Chris Scanlon
Northampton, Massachusetts, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
Chris chats with local celeb and political commentator Bill Dwight (who has been featured on the nationally syndicated Rachel Maddow Show). Chris's interview is featured about 2/3 into the podcast:
http://podcast.whmp.com/whmp/1510611.mp3 - WHMP 1400 AM, Northampton MA
Northampton, MA based Chris Scanlon is a pop guitarist with a knack for both pop and folk that he displays on his debut "U-Turn." The theme here is re-visiting your past and if you are a New Jersey native like Scanlon, that's just a bonus to the plot line here. Opening up with the acoustic guitar strum of "Marianas Trench" it brings to mind a little bit of Bruce Hornsby's rhythm. This leads to the playful "Fish Daddy" which draws you in with fiddle and hand claps, and Scanlon's vocals approach the chorus with great enthusiasm, like a campfire hoedown. Another standout, "Jersey Boy" is a pretty cool autobiographical song with some nice guitar and horn work.The slower ballads are also well done ("Matawan" and "This House") and have a passing resemblance to another Jersey boy, Bruce Springsteen (they actually met up a few times). Scanlon gets pretty inventive on "My Name is Chaka" with it's scat and funky bass, and it's my favorite song on the album. The next few songs, "Punk Rock Girl" and "Cousin Stinky" have an eighties power pop sound, like 20/20 or Paul Collins' Beat. These are decent songs, but don't have the energy and spirit of the earlier tracks, and the latter tracks on the album "My Mother's House" and title track slow things down again, it showcases Scanlon's soulful croon. Fans of adult contemporary singer/songwriter pop will enjoy this one quite a bit.
8 out of 10 - Powerpopaholic.com
At PACE, Sept. 13, will feature fellow folkie Chris Scanlon and his latest studio effort, U-Turn. A former member of the band Plump before striking out on his own path to singer/songwriter-dom, the Noho-based artist has long-since established himself as one of the area's great homegrown talents.
It appears that the "homeboy" scarcely had to leave his home residence to find his current partners in song. "I hastily put out an ad for a bass player a while back, and my upstairs tenant responded. I didn't even know he played," Scanlon admitted. "The same with the drummer I found; he turned out to be a friend from across the street. Throw in his housemate on fiddle, a keyboard player from a block away, and there goes the neighborhood!" For more info on both PACE engagements, kindly point your browser to pioneerarts.org. - Valley Advocate
Discography
U-Turn (2007 Plaid Jacket Records), available on iTunes, CDBaby and other internet retailers.
LISTEN TO U-TURN: www.chrisscanlon.com
with Plump:
Sunday Mustache (2004 Plaid Jacket Records)
Jackhammer (2000 Plaid Jacket Records)
Plump (1999 Plaid Jacket Records)
Photos
Bio
Chris Scanlon would like you to know that you don’t need to have come of age in New Jersey to connect to the stories and characters on his debut solo CD U-Turn. The themes he sings about are universal (or perhaps it’s just that so many of us have passed through New Jersey’s portals that they just seem so?). Scanlon, a former yet forever Jersey Boy himself, didn’t set out to write a song cycle about his youth in the Garden State. Still he thinks there’s a little New Jersey in all of us. He’s a songwriter with an enthusiastic following in Northampton, MA, a competitive music market. He moves easily from rock to folk, ballads to anthems, with a little scat and funk thrown in. In other words, Chris Scanlon is not your typical singer-songwriter.
U-Turn (2007, Plaid Jacket Records) is Chris Scanlon's first full-length solo album. Recorded at Sow’s Ear Studios with engineer/producer Scot Coar (Angry Johnny and the Killbillies), it features Afro-percussion master Tony Vacca (Sting, Gokh-bi System), Maggie Nowinski (Thrillpillow), New York City jazz trumpeter Greg Glassman and singer-songwriter and fellow Plump alumni Carrie Ferguson. On u-turn Scanlon takes us to his Jersey shore, full of old ghosts, tired battles, disrupted homes and strong bloodlines. The album is a snapshot of New Jersey from his very own family album, reminding us what we strive to take with us when we leave home, and what we struggle to leave behind. U-Turn is about achieving our goals and dreams despite the hypnotic pull of the past.
As a solo artist, Chris has won wide recognition in the area, having been chosen to participate in the singer-songwriter event juried by WRSI 95.3 The River in 2003, 2004 and 2007 (The River was named one of Rolling Stone’s top ten radio stations). Chris was also nominated for best singer-songwriter in the Valley Advocate Grand Band Slam and has performed with Dayna Kurtz, Pete Seeger, and most recently at the Cape May Singer-Songwriter conference in New Jersey featuring Geoffrey Gaines.
Prior to his solo career, Chris was a founding member of Plump, a folk/rock/pop combo based in Northampton. Between 1998 and 2005, the band released 3 EPs; shared the stage with Melissa Ferrick, Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem, Erin McKeown, Tin Hat Trio, Philip Price (Winterpills) and more; and gained a strong fan base and critical acclaim throughout the area. The Daily Hampshire Gazette lauded their “draw-you-in-sound” and WRSI predicted, “(these) guys should make an album and become famous and rich.” In 2001, Plump placed in the top 3 in the Skiffle Sessions band contest.
Chris Scanlon began his music career at the age of 5, performing along with his family’s copy of Magical Mystery Tour on his brother’s tennis racquet, which earned him recognition is his household as “the fifth Beatle.” His brushes with fame include almost having met Bruce Springsteen five times; cooking dinner for Clarence Clemons while working in a natural foods restaurant; and a chance backstage encounter with the late Michael Hedges, an influential moment which inspired him to write songs himself.
For booking, interviews, and to obtain copies of U-Turn, contact:
Plaid Jacket Records
37 Orchard Street, Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 582-9982
www.ChrisScanlon.com
Links
