In March of '09, in Marengo, IL, 30 miles east of Rockford, five Chicago-loving musicians came together and started the Pop-punk rock band, Chase This City. The city, of course, being Chicago. At least, that's what the band's name meant at first. "It originally stemmed from our mutual love for the city of Chicago, but over the course of the (last) two years we’ve been a band, it’s grown to mean more. It’s really about how we’re always striving to become bigger and improve ourselves, because that’s what being in a band is about. If you’re not constantly moving forward, there’s no point. You have to always be chasing it." Says the band.
The band consists of Zach Keenum (vocals, guitar), Joe Miranda (guitar, vocals), Wil Lentz (guitar, vocals), Chris Vargas (bass, backing vocals), and Jeff Dipluma (drums).
The band went to Marengo High School at different times, Zach and Joe were good friends throughout High School and it wasn't uncommon to find them jamming together in different projects. Wil, Chris and original drummer, Kieran played in previous projects together, as well. It wasn't until Zach and Kieran went to a Four Year Strong show together that the band formed.
6 Months ago, Jeff joined the group after Kieran left. Jeff had been in previous projects with Zach and also knew the other members in the band so the transition was fairly easy.
The band considers itself energetic, passionate, relentless and fun. Having grown up in the 90's and early 2000's, the band grew up listening to old Drive-Thru era Pop-punk including The Starting Line, New Found Glory, The Early November, Finch, and Midtown. Often times, the band is described as a mix between Hit The Lights and A Day A To Remember. The band considers it a compliment.
When asked to describe their lyrical content and song themes, the band replied "We try our best to write all our lyrics about things that everyone can relate to – growing up, getting fucked over, getting over getting fucked over, relationships, friendships, feeling good, feeling bad. Pretty fundamental stuff that everyone can think about and say to themselves, ‘Hey, I know what that’s like’. That’s our main goal, lyrically. If we can do that every time someone listens to our music or sees us play, then we’re happy."
In March 2010, the band recorded at 37 Studios in Rochester Hills, Michigan with their good friend Matt Dalton, a talented guy who has recorded bands like The Swellers, Red I Flight, Craig Owens and I See Stars. The band set out to establish themselves as a serious pop-punk band in the local and regional scene. "Since this was our first release, we really didn’t expect to explode from it right away" says the band. "Tuxedo Lazertag (the first song on the EP) is probably our most popular song to date, and we released a music video for it this past December. It’s got about five or six thousand hits on Youtube, which I think is pretty decent for a band from a town you can’t even see on a map."
Their new six-song EP, All That's On Your Mind, will be released in Physical CD format, as well as digitally in Late July/early August. The band is in talks of a huge CD Release show around August, possibly August 6th. "We’ll be doing some weekend regional tours, as well as hopping on a couple Midwest dates with Freshman 15 and City Lights in July. Other than that, expect everything else we do to be pretty big. This is a big summer for us."
The band spoke to Uncharted about their new EP.
"It’s called All That’s on Your Mind, and it has six songs, and they all kick so much more ass than any of the songs on the last album. Think of this as our ‘in-it-to-win-it’ release. We’re done sitting around and waiting for things to happen. We’re ready to make them happen and we’re ready to take everyone with us, and I think this EP will show people that. It’s different in a few pretty significant ways.
First and foremost, Jeff’s playing drums instead of Kieran.His drumming has definitely influenced our music as a whole for the better, and I think that’s evident in these new songs.
Second, the mix has drastically improved from that of the last EP. With The World on Our Side, I think a lot of people thought the drums were over produced and the mix sounded too hollow. With this record, we wanted to keep it as organic as we possibly could, which results in a much more in-your-face and dynamic sound. Everyone that complained about the mix on the last record will be satisfied with this one, that’s for sure.
Third, the songs themselves are more mature, polished, and just well-written in general. We’ve grown up a lot since the last EP, and a lot of things have changed in our lives. We have better heads on our shoulders, and we’re more professional and ready to take on whatever this industry brings our way, and it shows in the new record for sure."
The band is reaching for the stars and will be busy pushing and promoting their EP! Like the band on Facebook!
~joeEFFINGmayo
A message from Zach Keenum:
"We just signed with White Couch Productions as our general manager and booking agent. George Medic is one of the most beautiful men we know, and he works his ass off for the local scene. Everyone should check out his clothing company White Couch Clothing, and pick up some t-shirts. Nearly every national band that comes through Illinois books the dates through him. Come to White Couch shows, buy some shirts, buy All That’s on Your Mind when it comes out, and come say hi to us on Facebook!" -Zach
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