Deep into conversation with Brooklyn’s CHAPPO

Chappo is one of those bands that came together through a varied course of events and realized that, as a collective, they make sense. Before anything major happened, in a typical sense like lable contracts or band managers, their song, “Come Home,” got picked up for an iPod commercial in 2010. And that was just the beginning. Quip had a chance to chat with Alex Chappo about the unintentional beginnings, their musical recipes, the makings of the music, the big bad NYC, and their future aspirations.

Quip: Let’s start with the basics: how did the band come together? 

Alex Chappo: I first met Chris [Olson] living in the East Village, where we lived in this tiny, shitty apartment between a psychic and a head shop on E 2nd Street. I think we just accidentally started playing music together. I met Zac [Colwell] and Dave [Feddock] through Chris, they all knew each other from music school in New Jersey. Zac started playing drums first and helped us record our first EP on a very amateur “all in one” Zoom recording machine. We recorded Plastique Universe in our living room, did early mixes on GarageBand.

When Dave started playing, it helped gel the sound and really propel it. We had this crazy show at Public Assembly in 2010, with a friend of ours (Rawan Rihani) designing this feather breast for me to wear and some costumes. Another friend did the DIY production with dry ice and glowing, cheaply assembled lights you’d get from the dollar store and a bunch of balloons. It was a dirty ruckus party and the crowd’s energy was electric. It was one of those nights where things just come together, I think it was that night we all said we’re a band now.

Kateryna Topol: How do the band dynamics work when it comes to making music? 

AC: We all bring ideas together and see how they fit. Every idea has to touch everyone’s fingers. It’s like making a roux. You add some ingredients and keep mixing it together until it simmers for a bit and season it to taste. One ingredient might be a melody or a lyric idea and a beat or a chorus or a whole demo of a song. But the dynamics are always shifting around like tectonic plates waiting for that right volcanic eruption. We usually all know when the song is done.

KT: Your inspiration seems to come from all sorts of places, I imagine you jamming near a forest, wearing silk robes with an altered mind – how does it actually happen?  

AC: Inspiration can come from anywhere when open to it. I think it’s just about being curious about the world and not getting stuck on your own interpretation of it. It’s important to play around, experiment and take risks. I’m keeping this all vague because the moment I get too specific about how a song unfolds, the easier it is to get stuck in waiting for the same “magic” to happen the same way.

Yeah you can create atmospheres that are more conducive to creativity, but you can also get lost in your own expectations about how you should write songs and get inspired. Sometimes getting inspired is being thoroughly bored, depressed, inert, still, silent, patient, or empty. I believe in a creative energy and force. But it isn’t always romantic. Sometimes it’s plain and dull.

KT: Speaking of inspiration, what was the first CD or tape you owned? Any oldies you still often listen to?  

AC: I remember having and buying tapes, but was at an age where what I was listening to was pretty lame. My grandma bought me Naughty by Nature for my birthday, and I wanted Boyz II Men or Kris Kross – gross [laughs]. My folks loved Dylan, so there was always Dylan and Stones tapes. When I heard “Bitch” for the first time in my dad’s Dodge Ram, I was floored. And the song “You Gotta Move,” holy shit, that song jumped into my skin.

With tapes, my favorite thing to do was record the radio or make my own radio shows with my little sister. I was the last of my friends to finally make the transition to CDs and remember doing that 12 CDs for a dollar thing. I asked my friend to curate it for me and he picked the most random artists. For some reason Sonic Youth’s Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star was on that list and is still so nostalgic for me. And Beck’s One Foot in the Grave.

KT: Is the NY music community fairly friendly or pretty cutthroat when it comes to new bands? 

AC: I think of it more like a giant spider web. Everyone is usually connected to someone in some way or another. Some people are nice and inviting, some aren’t and are standoffish. People are just people, really, I’m sure it isn’t any different than any other group.

What is cutthroat is the city itself. It’s getting harder for artists to afford to live here and survive and do what they love…they aren’t able to afford healthcare or any benefits. That hammers down on a person’s soul and spirit over time. The illusion that you’re going to “make it” is a bullshit cultural notion we’ve all bought into. My friends and artists are making it every day. The ones that are able to continue doing what they love to do, no matter what it takes, are my heroes. They’re just not all famous and rich.

KT: You’re off on a fairly lengthy tour starting on the 29th, what are you most looking forward to on the tour? 

AC: It’s going to be awesome to play with White Arrows as well as with Big Data later in March. I just like getting out there and hitting refresh. It’s a chance to do something new each night. Recreate your music, and the experience, have a party onstage every night. I like changing up my routine with being on the road and seeing brief vignettes of different cities pass by quickly. It’s great for incubating new ideas or stewing on old ones and reading new things.

KT: What can people expect from the upcoming LP, Future Former Self and when exactly is it dropping? 

AC: FFS is dropping on April 21st. Expect an album that plays around with different styles, but feels all in the same strange world. It’s a renaissance rediscovery, it’s letting the past go and the future unfold and allowing them to coexist and co-mingle.

KT: Where do you see yourself in the next year or in five?

AC: This year: touring, playing sold out shows, playing late night TV, festivals, going to England, collaborating with different artists, doing remix swaps and writing tons of new music. In five years we’ll be selling out Madison Square Garden, making tons of money, having epic Eyes Wide Shut sex parties back stage, doing designer drugs off prostitutes backs, and attending virtual reality global music concerts, making airplanes out of 500 dollar bills. Pretty typical, normal Rock ‘n’ Roll stuff. Until one of us dies tragically and gets mythologized. Wait, nevermind, that was The Doors. That already happened.