A little Seattle girl, I am, just trying to figure out how to do this ‘thing’. The ‘thing’ itself is hard to define, hence my struggle, but the ‘thing’ is most commonly referred to as life. I began struggling under this ‘thing’ through the sharing of songs in 2000 and haven’t stopped yet. It is the most operative method for me. I cut two albums in high school (“Not Nearly Enough”, “Less Talk, More Rock”), I embarked on a West Coast tour of sorts in the late spring of 2006 with my third album, “A Pretty Kind of [off] White” and played as much as possible around and in between. The tour stretched from Seattle, Washington to Ensenada, Mexico and lasted a little under a month, consisting of new friends, stories, a faithfully functioning car, and a lot of road. Junior year of college rolled around and I started to actually have homework, leaving my music life tourless with some small shows. But now, as I will have completed college in July ’08, I am beginning to plan some serious nationwide tours for Fall ’08 and Spring ’09, with Robert C.E. Delong and the Denouement.

As a student of biblical literature, I am now fielding the difficulty of telling biblical stories and narratives without making people mad with my opinion. As this cannot be fully done, I continue to sing including these ideas, anyways, hoping conversations save the moments of discomfort. And as it is almost more difficult to say, exactly, what I think a proper engagement with biblical scripture looks like, you are better off just listening to the music. I do see more political resistance stemming from Christian forgiveness and spiritual redemption in biblical literature than I see conformity…and “all in Jesus’ name”, as Robert DeLong sings. Now, I’ve run into cab drivers and preachers on airplanes who think differently, so I try and offer my thoughts up as one conversation in a lifelong discourse we are all shoutin’ and howlin’ and mumblin’.

As this is the most casual of ‘bios’ I have ever encountered, I can bashfully note that I sing with all I have and play a little harder. Rhythmic guitar playing and melodic lyrics are my tools, along with a small amount of angst and rhyme. I try and fill my songs with hope, but am honest when I am in need of some. I am learning to spend less time prefacing songs and more time singing, but find power in storytelling. Mostly, my aim is to bring more understanding and peace into the ‘discourse’ and maybe even some of that hope.

Contact:

johchase@apu.edu
www.myspace.com/johannachaserockshardcore