Preston Chase

Though music has been apart of Preston's life for its entirety, his journey to becoming a distinguished singer/songwriter has been something out of a book. Growing up as a child, he thrived off of classical instruments, such as piano, saxophone, and clarinet.

At a young age, after watching the hit movie, "Back to the Future," Preston was uniquely inspired by Fox's rendition of "Johnny B. Goode" to learn to play guitar on that level. "Seeing him (Michael J. Fox) rip on the guitar for that crowd, and watching the affect it had on the audience, was an amazing thing. I thought, if I could learn to do that with my singing and the guitar, my life would be complete."

Thus, Preston realized his purpose in life. Mid-way into Junior High, Preston got his first acoustic guitar. He began teaching himself with home videos. He taught himself how to read tabs, and created his own tab book of over 100 songs, all of which he knew how to play. But learning other's songs weren't enough.

After only 6 months of playing guitar, he went to his first teacher. He played out of a garage and recorded onto cassette tapes, learning the beginning steps of soloing, studying the likes of Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton. These lessons soon ended though.

Part way into High School, Preston picked up lessons again, this time from a well known instructor out of Orange County who has taught the Thrice front man, Dustin Kensrue (Thrice.) This time around, there was a serious goal in mind...

Preston had his heart set on learning composition, theory, and the ability to solo. He focused mainly on Blues majors such as B.B. King and Joe Pass during this time. Preston utilized his skills here to compose several instrumental songs under the name "Ec Cupitas."

During this time, and onto his junior of high school, Preston Chase played in various bands. He reached out to people through recycler, guitar center ads, and craigslist. These contacts brought him to meet people of all walks, and play in genres ranging from rock to funk to jazz. Through this time, Preston learned to consolidate his skills, and begin to develop an individual style.

In the Spring of 2004, Preston competed in Guitar Center's national guitar competition, Guitarmaggedon. Though he missed the store finals by just a couple points, the competition gave him the reassurance that his guitar skills were improving greatly.

After several complicated relationships with bands, Preston decided to take a break from the band scene for a while. "I thought, if this is going to happen, then I must teach myself how to sing."

Preston began teaching himself how to sing through readings on the internet, practicing key exercises with the guitar, and taking tips from established singers. Like anything musical, it came to Preston with some ease, but this was different. He knew that singing was something that he would have to stay with and develop for a long time to get anywhere with.

Preston continued writing songs, and wrote his first original song with original lyrics the summer of 2005, right before entering into college. "It was an amazing feel, just to be able to play two instruments at once. I could feel the changes, and knew that something good was coming about."

However, his voice still needed much improvement. Over the next year and a half, Preston continued to work on guitar and vocals, while also producing films and working on projects for school at Chapman University in Orange, CA. In May of 2006, Preston recorded his first demo tracks in the house of his then good friend, Eric Gulino.

Him and Eric nailed out 6 songs within two hours. This was Preston's first real recording experience. When he got the tracks, he knew the first thing he had to do: create a myspace and get his music out there. Preston was always a fan of obscure, abstract sounding names. He thought following in the footsteps of Dashboard Confessional would be more suitable than using his last name, Zeller.

"For some reason, it just didn't sound right. I crewed on several films, and had already had my name up on IMDB, so it didn't seem right to use Preston Zeller." His then girlfriend advised him to use his middle name, Chase. Preston immediately obliged, thus making Preston Chase a living, breathing entity on the world wide web.

That fall, Preston began playing at several coffee houses around Chapman University, mainly, the Ugly Mugg. He invited friends and family to come support. The shows went well, but it was obvious that his overall presence was to improve before things could be taken to a serious level.

In an attempt to clear his head, and experience new things, Preston decided to study abroad in France for 5 months in the first part of 2007. Before this though, he had his heart set on making an EP. Preston locked himself in his home studio for three weeks, recording, rerecording, and mixing. Just days before his departure, Preston finished the final mix and gave out severa