Dolph Chaney

Artist Information

Biography

Starting in 1987, around the time Robert Pollard and Lou Barlow were starting to do the same in rec rooms in Dayton and Cambridge, Dolph Chaney (then 13 years old) began messing around with words, melodies, guitars, his Realistic Moog synthesizer, and tape recorders.

LOUDNESS 2 11, a celebratory re-work of songs originally recorded on 4-track cassette in 2001, is Dolph's newest release (2/11/12). Another album of new songs, including the singles "Let's Just Not Be Friends," "Be Nice To Me," and "Two Simple Rules," is planned for release later in 2012.

The results are pop beyond top-40. The guitars ring and buzz with Townshendy zeal, the voice soothes and cajoles and smirks and pries and climbs... until suddenly the listener becomes aware of being awash in an apocalyptic epiphany amid a song about nasal spray.

Comparisons have been made to acknowledged influences such as XTC, Robyn Hitchcock, the Violent Femmes, Bob Mould, Elvis Costello, Matthew Sweet, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Henry Cow. Dolph's music has brought him experiences running the gamut, from early encouragement received from experimental guitar wizard Eugene Chadbourne by mail, to sitting in a festival green room being told by Jim Bakker why he cowers at the sight of a Diet Coke.

His best-known album is 1998's NEW BIRD RISE, which was a successful experiment in having such luxuries as a budget, an engineer, and recording capabilities beyond 4-track. But, regardless of their midwifely and sonic contexts, what always shines through in a Dolph Chaney release are the imaginative, irrepressible, and deeply felt songs. Feel them today.

Instrumentation

Dolph Chaney - Vocals, Bass, Drums, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, ukulele, Moog

Discography

ALBUMS (* = available on iTunes, eMusic, and other major download services)

* LOUDNESS 2 11 - 2012
* GLASS BREAK DEMENTIA - 2009
HIPPO HOLLANDAISE - 2008
* GUMSHOE KOALA - 2008
* CLIMBING MOUNTAIN TIME - 2005
VERY JUST FINE:
* VOLUME ONE - 1999
LOUDNESS TWO - 2001
AMPLITUDE THREE - 2004
* NEW BIRD RISE - 1998
HUMBUG GLORY - 1996
INFINITY DOGS - 1994
RIPPLES - 1993

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• Last.fm
• iTunes
• Amazon.com
• eMusic

Audio

• Façade Of The Year
  Listen   Download
• Let's Just Not Be Friends
  Listen   Download
• Picking Up The Peaces
  Listen   Download
• Be Nice To Me
  Listen   Download
• Be My Old Fart
  Listen   Download

Lyrics

• Be My Old Fart
• Graveyard Shift
• Let Me Lie

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Rob Smith Can’t Say No: Dolph Chaney [+ Show ]
  

  Remember Jack Logan? Back in ’94, Twin/Tone Records released a two-disc set of his home recordings, ...Remember Jack Logan? Back in ’94, Twin/Tone Records released a two-disc set of his home recordings, some dating back 15 or so years. It was appropriately titled Bulk, and, as a whole project, it was brilliant, though some of the individual songs were considerably less release-worthy than others. Logan’s discovery and short-lived fame gave every bedroom songwriter and garage guitarist hope that their own bits of four-track earnestness and whimsy might gain an audience outside their immediate neighborhood.
  
  Around the same time Robert Pollard’s Guided by Voices was itself achieving a modicum of newsworthiness with its seventh record, Bee Thousand, a lo-fi manifesto with something in the neighborhood of 3,200 songs that blurred by in a little over a half hour. I worked at a record store when Bee Thousand came out, and I remember hearing a track from it and thinking, “Man, that’s cool,” only to have the song end after perhaps 50 seconds. I can’t remember which song it was—”Her Psychology Today” or “The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory” or “Alabama Fisticuff Ape Dream” (I made that one up)—but I do recall thinking, “How odd,” then thinking that’s probably just the reaction Pollard was going for.
  
  Had some method been devised to enable Logan and Pollard to combine their seed and insert it into an egg carried by, oh, say Kimya Dawson or Sierra Casady, within nine or so months, I’m pretty sure Dolph Chaney would pop out, gooey, giggling, playing with himself, and humming T-Rex’s “The Slider.” While not nearly as accomplished as any of his speculative parents, Chaney is certainly capable of creating his own little lo-fi universe, which is itself something of a feat. His most recent release, Glass Break Dementia (eat your heart out, Daddy Pollard), is a glimpse into that universe, and whether your visit there lasts very long depends largely on your tolerance for the eccentricities of its creator.
  
  “About Time” kicks things off in true this-sounds-like-a-demo fashion—just voice and acoustic guitar—which serves to highlight several things at once: Chaney’s voice is not strong enough to carry a song on its own; he has a little trouble keeping time (more about that later); and his lyrics stumble into cutesy wordplay almost immediately. “May we have a sample?” you ask. Okay; but just remember—you asked for this:
  
  Single, single, little vixen
  How I wonder if you are
  All the poison that you’re mixin’
  Leaves you close to no cigar
  
  The air is thick with all the smokin’ promises
  
  Eat your heart out again, Daddy Pollard.
  
  “The 5th Dementia” reinforces the whole problem of Chaney’s rhythmic issues—the bridge and chorus veer toward chaos in part because he can’t seem to quite hold the beat together. He also seems to have one track in the mix devoted to a guitar played through an amp that has had its speaker cone sliced with razor blades—the thing is so distorted as to be distracting. Both these things crop up again on tracks like “Break” and “Hip Bones,” rendering them somewhat less than pleasant to listen to.
  
  On to the good stuff. Until the drumming causes the song to unravel in the middle, “So Where Were the Spiders” rocks with its sweet melody and power pop crunch. “Queen for a Day” possesses a really witty lyric, particularly in the second verse, in which Chaney daydreams about being in Queen for a day:
  
  I’d like to be in Queen for a day
  Taylor, Deacon and May
  Get together and play
  Firmly free the bad company
  
  But I know that’s a laugh—
  I’ve got half of the chops I’d need,
  I’m no showman to boot,
  And my chestless catsuit
  Would make all the front row’s eyes bleed.
  
  Now that’s funny, clever stuff. I chuckled, and noticed how much crisper the barebones arrangement was on this song, than on “About Time.” “Afraid of Love Songs”—a sad-sack, loser-at-love anthem if ever there wuz one—likewise shows wit and a penchant for amusing word games, particularly in the choruses. “Thanksgiving” is a simple list of things he’s thankful for, with a nicely sentimental reprise (“But mostly I thank you for you”) after each verse.
  
  It’s moments like those that give you hope for a guy like Dolph Chaney. With a little less focus on puns and spoonerisms and the sympathetic backing of a real rhythm section, Jack, Bob, and Kimya/Sierra’s little boy could grow up to be king. Check out his Web site (www.dolphchaney.com, of course) to download/listen to Glass Break Dementia in its entirety, free of charge.
  
  Thanks to Dolph for sharing his music. I’ll return for a new adventure in listening in two weeks. ‘Til then, keep those suggestions coming.

• New Bird Rise review [+ Show ]
  

  "Dolph Chaney, singer/songwriter, sashays thru pleasant acoustic-guitar (and sometimes a hint of syn..."Dolph Chaney, singer/songwriter, sashays thru pleasant acoustic-guitar (and sometimes a hint of synth) accompanied soft pop tones, poetical excursions supported by subtle supple melodies. Intriguing. Bittersweet romance, lost love, and more expressed elegantly in capable verse: "I held your present in the past, and I would like to take it back. I know, before this line is cast, your baited breath is what I lack" (from "Out of the Picture"); "I throw a rock at your head, but I miss you" (from "Miss You"); "And your smile in the fog just fades in a half-decade's serenades, like the moment I lost sight of you through the windshield" (from "New Years"); and "Lie to me, and let me lie with you. I'm tired of the truth; I just want you" (from "Let Me Lie")."

• New Bird Rise review [+ Show ]
  

  "Chaney's very amusing bio and a 1988 endorsement by Eugene Chadbourne as proof that "musical insa...
  "Chaney's very amusing bio and a 1988 endorsement by Eugene Chadbourne as proof that "musical insanity is alive and well" led me to expect something rather more wacky than New Bird actually is. In fact, with the exception of "Ocean," a brief and peculiar ode to a brand of saltwater nasal spray, Chaney comes off as a tender, compassionate, erudite songsmith, with a wry sense of humor that deflates any encroaching sappiness. Affairs of the heart are a primary concern, but the spirit gets its due in several songs that exult Chaney's faith and love of God with uncommon subtlety. By emphasizing his personal relationship with the Almighty and eschewing proselytizing, he's a more successful missionary than more overtly "Christian" artists I've encountered."

Setlist

Most frequently, a 35-45 minute set. Longest show (Munchies, Houston TX, 1994): three 50-minute sets in one evening, with no songs repeated. The repertoire rotates frequently through 85 original songs (listed below), with one or two covers included for spice. There have also been "Stump The Dolph" sets where requests are taken, and "if I don't know the requested song, I make up a new one on the spot with the requested one's title. I have written and forgotten more songs called 'Free Bird' than you'd ever want to know."

new for 2011-12:
Let's Just Not Be Friends
Be Nice To Me
Two Simple Rules
Faint

From GLASS BREAK DEMENTIA:
About Face
Queen For A Day
Afraid Of Love Songs
So Where Were The Spiders?
Break
Sweetest Day
Hip Bones
Water From A Bourbon Glass
Thanksgiving

From HIPPO HOLLANDAISE
The Birthday Boy

From GUMSHOE KOALA
Worship Song
Graveyard Shift
Better Than Killing
I Wanted You
Call Someone Else
Nothing Is OK
Beat It
My Good Twin
Now I Am A Man
Be My Old Fart

From CLIMBING MOUNTAIN TIME
Hello World
Cuddle Party
Weaving In The Rain
Make Me
April Fools
Shine
Status Unknown
Headbonker
Got Control

From VERY JUST FINE: AMPLITUDE THREE
Keep The Faith
Toast
Balance Beam
California
Groan
Gods Gift
Talking Soft and Saying Everything
Valentines Day
Clear The Air
St. Patricks Day
Automatic Caution Door

From VERY JUST FINE: LOUDNESS TWO
the hole thing
The Courtship of My Kids' Father
Christmas
Tease
Independence Day
very just fine
Stake In Your Heart
Facade Of The Year
I Don't Miss You
Way Out Loud

From VERY JUST FINE: VOLUME ONE
Party Of Me
Airplane Wafer
Wait
Be Still
Here Comes God
Free
Nothing New

From NEW BIRD RISE
New Years
Stupid Girl
Ocean
Miss You
Let Me Lie
Autumn Leaves
Make Me A Baby
My Crucifixion
Bird
Rise
Heaven
Out Of The Picture
Take It Away

From HUMBUG GLORY
I AM THE B-SIDE
ICE CREAM EMBERS
THE MIRROR IN YOUR MIND
FLYING LOW AGAIN
DO THE FAKE
SCALES
MY FAVORITE SIN

From INFINITY DOGS
HOW IT REALLY WAS
UNDONE
NOT HAVING YOU AROUND
ON THE OTHER SIDE
UNDER THE OVERPASS
HIGH WIRE

Basic Requirements

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