WELCOME TO HOMEGROWN!
A Local Music Segment airing every Monday through Friday at 11pm w/ Mo!
Tonight’s Feature Band:
Tuolumne (pronounced to-wall-a-me) is not just the northern California County where front man, Seth Boyack, grew up. As he developed his love for music, learned to play guitar, and sang in the choir, he also began to set his sights on fronting his own band. Now as the singer/guitarist/songwriter for New Chums, it was only fitting to name the band’s debut EP, Tuolumne (released September 2015) for the place where it began.
New to the Phoenix, Arizona music scene after playing guitar for indie rock bands in Salt Lake City, Austin, and assorted northern California cities, Seth began the inevitable Craigslist search to build his own band. From the Philadelphia music scene came bassist Greg Winters – a songwriter himself, with a knack for writing melodic guitar and bass parts. After going through a handful of drummers, New Chums hired Bostonian Ben Hedlund, a solid indie rock drummer with a nice resume, and plenty of song arrangement ideas.
With the band solidified, they began sifting through Seth’s catalog of songs to get a set together, and start playing shows around Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. It would be from this selection of songs that New Chums would choose the first five to head into the studio and record the aforementioned EP. With Curtis Grippe (Dead Hot Workshop) producing, the band quickly recorded their indie rock debut in a week’s time during the summer of 2015. While spending the next couple of months mixing and mastering the EP, the band continued to work on solidifying their live show taking any dates they could get.
After only a couple months since the release of Tuolumne on CD, iTunes, Spotify, and Pandora, the New Chums began to gain some traction with online radio play, excellent reviews, and the growth of their fan base. With an eye on larger shows, the band brought in guitarist Chad Bergman, from Minneapolis, to fill out the sound with clever guitar leads, and help the band win some trivia matches.
With comparisons to Interpol, Jimmy Eat World, the Strokes, and others, new fans of the band should keep an eye open for New Chums in Arizona clubs. The band plans to begin touring the east and west coasts, as well as playing festivals.
“’Come On, Come On’ is an ideal power pop song in no uncertain terms.”
– Phoenix New Times, October 29, 2015
“…an impressive debut fresh out of the box.”
– Java, November 2015
Check out their song “City With No Dreams” below:
Dive Deeper Into New Chums:
Upcoming Shows