Meet The Chain

Today we’d like to introduce you to The Chain. Them and their team share their story with us below:

The Chain came to life in Columbia, South Carolina in the summer of 2019. During this time, we were all either students in college or newly in the workforce. The thing that brought us all together was our love for music, and a dream to play music for other people. Jacob started out playing bass and started taking lessons at a local music school.

His passion for bass grew and he knew he wanted to start a band. That was where he met McKenna who was working at that music school and was also taking vocal and guitar lessons. He asked her if she was interested in being in a band and it was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. Jacob had jammed on some songs with Kevin in the past and mentioned him to McKenna as a possible guitarist.

She knew him from school and heard him play a couple of times before and was excited to ask him if he wanted to play. Kevin had just left a band and was missing playing music. He was skeptical of joining at first but missed playing and wanted to give it a shot. The three original members began playing together and formed what is now The Chain. The Chain started out as an 80’s rock cover band, and we practiced almost every night of the week.

It wasn’t long after that we got our first gig. In 4 days, we put together a 3-hour setlist and played our gig until 2 am. That night we all had the rush of gigging, and instantly started booking other gigs. In the following months, we began to hit our stride around the beginning of 2020. However, right as we were gaining traction with the community the pandemic hit.

We took that time and made it into an opportunity for ourselves. Even though we could not play anymore, we began reflecting on our band and refining our sound. During this time, we had some band members that had to step away due to other time commitments. After that, we began restructuring and started looking for a drummer. That was when we got a contact with Levi through a mutual friend.

McKenna sent him a message asking if he would be interested in coming over for a bit to interview him and jam. McKenna sent him some songs the band already knew and met a little while later. We only thought this interview would last about an hour but everyone ended up hanging out for hours. We played for hours and talked about everything and nothing all night.

That night everyone agreed that Levi was the drummer for the band. Now that we had a full band again that was when we all started learning about how to be great musicians, and what it takes to be a professional band. We started out as college kids that were pretty good musicians, but we wanted to come back with a bang.

As we began dreaming about bigger things for our band the pandemic had passed, and we took our chance to hit those dreams head-on. We got tighter as a band, started connecting with other musicians, and became inspired to start writing our own songs. We began booking gigs more than ever and now have gained the opportunity to play our original music across South Carolina, as well as, out of state.

Since our comeback, we have gone from an average cover band to legitimate musicians. Our next musical goals are to release an EP in the near future and to start gigging more across the southeast.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The music industry is never a smooth road and often has many obstacles that come along with it. One of the things that we have struggled with was the pandemic.

There was a time when we thought that our band might come to an end. Being in a band can be a huge time commitment. With the way that the world was at one point, we often wondered was it worth pursuing a career that might not ever be the same as it was.

Thankfully, we are able to still continue to do what we love and challenge ourselves creatively along the way. By following our passions we now have been able to do things like create our own music, and start recording which was something we never thought we would be able to do.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
What sets us apart is the energy we bring to our music. Yes, we are a band, but more than that we are ambassadors for music. So often people look at music as a companion for their day, background noise, and not much else. We want to remind people to be gripped by the art they are consuming and not to simply passively listen.

You should not simply consume art but be consumed by art. We recently played a gig in Nashville, Tennessee, and got the opportunity to send our message to more people. We have gotten where we are through deliberate decision-making, not necessarily putting in the most hours possible.

We do put in a lot of hours but being ruthless about HOW you spend your time is more important than simply putting in hours. It has not been easy getting where we are, it takes a lot of persistence. Persistence is the most underrated quality of people trying to achieve something.

When things get tough, which they do every now and again, persistently staying the course is almost always the answer.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
We are always looking for more opportunities to play across the southeast.

If you’re looking for a band for your favorite drinking spot, to open for your favorite band, or to play at your favorite venue, send us an email, or private message on our Instagram. We can’t wait to bring The Chain to you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_chain_band/