Chasing Down Sunset Interview!
Pop punk band Chasing Down Sunset has had a pretty rad summer, and they told Stereo Noise all about it in a recent interview.
To start things off, could you guys introduce yourselves and tell us how you came together as a band?
We’re a band called Chasing Down Sunset originated in Old Bridge, NJ and the five of us include Jill Beckett (guitar/vocals), Jimmy Fasulo (lead vocals), Dan McCool (drums), Zion Dixon, and Ryan Ross (bass). We came together as a band the start of Jill, Dan, and Zion’s start of freshman year (late 2014) when Jill and Dan (childhood friends) decided to start finally saying they want to start a real project instead of just jamming covers. Later in the year is when they met Zion and he joined as second guitarist, and we went through a few swaps with bassists and singers until in August 2015, Ryan Ross took over bass duties and in early 2016, Jimmy Fasulo took the place of being our frontman.
So you guys put out a new EP this past month, titled "A Proper Introduction," how has reception been from your fans and listeners regarding the release?
The reception has been absolutely incredible. Since we put out the EP, we have met so many new people and gained such a larger following just from releasing the record and pushing it as hard as we possibly can. The amount of attention this EP has gotten just by seeing people come out to some shows on the tour and scream the lyrics to some of the new songs that were released only a week or two before these shows is so surreal to all of us.
What made you guys come up with the titled, "A Proper Introduction?"
The reason why we named this EP, “A Proper Introduction” is because we’ve been a band officially for about a year and a half and we released one EP last year, and then went through some member changes and even sound developing, and at the point we’re in now with all 5 of us and the way that we sound, we feel like these four songs give a true introduction of who we are as a band currently and what we have in store for the future for Chasing Down Sunset. It gives the perfect introduction of how we want to be represented to our listeners/fans.
Tell us about your experience in the studio while recording this EP.
Making this EP surprisingly was a lengthy process, but it was an amazing experience as they always are recording with our producer Rob Chiarappa. We started recording “Dear You” instrumentally in December of 2015, and once Jimmy joined, we started really putting the first three songs together (Words/Phrases, Dear You, and Copper Pulse) which took up the months of February and March. The last song “Positivity In Transit” which is an acoustic song, we put together with Rob totally last minute in May which was an awesome experience because of how fast it came together, but at the same time came together exactly how we wanted it to. Recording this EP and watching it come together more and more each time was such an incredible feeling and we would relive it anyday.
So you guys are currently finishing up playing a string of tour dates in support of the release, how has that been going?
The tour has honestly been the best experience of our lives. This is our first tour any of us have ever done and we have met so many new people in all of these different areas and cities we’ve never set foot in or really knew anyone in and it’s so awesome to meet people at some of these shows who have never heard of us before and say to let them know when we come back in town. This tour has been so amazing and surreal to us, and definitely a learning experience for all of us.
Any favorite place you guys have played while on the tour?
One venue and mainly city that really stuck out to us this tour is by far Pittsburgh, PA. It’s such a beautiful city with friendly people all over the place. We made a lot of new friends there and we feel like we definitely made a great impression to our first time being there. The venue we played was called the Black Forge Coffee House and it was a small but really cool venue with coffee that makes New Jersey coffee taste like garbage, so overall, Pittsburgh was definitely one of our favorites!
Now that the tour is wrapping up, do you guys have any plans for the upcoming fall or winter? Any more tours, or perhaps new music?
We have a lot of plans in mind for the fall and winter. After this tour, we realized that there is no such thing as taking a break from being an active member in a band that you really want to pursue as a destiny. Although 4 out of 5 of us still go to highschool, we will not let that stop us from doing tours and making new music on the days and weeks we can. We definitely have exciting things coming up for this band in the fall/winter time.
& Before wrapping things up, is there anything you'd like to say to your fans and listeners who may be reading?
We’d all like to say thank you so much for taking your time to read this interview and what we have to say about everything that we’ve been doing this summer. Definitely stay tuned for all of the things we have in store in the (very) near future for you guys!