On The Rise: Chaz Cardigan

Capitol records newest super star, Chaz Cardigan is absolutely crushing it right now! We got to interview him for our On The Rise series! We’re so excited to have him join our growing roster of OTR artists! Make sure you listen to Chaz and see him live before he blows up! Check out our conversation below 🙂

For readers who aren’t familiar with you or your music, can you share with us how you began your musical journey?

Yeah, totally!  At my core, I really love making things.  I was pretty “othered” as a kid, and music was a way to make things and be understood, and to understand people.  I picked up guitar and piano pretty young, then started learning to produce and playing in punk bands when I was about 11.  That led me to living in Nashville and making a living producing for other people while making my own music, and playing a lot of shows for years until I signed with Capitol.

We’re obsessed with your EP! “VULNERABILIA”  Can you tell us more about what your process was like for creating your second body of work?! 

Very different from my first record.  With I, I was working on borrowed time and borrowed gear for about 2 years while trying to hold down a bunch of odd jobs and keep the rent paid.  So I’d work on songs over the course of months and months and months, and I think that album sounds pretty labored as a result — very over-thought.

 After I put it out, I got more integrated into Nashville songwriting as a day job.  So I was just writing every day with new people in new studios, and the EP songs came very organically out of that at the same time that I was putting out a string of singles in 2018.  The singles were things I knew felt more immediate, maybe more “current” and fun, and in the meantime I was saving the songs that felt more raw for a body of work.  

Towards the end of 2018 I spent 2 weeks in my bedroom carving out the sound of the EP and producing the songs, and then I was really lucky to finish the vocals and some of the trickier sounds with Jamie Liddel.  

 What does your typical songwriting process consist of? Is it ever hard to put your personal feelings and experience into lyrics?

I think humans are wired for authenticity, but our ego definitely fights against it.  I try really hard to just make things that feel authentic every day, but obviously — with any job — you get caught up in minutiae and don’t always check in with yourself like you should.

I’ll usually start with a melody idea or a concept and spitball different tangents from that until the lyrics start coming.  I find myself re-writing songs a lot toward the end of making albums or EP’s.  Once I know what the songs are really trying to say, then it gets a lot easier to be editorial and know “oh, that bridge could be more honest”.  

 What does it feel like to be hitting the road for touring!? You’re not only opening for Barns Courtney, but you’re playing headline gigs! are you nervous?

 Yes and no.  I’m a bit nervous because I’ve never done a month’s worth shows back-to-back, but I’ve been playing live for most of my life now, so I trust my body and my voice; and I really trust my band.  The headline shows freak me out a little more because I’ve never been “THE THING” that people are really buying tickets for outside of Nashville, so there’s some anxiety there, sure.  But I’m more excited than anything.

If there was one artist you could collaborate with who would it be?

 Oh gosh, one?  One?!   My answer’s probably the same as it’s been since I was 13: Imogen Heap.  I think she’s the best living creator we’ve got.

What would your advice be to musicians who are struggling with finding themselves? How do you deal with anxieties and pressures?

My best piece of advice is not what anyone wants to hear, but I think it’s important: give yourself a break — no one is rushing you, and no one expects you to blow up over night except for you.  Give yourself time to play in the sandbox and make some bad art for a while; eventually you’ll find yourself in the process.  Just have fun with it.  No one’s having fun if you’re not having fun.

Personally, I really like remembering that I’m going to die and none of this really matters.  I can connect with people, and that’s the important thing.  My job is just to be present, ride the ride, make what feels natural, and have fun while it lasts.

How excited were you to have one of your songs be in “To all the boys” 2?!

How freaking insane is that?  It was such a surprise.  It was a surprise, first, because the soundtrack supervisors heard the demo of “As I’ll Ever Be” by total accident — my A&R at Capitol was playing it in her office, and they just happened to hear it from the hallway.  What’s been more of a surprise, though, is seeing how many people have connected with it.  It’s used really beautifully in the movie, and I don’t think the song ever would have grown the way it has if I’d just released it on my own.  It’s been really special.

Can you share with us any upcoming projects you’re working on?!

Right now I’m finishing up the songs that will come out next.  That and tour prep are my real work right now.  I’ll be shooting another video soon, and I’m in the mania of putting that together — which I really do love.  I’ve also got a new web-series called Wild World that drops each Wednesday at 1pm CST, and that’s been a blast!  It’s basically a pop-science show where I explain a history fact or a philosophy idea in 60 seconds.  I write it myself, and it’s a great stretch for me creatively.

And lastly where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I’d like to look back to right now and think, “yeah, I’m making now what I hoped I was capable of then”.  Hopefully touring, singing songs that feels honest.

Connect with Chaz: Website, Instagram, & Twitter