Chris Devine
Phoenix, Arizona, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
All-star acoustic folk trio ... - Benjamin Leatherman, Phoenix New Times
MEET THE BAND: Richard Moore, guitar and vocals; Chris Devine, guitar and vocals; Erik Hendel, bass and vocals.
HEADQUARTERS: Phoenix
HOW THEY GOT THEIR START: The first incarnation of the band was in the early '90s as a duo called Hadrian's Wall, comprised of Devine and a college buddy at Northern Arizona University.
Devine returned to his hometown of Honolulu and began playing solo gigs at open-mike nights at coffeehouses. That's how he met Moore.
"I thought he was really good," Moore recalls. "We chatted and thought we should get together and play."
The guys went on to make a name for themselves on the local music scene, earning honors as "the best band in Honolulu," by Club Line Hawaii.
Moore and Devine relocated to Phoenix in 1999 but took a four-year hiatus shortly thereafter. After a chance meeting at a Phoenix art event, they decided it was time to make music together again, this time with the help of Hendel, Moore's co-worker. They called themselves Haiku Rd., the name of Hadrian's Wall's only CD.
"I was in three bands at once and it was too much," says Hendel, who's from Ohio. "But any musician will tell you, it creeps up on you and you will have to get back to playing music again."
WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE: "It's alternative folk rock," Moore says.
Although the band's roots are in Celtic music, Moore says their sound has evolved into a mixture of more modern rock with such influences as the Cure, Radiohead and P.J. Harvey.
"Were not really playing Celtic music, but the way we write it is Celtic," says Devine, noting that music in the Celtic tradition is guided mostly by melody.
NAME INSPIRATION: "I think we picked the name because there's a street sign in Maui (Hawaii) by that name," Moore says. "It means what you think it means." - Arizona Republic
Discography
Haiku Rd. (1996): Debut folk trio album by Hadrian's Wall, made up primarily of Chris Devine's original compositions
Preparation H(aiku) (2005): Ltd. edition compilation of early material, with Haiku Rd.
If Not Tonight (Aug. 2006): Debut studio album, with Haiku Rd.
Photos
Bio
Chris grew up on the classic folk singers and songwriters of the '60s and '70s, then spent much of his teen-hood in the company of many of the finest folk and traditional musicians of Scotland, Ireland and England as they passed through, or spent time in, Arizona.
Combine this with his abiding love during his formative years for '80s British new wave, alternative and techno-pop music and you get a good idea where he's coming from: An abiding love for a great melody and a passion for thought-provoking and heart-wrenching, well-crafted lyrics.
He first made a name for himself in Arizona as a singer and multi-instrumentalist in the acclaimed local folk-rock trio Haiku Rd., which appeared at countless local clubs, pubs and other venues, as well as the McDowell Mountain Music Festival, PF Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and the Arizona Irish Festival.
Delving deeper into the Celtic side of things, Chris moved on to the Celtic folk trio Inis for a couple years, who were in heavy demand at pubs and cultural events around the Valley and Northern Arizona.
But he wanted to get back to -his- roots as a performer with a broad repertoire and even broader tastes, so he's taken things solo and offers up 20+ years of songwriting and instrumental experience with engaging and tuneful, sometimes confessional songs and a bag full of fantastic known and unknown cover and traditional songs.
He's also presently at work forging his next music venture, Brass Monk, combining his love for sounds electronic and industrial with the emotional exuberance and tunefulness of folk music through the centuries.
He also plays clarinet with Desert Overture, the Phoenix-based GLBT concert band, and occasional bass guitar with Desert Overture's offshoot jazz combo.
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