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And although this next chapter can be nerve-wracking, Caleb feels that the future looks bright for his band. With When I Was Younger, Caleb had previously said that the songs involved questions he’d been “wrestling for months and years.” Some of those questions carried over into the second LP. The band has performed their songs for worldwide audiences with two appearances on both Late Night with Seth Meyers and CONAN, as well as The Today Show, VH1’s Morning Buzz, and MTV Live. They have also been part of several festival lineups including Shaky Knees, Austin City Limits, Firefly, WonderBus, and Lollapalooza.
The Cannonballers
After years on the road, however, the pandemic forced the band to return to their homes in Tennessee and stay put for the first time in a long time. Initially, Caleb shared, the guys weren’t sure what their future looked like. They’d been in the middle of a conversation with a few when she dropped the compliment.
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The nostalgia was overwhelming and forced the band to assess their past, present and future. But as they each spent more time refamiliarizing themselves with the Nashville and Franklin roads, they knew exactly what they wanted their next album to look and sound like. Transitioning from opening band to headliners is a pretty great indication that Colony House is on its way up with its latest album and beyond.
Iconic festival: Woodstock in film
Starting a band was something Caleb and Will had always wanted to do as they grew up in the music scene, being the sons of contemporary Christian musician Steven Curtis Chapman. The band was originally named “Caleb” before changing the name to “Colony House,” a tribute to the apartment complex in Franklin where the two brothers and Scott lived when they first formed the band. After determining that they would officially be a band, the guys chose the name Colony House, in honor of the housing complex where some of the guys lived in Franklin. Shortly after, the alt-rock band released its debut album, When I Was Younger, in 2014, spawning a successful single with the bouncy “Silhouettes,” which caught attention on alternative-rock radio and has 10 million Spotify streams to date.
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The Loft overlooks The Great Room through a glass wall and provides a divided area for up to 150 guests to gather. The Patio offers an outdoor space for up to 100 guests and features a living wall for intimate ceremonies and countless Instagram selfies. With the Vietnam War, and Richard Nixon in the White House, it was a time of protest. Several developments led to the success of the Laurel Canyon scene around the time.
WRRV Sessions with Colony House June 2023 in Newburgh, NY - WRRV
WRRV Sessions with Colony House June 2023 in Newburgh, NY.
Posted: Fri, 23 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
As the first bars of "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by The Byrds or the intro to "California Dreaming" by The Mamas and the Papas indicate, the California sound was something special. “It’s funny, but I’ve always found writing fun and happy songs is way harder than writing sad ones,” Chapman admitted. “Those are so easy for me at least — and not even sad, but just heavy, heavy content. It’s why Colony House’s music isn’t considered Christian music, but is still bursting with hope. Chapman shared the band wants to encourage listeners to recognize the reality of the world, which can be heavy and difficult, but still choose to pursue hope and fun. Part of redefining his view on life has involved thinking through how his belief system impacts all other parts of his life.
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The album gained enough momentum to get the band on notable tours with artists like Needtobreathe, Ben Rector and Switchfoot, also breaking into the Billboard 200. Some say the Laurel Canyon music scene began when Frank Zappa moved to the corner of Lookout Mountain and Laurel Canyon Boulevard in the late 1960s. Former Byrds bassist Chris Hillman recalls writing “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” in Laurel Canyon in 1966 in his house, on a steep winding street with a name he doesn’t remember. The Doors’ lead singer Jim Morrison reportedly wrote “Love Street” while living behind the Laurel Canyon Country Store. Michelle Phillips lived with John Phillips on Lookout Mountain in 1965 during the Mamas and the Papas’ heyday.
For one, guitar maker Rickenbacker developed a 12-string electric guitar that gave amplified folk exactly the sonic boost it needed. Five years ago, Andrew Slater, a filmmaker and the former head of storied label Capitol Records, organized a concert in honor of the Laurel Canyon scene with singer-songwriter Jakob Dylan (the son of Bob Dylan). This gave rise to the idea of making a documentary film, directed by Slater with Dylan conducting interviews as the protagonist. Colony House doesn’t want to limit who they could be, or even who can be a fan of the band.
Chapman shared that interactions with fans like her motivate the band to keep honing their sound and moving forward with their music. “After we released our first album, my dad was like, ‘I'm getting a ton of my friends commenting on how you sound like Roy Orbison,’” Chapman recalls. The band – which features Chapman’s brother, Will, on drums – formed in Franklin, Tenn. in 2009, and named themselves after the local apartment complex they first lived in after moving out of their parents’ house. It became the title track of the band’s new album “The Cannonballers,” which is filled with similarly subtle nods to the band’s Tennessee roots.
Throughout the film he meets the artists responsible for Californian folk rock, some of whom still partly reside in the famous canyon. During their heyday, they influenced one another, creating a musical sound for which the area became known. Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Carole King are among the musicians who once lived there and left their mark on this feel-good sound. Colony House is an indie-rock band made up of brothers Caleb (vocals) and Will Chapman (drums) along with friends Scott Mills (guitar) and Parke Cottrell (keys, bass).
"We were beginning to take rock 'n' roll seriously," David Crosby says in the documentary. From struggling with anxiety on “One of Those Days” to working through nostalgia on “Trying to Survive” to experiencing the thrill of making new memories with old friends on “Landlocked Surf Rock,” the album speaks to what it means to be human. But Chapman shared that the band didn’t want the album to just be a personal diary of sorts.
Leave What’s Lost Behind was released in January of 2020; the band managed to play half of their 40 city headline tour before being forced to pause alongside the rest of the world. Like many touring artists, they found different ways to continue to create, producing and directing a full-length feature film, Everybody’s Looking For Some Light, which was an official selection at the Nashville and Knoxville Film Festivals. The movie debuted at a two-day drive-in event produced by the band at Greystone Quarry in Franklin, TN. Over 2,000 people (in over 600 cars) showed up to watch the film and see Colony House perform.
Rather, they treat their music as an open door, inviting listeners from all walks of life into their music. They’re looking for conversations to spark between themselves and their fans. “My faith is a part of everything in my life, so I’d have to say, of course it’s part of the music,” Chapman said.
One of the biggest lessons the band is still learning is who they want to be. Returning to their hometowns allowed them to reconnect with their younger selves in an empowering way. Over the years, Chapman shared, he found himself saying yes to things he hadn’t dreamed of, for better or worse. And while he’s happy with where he ended up, he’s entering a new season with a new perspective. As we were working on these songs, we all had smiles on our faces and tears in our eyes,” Chapman said.
“But there was a certain point where we felt like we had to stop defining ourselves as a Christian act. That doesn’t mean that Cannonballers is a “faith album,” however, and Chapman makes that clear. Rather, their beliefs simply impact all parts of their lives, which extends to their music. Writing Cannonballers allowed the band to explore those fears, questions and thoughts that have infiltrated their lives, without figuring out the answer in the end.
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