Chic Chameleon performed during Sled Island on Friday, 2:30pm at Palomino (Main Floor).
TRANSCRIPT:
Aldi (CJSW)
Could you introduce yourself for anybody who might not know?
Chic Chameleon
I’m Patrick Froese from Chic Chameleon out here in Calgary playing Sled Island this weekend.
Aldi (CJSW)
Festivals like Sled Island are a pretty big deal for emerging artists. How important are they to you?
Chic Chameleon
When I got the email that I got into Sled Island this year, I was at work, and I checked my email, and I was almost jumping up and down. I was just so excited. It was like, ‘Yes!’ I’ve been trying for a few years, and this year it worked. And I’m just so happy to be a part of this festival. It means a lot to me as an emerging artist. It really is like a milestone I feel.
Aldi (CJSW)
You said that you’ve been trying for a few years. What’s that grind process like for you?
Chic Chameleon
The grind never stops. So it’s like, I’m always applying for something. Whenever I have time in front of my computer, I usually spend some time in the office in the mornings. And I’m always looking for opportunities, anywhere to apply in Alberta, sometimes in BC, any opportunities possible. I’m always pushing something, when things start to happen and I get those callbacks, it’s really exciting.
Aldi (CJSW)
You mentioned you’re always trying to find work in Alberta. Do you feel like you have a sense of community here with the people who listen to you at all?
Chic Chameleon
Absolutely, I found because I’m from Edmonton, the scene there has been really good to me, like lots of people reaching out on local bills. I’ve set up a couple shows myself, and then last year, I was like, I want to spread my wings and start moving to different cities, different provinces. Calgary’s been really receptive, I was at East Town Get Down earlier. Last month, Colleen Krueger was really great for that. She set that up, and that’s a fantastic festival. In Sled Island, I just really start to feel that sense of community in Calgary.
Aldi (CJSW)
In the past, you’ve described yourself as a multi-instrumentalist and a producer. What are all the instruments you play, and what kind of led you to putting all that time into learning them?
Chic Chameleon
I was always drawn toward music as a kid. I started with guitar and piano at a young age. I think I was probably six or eight. My parents got me an electric guitar when I was 10, and then a drum set when I was 11, and they could just tell I was really into the whole music thing. So then I just kept going with it, really just just trying to get as good with these instruments as possible. Then I went to MacEwan, got a degree in music and it kept going from there. And then it was kind of out of necessity that I started the whole recording myself doing the bedroom pop style recording process, I felt like I was… I think a couple of grants didn’t really come through. I was like, ‘okay, what am I gonna do?’ I wanted to get this music out as soon as possible. I just feel like I felt this drive like I need people to hear this, I need it to be out, and it’s more important that it’s out there in the world, just to get it off my chest. So then I started just recording at home. I have a diploma in recording as well, that helped a lot-from MacEwan. I just I graduated from school, and I just started recording myself. And then it took a couple of years to really feel comfortable with my songs. Then I put out my first EP, and I think it was 2022, and from there, I’ve been recording a bunch of singles, putting those out, just as we go along.
Aldi (CJSW)
You mentioned putting yourself out there, is there any pressure to curate yourself in a way that it’s more easily consumable for an audience to kind of find you.
Chic Chameleon
I want to stay as true to myself as I can be, I don’t feel the need to… oh man, it’s hard, because I feel like I’m a perfectionist and that’s something I have to fight with. I’m not gonna try to just throw stuff out there, I always want it to be the best it can be. And then I find sometimes that sort of deters me a little bit too. For my other single, “Won’t You Love Me Again”. That one was sitting on my computer for a couple years after I recorded it. I recorded that in 2020 and I thought it’s not good enough, I need to put more work into it, then I remembered it in like 2023 and I was like, ‘Why didn’t I just put this out?’ You know? It’s a struggle for me to be happy with my product and release it. And I think that’s a feeling that I’m just trying to fight a little bit more. It’s like fighting the perfectionism, but letting the perfectionism kind of guide me to the best product.
Aldi (CJSW)
Do you find that you often come back to songs or even melodies, and you’re think ‘This was genius, why didn’t I put this out?’
Chic Chameleon
I feel like I think a lot of artists talk about that where they’re not really sure where it came from. I think that’s the magic of music. It’s like, I feel like it just sort of comes to you and you just have this moment of a flash of inspiration, you quickly get out your phone and do a voice memo, because it’s like ‘I’m gonna forget this’, and that’s where it happens. It’s always in a one or two minute moment of feeling really emotional and putting that out on the page. After that, it’s like I’m not sure where that idea came from, or how it was presented to me, but I don’t know. It just feels like tapping into something like that.
Aldi (CJSW)
Once you have that idea, where does that process start, where you start building it into its own song?
Chic Chameleon
I’m a guitarist first, I think… So it’s always a guitar and vocal idea. It’s usually humming, I’m humming a melody, and I have a couple of guitar riffs that I’m working on, and then from there, it’s like, ‘Okay, I gotta get this into Logic, I gotta get this in there’, and then I kind of build out the track from there. So it’s always guitar and sometimes a vocal melody, sometimes like a synth melody. Then I build in drums and bass and just kind of build the track up from there.
Aldi (CJSW)
Has performing in front of a crowd kind of shaped or changed your perspective as an artist?
Chic Chameleon
Definitely, I feel like in the last couple years, it’s kind of like starting the project. So it’s a lot of time it just spent in your room, just with your own thoughts, and trying to make these tracks work, and trying to put them out. So there’s the whole grind behind the scenes before you ever really bring it to the stage. And those are the hardest times, because you’re kind of like, ‘Is this, like, Is this good enough? Is this important? Is anyone gonna care?’ You’re kind of all over the place, emotionally I feel. And then when you bring it to the stage, you’re like, ‘oh, this is what it was all for’. You have that moment of realization ‘Oh, this is why I did it all’. People are responding to it, they like it. It means something to them, and it means something to me. There’s a newfound sense of meaning that you get, that you you don’t quite get when you’re just by yourself in your room.
Aldi (CJSW)
Do you have a specific moment that you can think back on, that you had a connection with the audience?
Chic Chameleon
I remember my very first show as Chic. I think that was 2019, I had written all these songs in school, and then we got offered a show. It was a 2pm thing, just at the bar, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it’. And then when I was in there and I was singing, I was like, ‘Oh, this was what I was meant to do’. It felt really like I know my calling now.
Aldi (CJSW)
Do you ever feel like you’re trying to display certain emotions that you’re hoping to get back from the audience?
Chic Chameleon
Definitely, I’m a huge shoegaze dream-pop fan, so in my darkest moments, that kind of music was always there for me. So I want to evoke that same emotion in other people. It’s like Beach House, Slow Dive, Alvvays, or TOPS. I love seeing TOPS, by the way, fantastic band. Those bands, they just really evoke that sense of heartache and longing. And I just… I want that, I want to evoke that feeling too.
Aldi (CJSW)
It’s been a few years since your first release to streaming services. What were your values back then when creating and what are they now?
Chic Chameleon
That’s a great question. I think for the first for the most part, my values at the beginning were to get the best possible song and the highest quality audio. And I mean, I was in my bedroom, so it was like using a couple air mattresses against my drum set, and just trying to make it sound as good as possible. For “Dreaming of Heaven”—that was my first single, that one I took probably like 50 or 60 drum takes, which is way too many drum takes. I don’t think you need to get that many to get the message across, I felt it was just perfectionism. My values as I’ve come along this journey, I feel that’s kind of fallen away a little bit, which is good, because I think it was holding me back and now it’s more about perfection, to an extent. Also pushing it out there, because I feel like it’s more important to get it released, as opposed to just holding on to it.
Aldi (CJSW)
You mentioned being a perfectionist a few times, is that something you’re actively trying to stay away from?
Chic Chameleon
I think it’s always a push and pull. In the beginning of the project, and when you’re kind of starting this song, it’s like the perfectionism really kicks in, and then you try to do everything as best you can. I’m doing it all myself, getting the best guitar takes, getting the best drum takes are really important. And then I think the part where you have to fight the perfectionism is when you are listening back and you’re like, ‘Is this good enough?’ Because I feel like the perfectionism aids you so much in the beginning because you need the best takes, and then after that, your own judgment will come in and be like, ‘No, these aren’t good enough, re-record everything’. I thought of a demo or a finished track, and I’ll be like, ‘I’m just gonna redo everything’, And it’s like, ‘No, that’s dumb, you don’t have to go back and do everything again, maybe a couple things’.
Aldi (CJSW)
Do you ever have other people that come in and you try and get their opinions or some influence out of them to get a better idea what the song should be?
Chic Chameleon
My fiance, Katrina, she has her own project, YEMA, and we actually just released her first EP as well. She always comes in and she’ll listen to my tracks, and she’ll always give me really good advice. When you’re kind of like in tunnel vision, when you’re doing your music, and you’re really vulnerable too. So then she’ll come in and she’ll give me a second opinion, and just really help me through with some of those things. So she’s been a rock in the in the creative process.
Aldi (CJSW)
Your presence on social media is relatively thin, is that a deliberate choice?
Chic Chameleon
I feel like more last year I was pushing it a lot more, and this year I’ve just been so busy with finishing the album, getting that done, trying to do more shows and stuff. It’s been a little bit thinner than it was last year, and I’m trying to get back into it, but I’m also moving so there’s always so many life things that get in the way. I think I’m not deliberately trying to be less social media active. I’m just so busy.
Aldi (CJSW)
It seems like that’s the case for a lot of artists where social media feels necessary, but a lot of artists don’t want it to be their main thing.
Chic Chameleon
Yeah, I think it was more of a grind for me last year, I was like, ‘Okay, I gotta do like two reels a week. I gotta do this, I gotta do that’. And then this year it’s been like, ‘Okay, let’s try like one reel a week’.
Aldi (CJSW)
Do you have any anybody at Sled you’re particularly looking forward to or that you’ve already seen?
Chic Chameleon
Well, we drove down for TOPS, and Babe Corner, which was absolutely fantastic. I went to the Peach Pit concert in Edmonton a couple of months ago, and Babe Corner opened for them, and we missed their show because I was getting merch. What a mistake, because I saw them at the Legion, and they were-Babe Corner was fantastic. They were so good. And of course, I’m a huge TOPS fan, so that was really, really nice to see them in such a great setting too. And then also tonight, Horse Jumper of Love. I’m a huge fan of them.
Aldi (CJSW)
What’s next for Chic Chameleon after Sled?
Chic Chameleon
Five singles are out now from the album, so it’s just the album dropping in August, and kind of the release from there, get some shows in, maybe a small tour. We’ll see where that takes us.
Aldi (CJSW)
You mentioned a small tour, if you had a dream venue—dream as big as you want, where would you play?
Chic Chameleon
That’s such a great question. Well, in Edmonton, Starlight Room, it’s fantastic. We were able to open for the Velveteens. I would like to play the Starlight Room. And in Calgary, I don’t know, there’s so many great places here too… I’d say, The King Eddy would be really nice, I really like that venue. We were there yesterday for Katie and the Wildfire, and I really like the ambience there. So that would probably be in the cards for a tour.