Birmingham-based photographer Caleb Chancey discovered two vital elements for the songs that would eventually make up his musical project, War Jacket.
The first was the collaborations and friendships he had made through Grey Haven Community, a local music collective that he helped found back in 2008.
The second was the discovery of a baritone uklele at Homewood Music.
“As soon as I picked it up, it was like one of those things where you find what you’re supposed to be doing and how you’re supposed to be doing it, and something just clicked and the songs started coming after that. It didn’t take very long to write these songs that were on the record,” Chancey said.
The recording project, engineered by Corey Scogin, began as a casual venture between musically inclined friends, but soon began to take shape as a full album.
Chancey’s major influences, which include songwriters such as Damien APT.bham weekly.1.23.12_Layout 1 1/23/12 1/23/12 10:59 AM Page 1
Jurado and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden and bands such as Fleet Foxes, helped him develop a mixture of uklele-driven folk and what he calls an “ambient room sound.” He also says he has found inspiration from the musicians featured on the record, which include Birmingham’s Joel Madison Blount, Seattle’s Dan Phelps, and New York’s Brian T. Murphy.
The lyrics showcase a blend of personal emotions and thematic storytelling, exploring the “dark beauties” of life, with song titles like “Remember You Used to Love Me,” “White Picket Cross,” “Part of the World That I Like,” and “You Were My Sunshine.”
The title of the full-length record, Live Like You’re Going Home, comes from the final song, “The Core” (which was also featured on a tornado relief album Chancey produced and released last spring).
“After
listening to the songs, there was a kind of nostalgia feeling to the
record, where the idea is a lively purpose. A bunch of these songs are
kind of sad things, but they’re worth it in the end. The idea is walking
from this sadness to this inspiration of living very purposefully,”
Chancey said.” To me, ‘live like you’re
going home’ is this goal. Everybody knows what it feels like to go home and for a lot of people, there’s a sadness in that. Like if you come from a broken home. But you know what the idea of home and this sense of belonging is, no matter where you are.”
Through this project, Chancey has said he has grown “immensely” as an artist.
“I’m getting to the point where because of the collaborations and the friendships that I’ve been experiencing through the project, they have lifted me up to where I can say I’m a musician because I’m standing on their shoulders. I am extremely moved by that and very proud to call myself a musician now, but the only way I got there was through other people’s help. That’s the way I want to stay there,” he said.
For more information on War Jacket, become a fan on Facebook, follow him on Twitter (@warjacket) or visit www.warjacket.com. You can download War Jacket’s first EP, Leaflet No. 1, for free at www.noisetrade.com/warjacket. You can also download Live Like You’re Going Home on Itunes or www. warjacket.bandcamp.com.
War Jacket will be opening for Texas band, Seryn, at Workplay on Saturday, February 4th. This 18-and-up show starts at 8 P.M. and costs $10.