Interview: Chon

I got the privilege to have a chat with the three members of Chon, one of my favorite new bands.  Be sure to give their music a listen, you can here a few tracks from their demo in the music player to the right.

GETFUCKEDON: Before we get into questions, let me congratulate you guys on your various accomplishments. To my knowledge you guys have been playing as "Chon" for less than a year and have already taken first in a battle of the bands and have had a demo release that was nothing short of a success by my best judgment.

Mario: Thanks! Ya, the response to our demo was crazy! I didn’t think we would get such a positive reaction. It’s crazy to know that people actually like and listen to music that we’ve created.
Esiah: Thanks.
Erick: haha thanks man, I’m so glad people appreciate this style of music CHON put forth into the world.

GETFUCKEDON: So how did you all end up playing music with one another?

Mario: Esiah is my younger brother and we both started playing music together like 5 years ago. I started out playing drums and did that until my other little brother got a mini fender squire for Christmas 3 years ago. but ya Esiah and I were in this really bad band at the time, and we were looking for another guitarist, so one of our friends told me about Erick and gave me his number and I called him and we jammed and have been in a lot of bands together ever since then. Haha
Esiah: My brother and I began playing music at the same time; although, he started off with drums for about two years, then he switched to guitar. We met Erick because of another musician that we knew and he gave us his number and we tried him out.
Erick: Mario calls me up one day like 3 years ago and asks if I wanted to try out. He had recently heard of me from another musician and I guess that’s how it all started.

GETFUCKEDON: You're all relatively young, but play so technically. What do your individual practice schedules look like, and how often to you practice as a group?

Mario: I play guitar all day everyday unless I’m at school or chillin with friends... and sometimes i bring my guitar to school and play there. my school is sick its only 3 hours long and i dont do shit.hahaha. oh and we only practice as a band like twice if we have a show coming up. I jam with Erick all the time though.
Esiah: I practice about 3-4 hours a week.
Erick: I play guitar most of the day and I jam with Mario a lot.

GETFUCKEDON: All the songs on the demo are really well put together, they're jams for sure. How does the song writing get done? Do you all bring different parts to the table or does one person do the bulk of the work?

Mario: Thank you! Well, Erick and I are the ones that do the writing. One of us will make up a riff and then the other will make up their own part to it and then we write the rest of the song like that on guitar, then we both make up the drums and bass.
Esiah: Mario and Erick write pretty much all of the music.
Erick: Yeah, the writing process basically entails Mario and I writing everything.

GETFUCKEDON: Since we're on the topic of the demo, how did that get recorded? Do one of you have a home studio?

Mario: I wish I had a home studio.
Esiah: No.
Erick: We recorded at this place called SCM in Santee. I think soon I will have a home studio so that way we won’t have to spend so much money on the recordings.

GETFUCKEDON: Word on the street is that there is a full length on the way? Do you know when you plan on having it released?

Mario: hell ya!
Esiah: No.
Erick: Yea we are currently working on a full length and hope to have it released before the end of the year.

GETFUCKEDON: How much of it do you have done? Have you finished the songwriting, do you have any songs recorded yet?

Mario: We plan on having 11 tracks on the album. Right now we are completely done with 8 and about halfway done with one. So we just need to write two more songs and then we will start recording. WE CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!! And just to put it out there the album is gonna be called “Mountains of Creation”.
Esiah: We’re almost done.
Erick: We have some parts we’re playing around with but no new stuff recorded at the moment.

GETFUCKEDON: You just lost your drummer and have started the search for a new one. Is there anything particular you're looking for besides talent? Personality wise, I mean.

Mario: I would want a drummer that’s down to jam any time, VERY creative, and is just a chill person.
Esiah: He would have to be extremely reliable, because I don’t like flakes.
Erick: The drummer needs to be driven to write new material, not just to play our shows and nothing else.

GETFUCKEDON: Thank you guys for taking the time to sit down with GETFUCKEDON.com, and keep up the good work. I have yet to show a friend your music and have them not be impressed.

Mario: Honestly thank YOU for giving us the opportunity to be on your website. And also thanks for spreading the word about us that means a lot. Peace out.
Esiah: Thanks yo.
Erick: Thanks man, no problem, peace.