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Friday, March 29, 2024

CHAPPO talks inspiration, plans for future in our interview

<p>CHAPPO.</p>

CHAPPO.

Gainesville may not attract too many popular musicians, but the city’s music scene thrives on up-and-comers and experimental outfits.

Brooklyn-based psychedelic/indie quartet CHAPPO made its Gainesville debut last Friday at The Atlantic. Accompanied by fellow bands Stardeath and White Dwarfs and Pseudo Kids, CHAPPO revealed many tracks from its new album “Future Former Self,” which is set to release in 2015.

CHAPPO not only made its Gainesville debut, but also toured Florida for the first time this past week.  

“We called this the Tour de Florida,” said Alex Chappo, the group’s singer. Despite being a Louisiana State University fan, Chappo liked the Gators when he was younger and was ecstatic to play a college town.

“Sometimes with bigger cities like Los Angeles and New York, you have stuff happening all the time, so people get desensitized,” he said. “[Small towns] have a little more soul to them. They aren’t beaten down and aren’t too cool for anything.”

Chappo leads the group, whose members are a melting pot of regional influences, hailing from Texas, Washington and Louisiana. The group collaborates on everything from writing lyrics to designing backdrops for the live shows.

“We were making a giant volcano and figuring out how to make it erupt with the skills we learned through college and our experiences,” he said. The band’s live shows epitomize its DIY spirit, featuring homemade costumes and celestial lighting.

The group is currently working on a visual element to accompany its album, which Chappo hinted might turn out to be a motion series.

CHAPPO’s psych-rock aesthetic also stems from its imaginative, otherworldly lyrics.

“[A song] starts with an idea you want to discover. Early on when we were working on melodies I got the idea of a guy traveling around by himself, leaving his wife for years at a time to travel in this black hole.”

The idea of a black hole twisting the perception of time appealed to Chappo and kicked off the development of “Future Former Self.”

“A huge theme of my writing is the idea of an explosion, something that blows outward and races around and then picking up the pieces and figuring it all out,” Chappo explained.

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While the band incorporates Native American ideology and imagery into its music, Chappo disagrees with the insensitive use of festival headdresses at music festivals, but acknowledges their power to inspire.

“I don’t condone the homogenized misuse and misappropriation of something that’s sacred in certain cultures,” he said. “At the same time, there is some inspiration from them that speaks to us in a certain way, and people aren’t necessarily trying to mimic that.”

CHAPPO is currently working on a new multimedia-driven EP to precede its 2015 album as well as pursuing a tour in Europe.  With a live show that only elevates the recorded material, don’t be surprised to find CHAPPO making waves in 2015.

“You obviously want the songs to sound good,” he said, “but all the other aspects of live shows end up making it greater than itself.”

CHAPPO.

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