Australian band,Chase Atlantic are tired of the bad rap that “pop” music gets. Led by brothers Mitchel and Clinton Cave, with help from their friend Christian Anthony, the trio has grown to acclaim for their genre-defying pop music and is set up for their biggest year to date with the release of their new album, “Phases.” Looking back on their success, the band has come a long way from self-releasing their own music online with their popular YouTube Channel and self-producing their first EP, “Dalliance,” in 2014.
After their hit single “Friends” had caught the attention of Benji and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte, with their help they have signed on to BMG and are now playing to some of the biggest audiences they have ever seen this summer. For Mitchel Cave, the band’s lead vocalist, the energy that they have been leaving out on stage night after night leaves the band emotionally drained in the best possible way.
“It’s been great so far,” says Cave. “The shows have been insane energy. It’s been next level. I think, after every show, like, we’re using a whole bunch of energy, so we’re so tired. I think that’s the best thing because it means we’re putting a lot of work into these shows, and it’s really paying off, I guess… just coming off the stage is very intense, because we do put a lot of passion and energy out there. For instance, [at a recent show], it was in Kansas, and the air conditioning was broken for the venue, and it was like a sauna. We finished the set and I was packing up, and I had, like, a heatstroke and kind of blacked out, and went blind for a minute. Then I came back too. It was just that hot and sweaty, it was insane.”
The band’s style of pop music pulls off a similar Trojan Horse effect that musical journeymen like the 1975 and Janelle Monae are able to pull off, never resting on one specific sound for too long. Their albums give as much attention to darker emotions as they do to universal pop elements. According to Cave, this has been the band’s mission statement from the beginning. Chase Atlantic is out to blow up the standard of what “pop music” can be as well as never downplaying how willing their fans are to take the ride.
“That’s the whole objective, I think,” explains Cave. “Because the language of pop music is now digested and also before, but what we do is, I think we make music that we enjoy listening to, you know what I mean? And whether that be a mood thing or an atmospheric setting, I think we’re just drawn to good music, and that’s what popular music is. It’s good, catchy, hooky music, do you know what I mean? But I think what makes us different is that we keep a lot of personal experience, and we don’t hide behind a picket fence. We don’t hide our emotions. We don’t whitewash anything. We just keep it as natural as possible, and I think that’s the whole differentiation, is that we’re making pop music with a darker undertone, and a more serious and personal vibe.”
Make sure to catch Chase Atlantic on tour this summer.
Check out the video for ‘HER’ by Chase Atlantic.
