar to their live performances.

“As a group, we’ll experiment during shows and across multiple practices.”

When I ask about other bands who have influenced or are influencing their work, Chausie unanimously agrees that each member has very different tastes and are all influenced by a wide range of different sounds. Johnson enjoys garage and punk rock, Landon is a fan of girl and bubblegum grunge, while Moore names Gang of Four and more ‘70s era, post-punk legends and Ammon says simply, “all kinds of things.” Additionally, Johnson adds that an influence for the whole band is Southern California rock band Together Pangea, saying, “A lot of the recording process and production styling for Chow! was based around their 2011 album Living Dummy.” The group agrees that Pixies, specifically Black Francis (Formerly Frank Black), as well as early work from The White Stripes have all served as huge points of inspiration for the band — Moore calls Jack White the “Willy Wonka” of the music industry.

Chausie shouted out Melancholy Club’s frontman Tanner Padbury, who taught Johnson and Parker while they were in school and has provided them both encouragement as well as opportunities to play live at free, all-ages shows hosted by @happyvalleyrockers around Utah Valley, they also shoutout fellow local DIY rockers SOLITUDE and finally, Parker’s parents.

You can catch Chausie live in Salt Lake on Nov. 18 at Kilby Court. Find the band on Instagram at @chausieband for future show dates and upcoming releases.

Read about more SLUG Localized bands:
Localized: SWARMER
Localized: DJ VI:BRA