Chet Sounds made his new album, Changes Happen to Everyone, Everywhere, in a shipping container located on his family’s property in the Sutherland Shire, south of Sydney. The record is influenced by 70s classic rock, folk rock and psychedelia, as well as yacht rock and new wave.
Chet asked his friend, Amber Newell, to play violin on a couple of tracks, but everything else was entirely Chet’s doing, down to the engineering and mixing. In conjunction with the album’s release, Chet Sounds gives us the inside scoop on its twelve tracks.
Chet Sounds: Changes Happen To Everyone, Everywhere
1. Lo and Behold
Chet Sounds: This was the first song I recorded for this project. My brother had just gifted me a melodica and it was the perfect fit for the lead melody. I also incorporated the sound of a piano string being plucked with a guitar pick.
2. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Chet: It’s one of my only songs to have a repetitive guitar riff. I imagined the middle breakdown section being played by an orchestra, overdubbing synths, vibraphone, guitar and Amber’s violin to create an orchestral wall of sound. I was trying to blend yacht rock and new wave.
3. Open Your Eyes
Chet: I imagined James Taylor singing a Burt Bacharach song when I wrote and recorded this track. Great violin work by Amber.
4. Rings Around A Tree
Chet: I like the lead guitar on this one. I was trying to channel my inner Joe Walsh in the second half of the tune.
5. Changes Happen
Chet: This quirky instrumental borrows dialogue recorded from the TV show Flipper — a childhood favourite of mine.
6. Losin’ End
Chet: A light and breezy song for the common man and the struggles of reality. This track leans towards 70s folk rock influences such as The Band, James Taylor and John Sebastian.
7. Cut and Thrust
Chet: I liked how well the guitar and horn parts intertwined in this song. The bass and drums also had a tight but laidback groove driving the music forward. I took dialogue samples from an old Australian film called Where Are We Heading?
8. Hot Lips Houlihan
Chet: This was the quickest written and recorded piece of music on the album as I wanted it to sound spontaneous. I feel like the synthesiser did most of the work and was playing me. The title references a character from the TV series M*A*S*H.
9. Foxtrotting with Two Left Feet
Chet: I found a piano that was being thrown out on somebody’s front lawn, loaded it on a trolley and pushed it down the street and around the corner for another two kilometres until I reached home. This piece of music was the first thing I wrote on it.
10. The Cost of Living
Chet: I first recorded this song back when I was in high school. I gave it a few new bits and bobs when I was putting this album together.
11. Small Faces
Chet: The title is a nod to the 60s band Small Faces. They inspired me to use a wah-wah pedal on the piano.
12. Smiling Inwards
Chet: This is a medley of sorts. I spliced three different recordings together to make one song.
Chet Sounds’ new album, Changes Happen to Everyone, Everywhere, is out now via Third Eye Stimuli. Stream and purchase it here
Further Reading
Track By Track: The Grogans on Their Favourite Album to Date ‘Find Me A Cloud’
