Check out Seth Boyack’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Seth Boyack.

Seth, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My name is Seth Boyack and I front the indie rock band, New Chums. As a California native who had moved to Phoenix in 2013, I started the monumental task of putting a band together in a city where I didn’t know a single musician. It took a few years of sifting through the “Musician Wanted” ads on Craigslist to finally find the solid line-up I was looking for. The band consists of: Seth Boyack (vocals/guitar), Ben Hedlund (drums), Matt Lloyd (guitar/vocals) and Cassandra Clark (bass/vocals). In April of 2017, we played our very first show together and have done some pretty recognizable things on a national level with our debut EP “See It for Myself”.

Our music video for our first single “Come On, Come On” was featured in every Journeys store across the USA (and Canada), our song “Blossom” was recently featured on SiriusXM’s Advanced Placement, and numerous songs from our EP have been featured in restaurants, clothing stores and other retail locations nationwide. So, listen close Phoenix! Next time you’re out on the town, you might just hear some New Chums… and if you do, Shazam it and shoot us a message to let us know!

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Why do I write songs? To answer that I need to take you back to when I first picked up a guitar at the age of 17. Back then; I learned guitar by putting basic chords together, singing melodies over the chord progressions and ultimately writing pretty terrible songs. To this day, that process hasn’t changed (minus the pretty terrible songs part). Every time I pick up the guitar, I’m working on new material.

For me, inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes and the majority of my songs reflect what myself (or others close to me) might be going through. Writing is very cathartic for me and I feel that once I complete the song, I’m able to process whatever emotion I’m feeling and file it away. The added benefit is when we’re playing live, I get to feel those emotions again and, in a way, that I don’t think I otherwise would have.

What do I hope people take away from my music? The cool thing about music is it’s so personal to everyone. Some songs hit me because of a very simple guitar part, vocal melody, lyric etc. so my hope is that our music has an impact on people to just feel something they might not have felt if they hadn’t ever listened to our music. If we can accomplish that, we’ve done something pretty special and unique.

What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Being in a band is a ton of hard work but the most important thing is that you never give up. Keep writing, keep playing, and keep creating! Don’t quit when it gets frustrating or mundane or if you’re not seeing progress like you’d hope to. The overall market success of your art/craft should never be something that deters you from being an artist and doing what you love. Just know that there is only one YOU. Not everyone can do what you do, so appreciate your unique gift and always work to improve it. I think if you use that approach to most things in life, you’ll end up doing just fine.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
The best place for people to see our work is by coming out to a show. Shows are where we get to display our art, as opposed to hiding behind our recordings. The energy we bring to a live show is much different than listening to our record at home or in the car. Live shows also bring our community closer together, which we love! Getting to know people after a show and learning what music they’re listening to and what other bands they’ve seen lately is a definite highlight for us. We enjoy supporting other local musicians here in Phoenix, and we encourage others to do the same.

If you haven’t heard our stuff yet and are reluctant to come out to a show, we can always be heard on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, YouTube, etc. If you give our stuff a spin there, and you dig it, come out to a show, deal? And once you can’t stop singing our tunes, tell all your friends who like and appreciate good music; you’ll be doing them (and us) a huge favor.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://newchumsband.com/
• Email: newchumsband@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newchums/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newchumsband/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/newchumsband

Image Credit:
Photo 1 – Matt Lloyd (first photo uploaded of Seth behind a brick wall)
Photo 2 @jennifer_mullins_photography
Photo 3 @phnx_rc
Photos 4-6 @wyldflwrcreative.co
Photo 7 – Seth Boyack

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.