Up & Comer : Amy Chase
This week’s Up & Comer is Amy Chase! If you’re in a band, or play awesome music and want to be featured as a Lip Up & Comer, email Zoya at [email protected]!
Tell us a bit about yourself!
I’m am 27 years old and am currently living between Sydney and Cairns. I am half Indonesian half Australian. People constantly tell me ‘for such a small woman you can certainly sing’. I am 162cm and I’m a big fan of hitting the high notes with all I’ve got!
When I write I write about things that have happened. My EP will be mainly about breakup and heartache… There is nothing like a breakup to write an album!
Tell us a bit about your journey as a musician so far.
When I left school I studied for a year at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. When I finished that I went into hospitality as all good musicians do so I could have a job that was flexible so I could do gigs. Before I knew it I was doing hospitality full time. This eventually led me to moving to Port Douglas to work in a hotel my friend was managing. To make a long story short, one night I was silly drunk (think I attended an AFL grand final brunch at 10am and had been drinking all day) so at about 11.30pm there was a band playing and me being my drunk self, [I] walked up and was all ‘I can sing’. So I sang, and a week later I was doing a gig. That eventually led to me having my own covers band, The Amy Chase Band. Since then I have supported Marcia Hines, Daryl Braithwaite, Andrew Wishart, Paulini and have been lucky enough to sing to lots of people on a regular basis.
Describe your music for a new listener?
Very soulful mixed with R&B, bit of jazz while being contemporary at the same time. I am quite versatile which can sometimes be a curse, I’m in the process of writing my EP and struggle with what style I want my album to be!
Where would you like to see yourself (as a musician) in 2 years time?
I’d love to be a touring musician. I constantly think how crazy it is that people pay me to sing when really I’d do it for free. I don’t care whether I am playing originals or covers or playing for a packed venue or for 2 people I just loved doing what I do!
What’s the best gig you’ve been to recently?
Best gigs I’ve been to lately would have to be watching Busby Marou play at The Tanks in Cairns. It’s such a beautiful organic venue and Busby Marou are so enchanting.
As for the best personal gig that I have done would have to be NYE two years ago as it was the first time I’d played to so many people (about 600-700 people) and I’d only been doing gigs for about two months.
Anything else you’d like to add?
You are only as good as your last gig so I believe in giving every gig my all, no matter how small or how big. I am extremely blessed to play with the amazing musicians that I have in my band. My song writing partner and guitarist extraordinaire, Mic Porter, makes me feel so incredibly lucky and makes my job easy. Writing with him is so easy that sometimes I feel as though it’s all a little too easy! Every time I play with him it’s like an education and I am constantly learning new things and being pushed to be better. Surrounding [myself] with amazing musicians who I have such respect for makes me want to be better.
As a musician, an artist, you tend to struggle with whether you are good enough and tend to get quite down on yourself, but I find that all it takes is a bit of perspective and you need to remind yourself that music is magical and is a blessing. Like holy crap! People actually are coming to see me sing! It’s crazy!
