20 October (Monday) - CHESTER TRAVIS, JACOB BRASS

20 OCTOBER -  CHESTER TRAVIS, JACOB BRASS

DOORS : 7:30pm

CHESTER TRAVIS

Hailing from Canterbury, New Zealand, Chester Travis does not conform to the local reference of a "one-eyed Cantabrian". Chester is without doubt a "two-eyed Cantabrian" with one eye firmly focused on his piano and the other fixated on his guitar. With a reputation for melodies and lyrics and on occasion the two together, Travis shares a life full of experience. Chester first learnt about notes and quavers and stuff on the piano, learning from the age of seven. Guitar, however, came later and with much more struggle, though not musically. At twelve years old Chester begged his parents for a guitar. Unfortunately, one year earlier Chester had also begged, pleaded, haggled and bargained for a unicycle, every childs dream. Young Travis got what he had cried so loud for...and never used it. The unicycle left without even another wheel to keep it company. So when Chester went through the same ordeal a year on, Mum and Dad were suitably sceptical. Obviously Chester received his wish of a guitar which he promptly started teaching to himself. When he was about 13 or 14 Chester trasped through Europe with his family. While they were living on a barge, on a french canal, in a tiny tiny French town called Le Someil, the lack of Buxom French (and also not really hairy ladies under 70) caused Chester immense boredom and frustration. This frustration and boredom would cause him to ride off into vineyards day after day on a wee French bicycle with a guitar on his back, where he taught himself to write original material. A Kiwi with strong international influences, Chesters work has to date culminated in the critically acclaimed debut EP, "7", released in May 2007. Real Groove magazine called it "a portent of greatness" while the Christchurch Press dubbed the incredible debut mark as "a slice of pan baked heaven". And Chesters mum almost fainted with pride. Much of the material is now back in the oven, preparing for a full debut album which will, no doubt, confirm the suspicions of fans and critics alike that Chesters musical stamp will make a huge mark on the international stage.
 

JACOB BRASS

The singer/songwriter Jacob Brass is 23 years old and currently living in Munich. His songs, unique due to their quality and Jacobs special feeling for melodies, could be simply described as hand-made pop music. The focus is on the song no distractions tolerated. They remain direct and real, the way they were meant to be. After the first 2002 recordings of the demo CD Elegy in his own living room and studio sessions in Schondorf/Ammersee in 2004, Jacob Brass teamed up with producer JEM (Virginia Jetzt!, Madsen, Monta, etc.) in may 2005 to record in the Blacksheep Studio in Düsseldorf. Drums, bass, piano and cello were added to his songs, all of which were played by Jacob himself. In 2003 Jacob Brass won the German Acoustic-Emergenza Contest and finished second in the Unüberhörbar-contest in Munich. In recent years he has been touring constantly, supporting e.g. Virginia Jetzt!, Bananafishbones, Now it's Overhead and Anajo. Since fall 2005 he's been playing over 60 shows as the opening act on Nova Internationals tour in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2007 he recorded a 4-song-EP with the producer team „pas de deux“ and mixed it at Uphon Studios/ Weilheim with Mario Thaler, who worked with bands like „The Notwist“ and „Slut“. Two of these songs are already part of the soundtrack of the new teen-movie „Summer“, which has been released at the 17th of April 2008 and went to number 1 in the german movie-charts. At the moment Jacob is writing songs and working for his debutalbum which can be expected next year.