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| Video by Bob Sweeney |
In just three short weeks, on Saturday April 26th, Up The Chain will be at Ardmore Music Hall opening for The David Wax Museum. As we celebrate the upcoming show with a #CoverClub release, let's look back at the recent rise of Up The Chain. Suddenly everywhere, Up The Chain appeared to have burst onto the scene more prominently last fall.
Root Down In The Shadow first came across Up The Chain, in October of last year. In just a few short days, Up The Chain played a WXPN sponsored session at "The Porch at 30th St. Station" and played a Sofar Sounds: Philadelphia show. These shows were part of the celebration for the release of new album Seeds and Thorns (produced by Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Lawsuits, Toy Soldiers), his follow-up to their debut LP Holy, Open, Drying Road.
Cover Club | Up The Chain 'No Sweeter Sound'
To get insight into the rise of Up The Chain, Reed Kendall the driving force behind the band, answered some questions for us.
Who was Up The Chain in the Holy, Open, Drying Road era? Studio band was Phil D'Agostino, Matt Scarano, Avery Coffee and Anam Owili-Eger. The live band was those guys and a bunch of other swell folks, too.
Last fall you toured with Kevin Killen and now he's in the band. When did Kevin Killen come into the equation?
I started working with Kevin when he played bass for Up The Chain and Hezekiah Jones on a collaborative tour in 2011. He's been playing drums with us since around that time. That dude is quite good at a lot of things.
You do a great job of seemingly being everywhere, in the crowd at shows, being connected to production of projects. We've heard you are wrapping production of a Ron Gallo solo LP and are also producing Ali Wadsworth with the Satellite Hearts. Have you always been this busy; or has producing been a new facet to your empire?
Trying to make a living as a musician isn't easy, so I've always kept busy out of necessity, supplementing what I do with Up The Chain with whatever music related work I can find. That used to take the form of endless cover gigs (down the shore, bar mitzvahs, furniture stores, you name it) but this new direction of producing records is saving me a bit from that. I'm pretty darn grateful for it, too, as working with folks like Ron, Ali and Satellite Hearts is good for the soul.
And when you live in a city like Philadelphia so rich with great songwriters and bands, it's pretty easy to always be out at shows. I don't go out too much other than shows though.
For Cover Club earlier this week, you covered The Lawsuits "You Won't Love Me If You Don't": what was the impetus? Was it being a fan in general or your recent string of shows with Ron Gallo & Brian Strouse?
I've been addicted to Cool Cool Cool for some time now. It's an amazing record. Knowing Brian is a bonus, but I wanted to cover a tune of theirs really just because that's the music about which I'm most excited right now. I got lucky that they are from Philly and it fit into your format.
Vanessa Winters absolutely owns those vocals on; did you take it as a challenge to cover that song? Any hesitation in the choice? Why the pick?
I agree. She really does. No hesitation, though. If I spent time comparing my version to the original I wouldn't feel too good about myself. So I just think about the tune and the enjoyment I get from playing it.
The Key studio session teases of "the next UTC release." Is that in the works so soon after Seeds?
It is. I've been working with Karl Petersen in an empty beach house in Avalon, NJ. We've got about 10 songs down at the moment. No real plans for their release yet, but it's definitely in the works.
What else should fans be expecting?
We are doing our first international tour in September - headed to Switzerland and Germany!
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