Cochrane musician Lucas Chaisson just quit his day job to focus on the music. Living in Edmonton for the past couple of years, Chaisson took some time to talk about his upcoming gigs and what is next for the young musician.
Eagle: You released a new album earlier this year. The last time we talked you were just about to release in April; how has that gone?
Chaisson: It’s been received pretty well. It was up for a Western Canadian Music award. This one is about telling time [and] about the passing of time. The new record has opened up kind of a new audience for me – I guess all the same people who were there are still there, but there is just more feedback because this record has been getting more press and people are talking about it more.
Eagle: Do you have a favourite song from the new record?
Chaisson: It’s hard. I like them all. They have all been pretty good to me.
Eagle: Is there a song from the new album that you love to play live?
Chaisson: I don’t know. When we have the whole band together, I like playing ‘Take it Easy on Me’ – it’s a good one to play because we can kind of rock out a little bit. It’s not too crazy, but at the end we usually rock out.
Eagle: And now you have been invited to rock out the new album at the inaugural Wide Cut Festival in Calgary.
Chaisson: It should be cool. It’s the first time [for the festival]. I have a bunch of friends playing there. It’ll be kind of stripped down. I’ll be playing with a duo, stripped down compared to the record, but I think people in Cochrane will be familiar – it’s the same show I’ve been touring with.
Eagle: So after the festival what are your plans?
Chaisson: We are working on writing songs for the next [album], probably something to start on for next year. The [last] songs were all kind of written at different times, inspired by different things. The last record I went through and did a bunch of edits before we went into pre-production just so that the songs would have a cohesive, fit together on the record. The new songs are kind of the same – I’ve had ideas about them for a long time, but I am just finally getting serious about them.
Eagle: You recently quit your day job to focus on the music – does the musician life ever get hectic?
Chaisson: It gets pretty busy sometimes. It is hard to keep up with everything. It is kind of like running a small business. Sometimes I get overwhelmed – you get buried with emails for work and stuff. But I don’t know…you can’t really complain about playing music for a living.
Eagle: What got you started in this career?
Chaisson: I just started playing guitar and it was a hobby and pastime. And I’ve never really looked back – I’ve always done it and since I started playing and singing, I knew that was what I wanted to do. So I’ve never really had much of another plan.
Eagle: Your music is classified under the genre of ‘folk’ – as a young musician, why not go towards rock or pop? Why folk?
Chaisson: This is just – kind of the – I don’t know. I didn’t really choose a genre to play. It’s just kind of what naturally happens. Growing up I was really inspired by songwriter, country roots, so that’s probably where I got turned onto it.
Eagle: And where do you see yourself in the next five years?
Chaisson: Hopefully, my five-year plan is to be living somewhere else, like in Austin. I’ve spent sometime in Nashville and I really like it down there. I think if I can be making a living and be kind of comfortable and playing music that would be all I could really ask for.
Eagle: Before we let you go, the last time you spoke to the Eagle we asked you about your beard.
Chaisson: Ha, yeah.
Eagle: So is your beard game still strong?
Chaisson: It is. It hasn’t had too much work done to it since the last time, so it’s probably longer and more unruly.
Chaisson will be performing songs from his new album, Telling Time, at the inaugural Wide Cut Weekend Festival Oct. 16 and 17. For more information go to lucaschaisson.com.
