Pat Chessell

This offering falls between a single and an old style LP with only 7 tracks. Having said that, the singer, who hails from British Columbia, gives us a very clear understanding of his music and performance ability.
This is as they used to say a “rollicking good listen”. In general the tracks are upbeat and let the listener know that a live session by this singer must be quite an experience. Most of the tracks on offer are from Chessell’s own pen and demonstrate a real writing talent, although a bit like that other folk great, Bob Dylan, he is not behind the door at using a well known air to his lyrics and this tends to work quite well on The Mother in Law.
The title track I Confess sets a foot tapping tone that puts the listener in a very receptive mood and he maintains this with the more familiar Paddle Your Own Canoe. Another of the tracks not from his pen is the old shanty that he lists as Santy Ano which no doubt some mariners may argue about. It is a strong offering with excellent vocal backing. My Old Town is a heartfelt song as he writes about the changes in life and location that will resonate throughout the world. He closes this all too short offering of a small album with Will You Dance and the tempo will have you wanting to join in the dance. We can but hope that Chessell will soon return with a full album and maybe a live performance.
By Nicky Rossiter - Irish Music Magazine

Pat Chessell: Live And Lusty


Live And Lusty is the debut CD from Irish-Canadian, Pat Chessell. Recorded live in October 2007 at Vancouver's' Dublin Crossing Irish Pub in front of a rowdy and vocally appreciative crowd. The set consists of mostly high energy Irish/rebel songs, some Canadian/maritime, one original (I think) and being Canadian a hockey anthem. Chessell is a strong vocalist and the band tight. Musically it's a high energy version of The Clancy Brothers or Wolfe Tones with a touch of Johnny Cash or maybe even the Great Big Sea. A good introduction to a name we will be hearing again (and again).
http://www.myspace.com/patchessell
http://www.patchessell.com/ - Shite 'N' Onions

Well-known local musician, singer, and
songwriter Pat Chessell has just released
his third CD entitled I Confess.
The album features seven tracks and
Chessell co-wrote five tracks with his
brother Shawn, including the title track,
I Confess.
Amazingly, all the songwriting and recording
took place while Chessell entertained
five nights a week.
The title track, I Confess, is a lively,
energetic toe-tapper and a tongue-incheek
confession of Pat’s imagined sins
as he sings that he’s never been a drinking
man, nor had any of Ireland’s biggest
exports pass his lips.
Chessell wrote about some of the characters
he met while entertaining in the
pubs such as the track, My Old Town.
Here he sings about some of the older
men in the bar as they talk about the
nostalgic good old days and how things
have changed, and sadly they will have
to move out of town because of the
high cost of living.
Will You Dance With Me is another song
about the people he met in the bars.
On the track Santy Ano, a Clancy
Brothers sea shanty song, if you didn’t
know it was Pat singing you could easily
mistake him for one of the Clancys,
the voices are so similar.
The inspiration for The Mother-InLaw
came when Chessell was watching
old re-runs of The Honeymooners.
It’s a hilarious, laugh-out-loud song
about a lazy son-in-law and his
mother-in-law, who has no mercy for
him both verbally while throwing a few
punches his way because he won’t go
out and get a job.
The chorus goes “You haven’t seen the
devil until you’ve seen my mother-inlaw.”
Chessell writes in a Celtic vein, telling
a story about the characters he has met
while playing in the bars and basically
telling their stories. He likes their sayings
and hearing their life stories.
Over the years, I have watched Pat’s
music career blossom from the days of
the old Culpeppers in Vancouver,
when he played music with the late
Danny Burns from Belfast.
Chessell spoke about those formative
years and said, “Danny was my mentor
and he got me up to speed on my
music career. He had a real knack of
reading a crowd and running a room
and he gave me a lot of tips about that.
“When we moved from Culpeppers
to the Wolf & Hound, Danny and I
played music there for many years, as
long as Jackie Metzler owned it.
“I have been playing music in the bars
now for the past 17 years.”
Chessell performs between five and six
times a week, and he spoke about the
changes he has noticed at the pubs.
“When I first started playing music in
the pubs, the hours would be from nine
or 10 PM until two in the morning.
Now, you start at six and finish about
nine o’clock. Unfortunately, the
younger crowd have to work the next
day.”
Speaking about the CD and the backing
musicians on the album, Pat said,
“I had some well-known and great
musicians such as Bruce Coughlan,
Steve Dawson, Geoffrey Kelly, Mike
Michalkow, Brendan Mooney, Gerry
O’Connor, Nathanael Powell, Tim
Renaud, Greg Schnider, Michael Viens,
and Damaris Woods.
“Our CD has been getting a lot of air
play on The Maui Celtic Radio Show
hosted by Hamish Burgess. He’s a
good friend of The Irish Rovers and I
am too.”
Some of the Irish pubs where you can
catch Pat Chessell playing include
Mahony & Sons at UBC, Mahony &
Sons Burrard Landing in Vancouver,
and Dublin Crossing in Surrey.
You can see Pat Chessell perform live
on May 19 at the Roxy in downtown
Vancouver. He is also on the line-up
for the North West Festival in Seattle.
There is no moss growing on Pat
Chessell...there just isn’t the time.
Now that he has added songwriting to
his portfolio, the sky’s the limit.
For more information about Pat
Chessell or to purchase his CD, visit:
www.patchessell.com. - The Celtic Connection

PAT CHESSELL Live and Lusty Live and Lusty was recorded live in front of a packed house at the popular Dublin Crossing Irish Pub in Surrey. Pat Chessell is a local Vancouver boy who started his singing career at the age of seven, when he did a guest spot in an Irish pub with the late Danny Burns Ballad Band.

That was where I first heard Chessell singing and playing guitar. Over the years I have watched his growth as a musician as he has played at various events and pubs throughout the Lower Mainland.

Now in his mid-twenties, Pat Chessell is a force to be reckoned with and as the liner notes on his CD recommends...check-out his live show so you can say you knew him when....or put on Live and Lusty and I can guarantee that your feet will be tapping.

The cover of Live and Lusty shows Chessell leaning up against the door of a Shebeen, which is the Irish word for an illegal whiskey house. It's also a house where a lot of singing and dancing would take place and, of course, plenty of the auld uisge baugh would be consummed (uisge baugh is the Irish word for whiskey...literal translation is water of life).

Live and Lusty is well-named since the fast-paced tracks on the CD are the kind of music you would probably find in a Shebeen. You'd be hard pressed to be depressed listening to this CD since the energy and action is fast-paced and furious from start to finish.

Heavily influenced by such acts as The Clancy Brothers, The Pogues and Johnny Cash, Pat Chessell has gained a strong, loyal fanbase due to his exceptional acoustic guitar playing, warm passionate vocals and stage humour. His voice has been compared as a mix between Johnny Cash and Liam Clancy, and that combination holds true on this eclectic CD.

The CD starts off with Johnson's Motor Car, an old Clancy Brother's favourite, moves on to Paddy Kelly's Brew; Irish Soldier Laddie; Black Velvet Band; On The One Road; Charlie on the M.T.A; Big Joe Mufferaw (an Ottawa Valley favourite); and Stompin Tom's Hockey Song. The only slow down in the pace is when Pat Chessell invites the audience/listeners to partake in an Irish toast.

For more information about Pat Chessell and to order Live and Lusty visit: www.patchessell.com. - The Celtic Connection

SURREY — James Brown was widely considered the hardest working man in show business, but, with apologies to the departed funk-rock legend, he probably couldn’t hold a candle to Pat Chessell this month.

In March, with St. Patrick’s Day on the calendar, the Surrey-based musician is in the midst of a 24-gig run at various Metro Vancouver-area pubs, thanks to the lively, sing-along style of Irish folk-rock he plays, both solo and with his band.

In such a hectic month of playing music, Chessell says he has to take special care of his voice.

“You can’t really be pounding drinks after your shows, or even before, because you have to keep care of it,” he told the Now with a laugh. “Making it through a busy month like this, I find just drinking lots of water and tea really helps, that kind of stuff, and making sure I get a good sleep, too.”

This weekend, Chessell’s itinerary includes shows at Dublin Crossing in Clayton (Thursday night and Friday lunchtime), CelticFest Vancouver (Friday early evening), Celtic Village at Robson Square (Friday night, opening for Delhi 2 Dublin and The Paperboys), another CelticFest Vancouver gig (Saturday afternoon) and, finally, Blue Frog Studios in White Rock (Saturday evening).

This is the fifth year Pat Chessell Band is booked to play a St. Patrick’s Day-themed concert at Blue Frog, and it’s a highlight of their year.

“It’s special for us, for sure, because it’s so intimate and interactive in there,” Chessell said. “Because the audience is so close, it just feels like you’re not really on a stage – it’s more like you’re just sitting around telling a story and playing songs.”

He added: “It’s entirely different than playing a pub, where it’s more about people wanting to get drunk and maybe meet someone, but there (at Blue Frog) it’s people who want to hear the songs – not only the song but the story behind the song, too. That’s a really nice element about it.”

At Blue Frog, Chessell will be joined by Andrea Lewis-Taylor on fiddle, Rick Chapman on drums, Nathanael Powell on multiple instruments and Brendan Mooney on bass. Show details are posted at Bluefrogstudios.ca/newshows.html#pc, or call 604-542-3055.

Early this month, Chessell released a new single, “The Mother in Law,” on digital music platforms. The song, based on a traditional melody, was recorded at a few local studios, including Blue Frog for Damaris Woods’ banjo parts. Other musicians who played the song are Gerry O’Connor (of the Irish Rovers), Michael Viens, Tim Renaud and Greg Schnider.

“A really cool thing is that Gerry lives in Ireland, so he actually recorded his fiddle part in Belfast and emailed it back to us, which is kind of neat,” said Chessell.

His connection to the Irish Rovers dates back a couple of years.

“I met the Rovers at a gig they did in town (and) I kept in touch with all of them, and they’ve been really supportive,” Chessell explained. “They’re underwriters for a Celtic music radio show, based out of Hawaii, actually, and they’ve been giving me lots of airplay on there, which is great, so they’ve been a big help.”

To date, Chessell has two albums to his credit, including “Live and Lusty,” which was recorded at Surrey’s Dublin Crossing, and the more recent “Lullabies and Battle Cries,” released in 2013.

The song “The Mother in Law” is a taste of things to come, Chessell noted.

“We wanted to record and release that one right now, and we’re working on another one right now, too, just slowly chipping away at an album,” he said. “We hope to have it done in the next year or so. It’s time for another one, I think.”

Some recordings of Chessell’s songs, including “The Mother in Law,” can be found at Reverbnation.com/patchessell3.

tom.zillich@thenownewspaper.com - Surrey Now Leader

The title track of Pat Chessell’s I Confess has him making the revelation “I’ve never been a drinking man,” the sacrilegious thing being the song bridges bourbon-scented country and Guinness-strength Celtic folk. Seriously, man, how the hell are we supposed to buy you as the real deal if you won’t go at least a couple of rounds with Hank Williams III and Shane MacGowan?

It’s hard, however, to hold that personality flaw against Chessell given the strength of this seven-song EP, professionally recorded with an ace supporting cast that includes roots heavyweight Steve Dawson and members of Spirit of the West and the Irish Rovers. “Paddle Your Own Canoe” reels like Dublin’s Temple Bar district on a Saturday night, and you can practically smell the south Atlantic air on the sea chantey “Santy Ano”.

Chessell fares just as well with his originals. Those who’ve made it through a West Coast winter will have no problem relating to the acoustic-guitar-powered “Rainy Tuesday Morning”, where he sings “Heard the weather on my windowpane/That’s Vancouver I guess.”

After settling in by the fire and taking things down to a Texas-troubadour crawl for “My Old Town”, Chessell goes full Irish hoedown for the all-hands-on-deck stomper “Will You Dance With Me?”. Backed by sawing fiddle and a classic-country backbeat, he sings, “Pull up a chair and let me buy you a drink, and we’ll try this out once more.” Sounds good, but only if the bartender’s pouring doubles while I Confess plays on the jukebox. - Georgia Straight

A classic film noir image from the alleyways of Vancouver town shot by Shawn Chessell; our introduction to Pat Chessell's new album, I Confess. Vancouver's Celtic troubadour is in fine growl through the mostly original tracks which include a couple of great odes to his Vancity home. Recorded to pristine perfection in the hallowed spaces of The Warehouse, I Confess showcases Pat's wonderful band and a full guest list including Bruce Couglan, Steve Dawson and Geoffrey Kelly. Key tracks include Rainy Tuesday Morning, My Old Town and the fabulous acapella shanty, Santy Ano. - World Beat Canada (Cal Koat)