The Australian city of Cairns, Chase Atlantic singer Mitchel Cave tells us, is beautiful but doesn’t have much of a music scene. The city, situated in the state of Queensland in the northeast part of the country, is clearly blessed. A Google image search reveals a bonafide paradise. Albeit one seriously lacking in live tunes.
“The music scene was basically, the high school we went to had a jazz band and a choir,” Cave says. “There was nothing super influential to us. I feel like we were influenced by the internet. Luckily enough, we live in the information era. It’s cool though because, when we come back here, people know who we are.”
Receiving an online musical education hasn’t done them any harm. Mitchel and his brother Clinton started playing music together at an early age, and then roped buddy Christian Anthony in when they were in their mid-teens. About five years ago, they made it official and named their new project Chase Atlantic.
“When we created the band, we didn't expect a career out of it, but we wanted to take that next step and do something special,” Cave says. “So it started out as a uni project. Clint was living in Brisbane, I was living in Cairns, and Christian was living in Sydney. He flew myself and Christian out to Brisbane to record some music for a university project, and it all took off from there. It felt special to us, so we made the decision to carry on with it.”
Chase Atlantic’s university project existence changed forever when they were discovered online by Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte. A deal with their MDDN group and BMG Records followed.
“The Madden brothers actually found us on Twitter,” Cave says. “We’re
not ones to use Twitter a whole bunch, but they found out that we’re emerging artists who didn’t have any support or management at the time. It was weird because at
under their wing, showed us what and what not to do. Learning from their mistakes. They gave us a studio to work out of whenever we want to work in the US. They’re like big brothers to us.”
January 25 saw the release of the band’s Don’t Try This EP, their debut for the label. That will be followed by what will be their sophomore album.
“We have a bunch of songs up our sleeves,” Cave says. “You’ll be hearing a lot more from us.”
