Featured Artist: Chasen
If the name Chasen sounds unfamiliar to you then carry on reading because they are a band well worth finding out about. Born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, Chasen Callahan had a gift that was honed during nearly a decade as a worship pastor. He built a following one person at a time, playing youth camps and conferences.
Each summer, he'd recruit students to play alongside him, but each fall Callahan's makeshift band would inevitably head back to school while the demand for his unique brand of worship continued to grow. Enter: Evan Silver and Aaron Lord. With a full-time band in place, Chasen began recording and selling their music and a career grew naturally as Callahan did what God had asked of him. Bassist Jared Barber joined the threesome in May 2009 to round out their sound.
Through it all, Callahan continued to lead worship for his home congregation, Marathon Church, which attracted about 5,000 each Sunday. "I was content to lead worship on Sunday mornings", Callahan says, "but I felt God saying, 'I want you to get beyond these four walls and reach people for me.'" Chasen experienced solid radio success with two songs, the Top 5 'Crazy/Beautiful' and 'Drown'. "At that point, INO Records called us," says Callahan, "We always respected INO's ministry and creative focus. It's a great fit for us."
All of this preparation led Callahan and the band that bears his name to the release of their major label debut album 'That Was Then This Is Now' in March 2010, the follow up to their first independent project 'Shine Through the Stars' (2008).
Many of the tracks have a very personal story behind them. A talented songwriter himself (having penned tunes with Stellar Kart and Addison Road), Callahan teamed up with Sam Mizell (Matthew West, Michael W. Smith, Jordin Sparks) for 'Slow Down' which was inspired by a conversation Callahan had with his mom on a rough day. "She's a pastor's wife and there's a lot that goes into that, and there were some financial struggles, and my brother was ill. She was just bawling her eyes out. The only thing I could give her was to remind her of that verse in the Bible that says, 'be still and know that He is God.'"
'Airplanes' is a song about loss, inspired by the untimely death of one of Callahan's friends, while 'On and On', the album's first radio single, is a stirring anthem penned by Callahan and Hawkins in just two hours. "The nation was reacting to the recession and weighty political issues as well as all the negativity in the media," Callahan recalls. "We'd lost that joy, but when all else fails, God's love never does. I serve a God that is much bigger than the economy or who our president is. His grace goes on forever so I'm not going to worry about tomorrow."
Chasen are a band you can expect to hear a lot more about in the coming months and years, and rightly so. With such heartfelt lyrics and impressive sounding music, they are a band with a lot to offer.
