Chris Cary, By Night

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Originally uploaded by Charrmer.

There is a certain reality in the record business to be faced and Cary is looking at it squarely in the eye admitting his chances may be slimmer than he’d like. “First off, it’s a lottery ticket to just get a record deal… when you think about how many good bands are out there and how many actually get the chance… I’ve got lottery ticket times 10, those are my chances.” Cary says.
At 32 Cary finally decided to go for it after being inspired by people like his mother who got her BA in Anthropology at 40. “I”m a late bird in the game.” Cary says. Despite seeing his age as a drawback Cary has some important people rooting for him. I’ve got (friend and record producer) Michael Rosen who won a grammy for working with Michelle Branch and Carlos Santana. I’ve got Brian Wheat who sold 20 million albums with Tesla and all these people are very supportive of what I’m doing but even Brian Wheat came to me and said you need to look at the realization that if I’ve got a record label I’m not going to sign you. I would do it as a friend but I wouldn’t do it as a buisness project. I take that and I go ‘I understand why your’e doing that.’ He’s working with a band called Gooser and they’re all like 16 years old. These guys have a great chance, they’re a phenomenal band and they will probably make it, but because they’re 16 he’s got two years to develop them and they’re still only 18 and still very sellable to the record lables.”
“I don’t have a lot of time to do artist development. I’ve gotta get in there and get my stuff done. So were looking at other avenues now, not necessarily just record deals but movie soundtracks, any kind of publishing that we can get.”
But if he does make it big then one thing is clear in his mind. Large venues or arenas hold no appeal for him when he imagines himself on stage. “I would rather do ten shows at the Crest than one show at Arco. Even when I’m working with Tesla and you’re on the road you’re seeing 20,000-30,000 people out in front of you but you don’t tend to notice any of them. They become this sort of this blanket… But when we do the smaller theaters you tend to notice a lot, you start noticing the characters and the individuals and the people, seeing how they react. I like to watch people… it’s all about the connection. If that person doesn’t walk away feeling what you felt in that song then I don’t feel like you connected with them. That’s the most incredible power in the world knowing that you moved someone by something you wrote… You can’t do that as a mechanic. You can’t do that as a recording engineer or a bass tech. “
Music is everything to him and it’s what he is striving to do full time as he phases out the car mechanic part of his work life. Taking a look back he can’t remember a time when he didn’t sing. He tells a charming story about being on the school swing set with friends in second grade singing the Three Dog Night hit Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog at the top of his young lungs. He loved singing so much that he always made it a facet of his life to some degree including singing in the high school choir, and school theater musicals. “I was always the lead character.” When Cary determined to pursue rock and roll as a career his parents were not enthusiastic. “Then when they came out and saw what I could do with music and I blew their minds, then the tables turned and they became more than 100% supportive. I just remember being relieved and this overwhelming feeling of joy… They saw how I captured the audience and how I interracted with people and they were pretty blown away. It was a huge moment for me, to be able to cross that boundary because for years I had this anger towards them for not wanting to support the one thing that I loved. So when it did change it was a pretty monumental moment.”
Cary continues to express his passion for singing with his band Call Box. He describes it as “a hard rock melodic band. Sometimes I like to think of us a mellow Godsmack or a hard Nickelback because all of our tunes are really melodic and we don’t do a bunch of screaming… I just like having that edge in the music… it’s what brings me alive as a frontman you know. For me it’s how I express my passion. ” Although the music is a collaborative effort he’s the bands lyricist. He writes by drawing from life experience and the inspiration he finds in people and the stories they tell. For Cary inspiration is everywhere, even in a riff. “Suddenly I’ll get a mental picture of what I want a story line to be, how that particular piece of music moves me and makes me feel. I think it’s the only way I can really get all the emotions that I have out.”