Chess Club recently released their debut EP, They Wanted a Demo on November 17. The 4 track brain-child of Adam Chase (JAZZ IS PHSH, James Brown Dance Party) and Danny Darress clocks in at just under 15 minutes. The EP notably features both Felix Pastorius (Cindy Blackman, Jeff Coffin, and son of Jaco) and Isaiah Sharkey (John Mayer, D’Angelo).
Chase and Darress, also known by their stage names Champagne and Paris, recorded the entirety of the EP live at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, North Carolina. They recruited Cory Wong (Vulfpeck, Fearless Flyers) as their mixing engineer for the release. Headed into the studio with an all star line-up ready to record, They Wanted a Demo was born.
When Chase and Darress formed the group in 2023, they set out to create something unique, fresh, and different from their previous projects. As the drummer and keyboardist/vocalist respectively, Champagne and Paris utilized their jazz backgrounds and expertise to write four ear-worm pop songs. The EP features lighthearted, sometimes humorous lyrical topics, and an extremely tight rhythm section reminiscent of early R’n’B and Vulfpeck-like minimalist funk.
The first and third tracks off the EP, “Your Shirt” and “Stay Fresh” feature Felix Pastorius on bass guitar. “Your Shirt”, a song about getting caught staring at someone’s shirt, is driven by Felix’s bassline and Darress on Wultizer. “Stay Fresh”, which tackles the topic of letting someone you love know they might need a breath mint, is defined by its chill, laid back pocket groove. This track features a solo by Pastorius.
The remaining tracks, “Santa Knows” and “It’s Not Me, It’s You” feature Isaiah Sharkey on guitar. He provides beautiful accompaniment to the duo’s Christmas ballad, and brings the song to new heights during a meticulously built guitar solo. His stylistic techniques during the introduction of “It’s Not Me, It’s You” and phrasing throughout adds an additional layer of depth and flavor. He is the featured soloist on both tracks.
As stated on their Bandcamp, “With an irreverent sense of humor and a knack for infectious hooks, Champagne and Paris have crafted a songbook that will go down in history as one of the best catalogues ever recorded.” They Wanted a Demo is officially available on all streaming services here
Key Track: “Stay Fresh” featuring Felix Pastorius
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