Chase Walker Band

Kevin Lyman - “Chase Walker Band is the best young blues band in this country” -Twitter, Sept, 2013 - Twitter

OS ANGELES, June 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Teen trio Chase Walker Band are too young to drive their tour bus, but they play the Blues like old souls. Out of hundreds of bands that submitted to the L.A. County Fair's Battle of the Bands, the group was chosen as one of eight finalists and earned a spot to perform at this year's Vans Warped Tour in Pomona, California on June 20.
The Chase Walker Band preserves the Blues timeless style while propelling it forward. Lead guitarist/vocalist Chase Walker, age 14, channels the spirit of his influences Warren Haynes, Joe Bonamassa and Stevie Ray Vaughan pouring out haunting guitar licks and soulful vocals well beyond his years. Not bad for a young man who first picked up a guitar just three short years ago.
Backing Walker are drummer Matt Fyke and bassist Randon Davitt, ages 14 and 15. Fyke ushers a white-hot rhythm section akin to John Bonham and Mitch Mitchell, while Davitt, on bass, brings a funky upbeat energy to the band. One thing all three have in common is a commanding stage performance that belies their youth. "You know the Blues is alive and well," Walker said about the upcoming gig, "when you think about thousands of kids in this huge festival enjoying the Blues, some for the first time, that's pretty cool."
The gifted teens are sought out in the live music realm, performing at festivals all over the country. Some of Chase's most memorable highlights are opening for his music heroes BB King and Coco Montoya, performing at the 2013 International Blues Challenge (IBC) and iconic venues like the House of Blues, B.B King's in Memphis and Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago. Indeed, the band's hard work has paid off, as they are the first teen Blues band to play on the Vans Warped Tour since the festival's inception nineteen years ago.
Chase Walker recently joined the Heil Sound family of endorsed artists which includes Carrie Underwood, Slash, ZZ Top, Alice in Chains, 38 Special, Paul Rodgers, Peter Frampton, and Stone Temple Pilots.
The Chase Walker Band performs in front of 15,000+ Vans Warped Tour attendees on June 20, 2013 in Pomona, California. For more information, visit www.chasewalkerband.com.
Photo: http://www.xpresspress.com/images/DavittCWB.jpg
Video: http://www.youtube.com/a1stsin
Contact: John Walker, John@ChaseWalkerBand.com, 951-544-5525 - PR News

Canyon High freshman in up-and-coming trio that's played
across the nation.
BY SALLY FRENCH
ORANGE COUNIY REGISTER

Incoming Canyon High
School freshman Matt Fyke
learned how to play drums
after playing the Rock Band
video game.
His friend Chase Walker
got into playing guitar from
his days of playing Guitar
Hero.
Maybe that's how this
generation learns how to
play music.
The teens have formed a
band, playing a genre from
music's past - the blues.
The Chase Walker Band
is made up of Fyke, 14, of
Anaheim Hills, Randon Davitt,
15, of Huntington
Beach, and Walker, 15, of
Riverside.
"People get excited when
they see young blues players,"
Davitt said. "They'll
say, it's fun to see whippcrsnappers
playing this
kind of music.'"
A lot of musicians stay
away from the blues label
because it can sound "fuddy
duddy." But the Chase
Walker Band embraces it.
"With blues, it's a small
community of people who
are wry supportive of each
other." Andy Fyke. Matt's
dad, said. "People will always
say. 'Whenever you're
in town well hook you up
with somewhere to play.' "
It's not uncommon for
passersby on Canyon Run
Road to hear the band's
music sweeping through
the canyon; they practice at
each other’s homes in whatever
space they can.
"The neighbors sometimes
say, "Can we come
over and listen to your band
practice?" " Matt Fyke said.
But while their practice
space is minimal, they are
no strangers to large venues.
The band has performed
at the Blues Foundation's
International
Blues Challenge in Memphis
as a representative of
the Los Angeles Blues Society.
They've played at the
House of Blues and on
Beale Street in Memphis.
The only problem with
being a band of such young
musicians? They can't
drive to their own gigs.
Luckily, their parents are
supportive.
"We have a hard time
saying no to gigs," said
Chase Walker's dad, Johnny
Walker, who is the band's
manager and responds to
the name "dad-ager."
One of those gigs was a
summer performance at
the Festival of Arts in Laguna
Beach. The venue has an
85-dccibcl limit, which the
band wasn't quite used to.
But it also drew artists out
of their booths to see who
was playing, a rare occasion
at the venue that almost always
has a musical performance
going on.
"One lady came up to me
and asked where she could
buy a CD," Walker's mom,
Denise, said. "I said, of
course not. They're just 1-1
and 15 years old."
"But this time next year
they'll have CDs," Johnny
Walker said.
The band is working on
plans to record their original
songs in a studio this
September.
"It's very much a jamming
art form," Rick Davitt,
Randon's father, said.
"You just sit down and play
by ear with each other. You
ran play the same song four
times and it's different even-
time."
There's one more attribute
to the band: a huge list
of accomplishments.
Fyke landed a spot on
Canyon High School's varsity
soccer team as a freshman;
Walker just got back
from Grammy Camp,
where he was one of seven
guitarists chosen out of
thousands of musicians
who audition from around the world. And Davitt is a
part-time actor who has appeared
in "Criminal
Minds," commercials and
will be in the u|>coming Lifetime
movie "The Cheating
Pact."
But while they've got a
busy schedule of performances
and extracurricular
activities ahead of them,
their parents mandate one
thing - getting all their
homework done.
Fyke, an incoming freshman at Canyon High School, is
the youngest member of the Chase Walker Band.
- ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The interviews with the performing artists from the AITP Music Festival just keep rolling in, and we’re doing our best to publish as fast as possible. Chase Walker of the Chase Walker Band got back with us today and we want to say “thanks.”

Walker’s band is sponsored by Heil. If you know of Bob Heil, you know what an honor it must be to be sponsored by him! I’ll tell ya straight, there’s a reason… This kid (he’s only 14) totally kicks ass!
MTM: Let’s start at the beginning. Tell us a little about yourself. how and when did you start making music?

CW: I had Piano lessons from the time I was 8 to 10 but never really loved it. I quit piano and music all together until I picked up my dads guitar about a year later. For Christmas when I was 11-1/2 I got my own guitar and was hooked. I started playing every waking hour.

MTM: Why do you do it, now?
CW: I play and write music because I love to do it. I also love performing on stage. Whenever I feeling down. Playing music always picks me up.

MTM: What were some of your early influences and what inspires you today?

CW: Two of the earliest influences was a band called The 44's and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The 44's were the first band that I saw live that inspired me to become a performer. Just like a lot of other young guitar players, when I heard SRV play I wanted to play like him and spent hours learning all his licks and songs. As my playing matured I moved on from SRV to learning guitar styles from Hendrix, Warren Haynes, Tab Benoit, and Gary Moore. I have also studied some of the country pickers like Albert Lee & Chet Akins. When I was at a blues festival in 2012 I got a chance to meet and see perform Gino Matteo. Gino became a major influence in my guitar sound and my song writing. Besides Gino Matteo my song writing is influenced by Bob Segar, Jim Croce, Amos Lee, Tommy Simms, and Anders Osborne.

MTM: What was the last song you listened to (disc in the car or what-not)?

CW: Blackberry Smoke – Scare the Devil out of you.
MTM: How did you connect with Artists in the Plus and what attracted you to working with them?
CW: I came across it white surfing the Internet. It seemed like an innovative way to put on a festival.

MTM: Last year’s festival was a huge success and changed a lot of things about music on the net. Were you a part of that?

CW: No, this will be my first AITP

MTM: What would you like to see as a result of the festival, this year?
CW: I have no expectations. I hope to put a great performance on and make some new friends with the other artists performing in the festival.

MTM: Have you been using services like Hangouts On Air, U-Stream, Street-Jelly, or others to perform live via video on line? What kind of reaction are you getting?

CW: No, this will be my first live video online, other than when I have performed on broadcast TV

MTM: Village Studios in LA will be hosting the festival, this year and there will be a studio stage in North Carolina and another in Norway. Will you be travelling or performing remote from your own studio?

CW: I will be performing at the Village on the 28th

MTM: If you could ask one performer to join you on a record, who would it be?

CW: If we could go back in time, Jim Croce. But performer still alive, Warren Haynes.

MTM: What one thing would you change about this world, if you could?

CW: There would be no more back track lip syncing. The top musicians would all be able to actually play instruments.

MTM: Where can we find you and your music?

CW: All my tour dates and recent information can be found at http://ChaseWalkerBand.com or at https://www.facebook.com/chasewalkerband

MTM: In closing, is there anything you would like to add or anyone you would like to shout-out to?

CW: I would like to say thanks to my band, Randon Davitt & Matt Fyke. They are great friends and musicians. Also like to thank my parents, as I am not old enough to drive yet, they spend countless hours taking me to shows and expanding my musical influences.
- Middle Tennessee Music

Chase Walker has opened for B.B. King and played Buddy Guy’s Legends blues club in Chicago—not bad for someone who picked up a guitar less than four years ago.
And so far in 2013 the Chase Walker Band has racked up 39 shows, with gigs in Memphis, Tacoma and the Pomona stop of the Vans Warped Tour—an even more remarkable feat when you consider that none of the group’s members are old enough to drive.
The teens will add two more shows to the list this weekend when they open for ex-“American Idol” competitor Casey Abrams at the Norco Fair on Friday, Aug. 30 and Saturday, Aug. 31.
Walker, the band’s leader, guitarist and singer, is a sophomore at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside. He turns 15 on Aug. 30. Drummer Matt Fyke, of Anaheim, is 14 and bassist and singer Randon Davitt, of Huntington Beach, is 15.
Walker, who lives with his parents Johnny and Denise, in the Woodcrest area of Riverside County, picked up his father’s acoustic guitar at age 11, but had been exposed to music long before.
Denise Walker would play the late blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan when Chase was in the womb. His father has attended hundreds of concerts from artists of all genres.
Chase Walker received his first guitar of his own for his 12th birthday. His amplifier led him to his style of playing. It played backing tracks from different genres.
“I kept going back to the blues one,” Chase Walker said.
A trip to the famed Doheny Blues Festival and a performance by The 44’s further influenced him.
“I think that was the first time I knew I wanted to be a performer,” he said.
Chase Walker attended the Blues Camp of Chicago bluesman Fernando Jones back in the summer of 2011 at the Fender Center in Corona, which is where he met Fyke.
“I wasn’t into the blues before—I liked hard rock,” Fyke said.
The pair became friends and Fyke, who takes drum lessons from Kofi Baker, the son of Cream’s Ginger Baker, joined the band about a year ago.
Davitt and Walker connected when they were both students at Orange County School of the Arts for their freshman year before Walker transferred to King.
Davitt, who started playing music because of the metal band Tool, noticed how skilled Walker was at soloing during their rock ensemble group at the school.
But before Walker transferred to keep music and his studies separate, one of the teachers Walker had at the school gave a lecture on the Millenial generation and the attitude of entitlement.
It inspired Walker to write the song “Who Will,” a poignant song with lines such as “This new generation has got high expectations,” and “It’s kind of hard to make a move when you’re standing still.”
While the members of the Chase Walker Band have had some incredible opportunities so far, it also comes with work.
Walker masters his craft of the guitar with lessons over Skype from a teacher he worked with at Grammy camp over the summer. He also takes songwriting lessons.
For Walker, who has written the majority of the band’s music thus far, a song must come from an idea.
“It’s like trying to write an essay without ever taking a language arts class,” Chase Walker said.
Many of the lessons the young musicians are learning have been at shows, including the Warped Tour gig, for which the band was hand-picked by founder Kevin Lyman.
“It was strange being in the shadow of death metal,” Davitt said.
The band drew a time slot while most of the crowd was seeing Black Veil Brides. When they got on stage, there were only 10 people in the crowd.
“You’ve gotta be as high energy as possible,” Walker said.
Up next for the band is recording some original music in the studio with Chris Thayer from Big Papa and the TCB and the Chris Thayer Band.
The Chase Walker Band will also perform at the Real Blues Festival of Orange County on Sept. 8 and the Artists in the Plus Online Music Festival in Los Angeles in late September.
6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30 and Saturday, Aug. 31, Norco Fair, George Ingalls Equestrian Event Center, 3737 Crestview Ave., Norco.
$10 gets you into the fair all weekend. There is no additional charge for the concert. Parking is $5 per day. Kids 10 and younger get in for free.
Visit www.chasewalkerband.com for more on the band and www.norcofair.org for more on the fair.
Follow Vanessa Franko on Twitter: @vanessafranko and get the latest music news at the Audio File blog at http://blog.pe.com/audio-file - The Press Enterprise

"This 12 year old from California already sounds right at home at Buddy Guy's in Chicago" - Jay Shefsky, WTTW Chicago Tonight (Aug 10, 2011)

"Chase, a red haired 13 year old who played his electric guitar with the pizzazz and exhibitionism of a seasoned rock musician...That boy's career in music lies out before him" - Staff Writer, Anaheim Arts Council (Jul 01, 2012)

"Chase Walker had the audience gasping with his soulful channeling of Vaughan’s guitar licks. " - Michael Palecki, Mountaineer Progress(Jul 05, 0012)