For our 34th Clapper Sounds Interview, we’re highlighting Chris Montcalmo!
Chris Mobtcalmo (@ChrisMontMusic on Clapper) has been chasing music his whole life. While he’s now a full-time solo musician and the director of two local praise bands, he played in rock band Union Jack for fourteen years. The band’s song No Tomorrow was featured on MTV’s “Undressed.” In 2023, Chris released his first solo, EP This Euphoric State. We sat down with Chris Montcalmo to discuss his music journey, his advice for new musicians, his musical inspiration, and more!
Clapper Sounds is meant to be an intimate musical experience, and we want that mission to translate into our written interviews too. Listen to his music as you read to get to know Chris and his unique sound.
Let’s start from the beginning. What is your first memory of being involved with music? How did you start your artist journey?
Good grief, I think I was born with the guitar and a piano! What got my parents motivated to get me some lessons was when we’d visit my grandmother. She had this borderline antique piano. and the whole family would be sitting there visiting and talking, and I’d be at the piano for hours just plunking on the piano and trying to figure out songs by ear. My first experience with actually playing in a group was in a church group in the mid 80s. That led to a 15-year journey in that church group playing piano. From there, I played keyboard in a classic rock band in the mid to late 90s. I was lead singer in Union Jack for about five years, then decided to get married settled down and take a ten year break from playing out in clubs.
Then I went solo in 2014, so almost ten years ago. I quit my day job and went full-time in 2017-2018. It’s just one of those things you look back on and think “I really should have done that sooner!” I decided to just cut and run. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you burn all the bridges behind you and say “we’re doing music and it has to work.” If you go into it thinking you can go back to banking or whatever, you’re kind of setting yourself up for failure. You’ve just got to go for it and make it happen.
Who are your biggest inspirations?
My all-time favorite bands are Guns and Roses (in my younger days) then Prague and progressive rock as I got older. I just released a solo at my first solo album last month. It’s very much not Prague, but you can definitely hear some influences. I grew up listening to the hair band stuff that was big at the time – Poison, Motley Crue, and Def Leppard. Then in college, Nirvana came on to the scene and I got really into grunge and alternative rock – Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Nirvana. If you listen to the five songs on the EP, you can probably hear some influences. It’s sort of like Guns and Roses meets Matchbox Twenty meets Pearl Jam.
If you could go open a show for any artist who would it be?
My dream band would be Guns and Roses, but I really don’t think my stuff is heavy enough to qualify! But maybe opening up for a Matchbox Twenty, Train, or something like that would be kind of cool. A lot of people hear a heavy Tom Petty influence in my stuff, and I have fix or seven of his songs in my repertoire, so maybe him!
What are your thoughts on content creation as an artist? How do you feel about artists having to balance their social media presence and still be committed to their art?
It’s a whole new world as far as music publishing and music creation. That’s one of the main reasons when I finally did a solo EP, I just did five songs. For this new generation, sitting down and listening to twelve or fourteen songs, you’ve got to be really dedicated to that artist. Then it’s a matter of coming up with little pieces of content to market each song. It’s no longer about going out and promoting the album. But what 30 second video can I come up with to promote this single? Or what 30 second video can I come up with promote this show? Maybe if somebody takes 10 or 11 pictures from this weekend shows, I can combine them into a video and post them Monday after all of my gigs. Iit definitely makes you change the way you think about how you market yourself.
Clapper’s still relatively new for me. I’m kind of figuring it out, but I love it because I used to be into livestreaming. I used to go out when I was gigging and I’d have Periscope open while I was performing. I’d be out there singing at bars and restaurants and people are sending over super hearts and stuff. So I’m very much looking forward to utilizing Clapper more for social media and Livestreaming.
Who helped you most in your journey?
I would say the other local musicians in the Baltimore scene have probably helped me the most. I used to do banking and mortgage, and was part of networking groups so I could collect leads. When I quit my day job, I thought I could forget about networking. But it doesn’t matter what you do for a living. You still have to network. If I can, I try to get out and visit Open Mic nights or where my friends are playing. Then hopefully they’ll come out and support me where I’m playing. Because you could be the best musician in the world, but if nobody’s coming to see you, they’re probably not going to book you again. It’s folks like that, the people locally that book The Open Mic nights and that come out and support you when you’re playing.
Deciding to be an artist can have its ups and downs. What advice would you give to that young artist who is just learning to play guitar, or starting singing lessons and whose dream is to be a musician?
Never give up. Just when you’re fed up and frustrated and thinking it’s time to give up, never give up. I could have packed it in several times. There was a time several years ago where I wasn’t getting much traction online or in person, and I was wondering why I was still doing it. And I realized I could take myself out the music scene, but the musician was still in me. It’s part of who I am. If you’re like me and you know it’s engrained in your DNA, just keep pushing.
Make sure to check our recorded live session on our account Clapper Sounds and in our reels on Instagram. Enjoy the Clapper Sounds Live Session with this amazing artist, Chris Montcalmo!