Band built on word of mouth, continuing to grow

By: Craig Bidiman

Posted: 1/9/09

What started five years ago as a glorified solo project has turned into a house party favorite. Now, chemicalwarbear has been representing Corvallis as a full band for more than two years.

Brainchild of guitarist-vocalist, Gabe Norris, chemicalwarbear has been working hard to establish its new name, adopted last April. Norris recorded his earliest album, "Sincerely Goodbye," while finishing his senior year in high school. He played solo and acoustically for several years after that, leading him into college where he established himself as a solo artist.

Rounding out the band is Ben Collins on bass (formerly of Wolves Bound for Rome), Cole Fingerut on guitar and Kaycee Kay (of I Never Heard the Bullet, formerly of Wolves Bound for Rome) on drums.

The biggest challenge the band has had to face is the ever-present difficulty of changing a name. Going from their songwriter's locally known moniker, the group has been working hard to create their own style and function as a cohesive unit.

"We started off playing all of Gabe's songs but with a full band," Collins said. "Then we started writing together, which was turned out to be really easy because we are all best friends."

Trust is a major part of the group as well.

"I asked Cole to be in the band without even having heard him play guitar before," Norris said. "It was just one of those random things that wound up working out in the end once we jammed together."

Norris, an online-ordained minister, wanted the group to focus on creating music that wasn't trying to imitate anything.

"My point of us becoming a band was that we weren't going to try to copy anybody," Norris said. "I know everybody says that, but in reality it is real hard for some kids to foster that creativity to be original."

Norris started writing songs in high school and has matured into writing about a number of personal experiences after he found that songs written by the band Minus the Bear weren't based on real-life events, but merely a novel-project by the band.

"At first I had a hard time when I found out the songs weren't based on real-life experiences," Norris said. "I wanted it all to be real, but after thinking about it for a while, the ideas must have come from something real."

Norris went on to discuss how he has made an effort to draw on his own experiences to give the songs a more genuine feel.

The group, which placed third in the OSU Battle of the Bands in 2007, has never been able to place a finger on the style of music they play. Even their fans have much difficulty defining the chemicalwarbear sound.

"We get that question a lot," Fingerut said. "We don't know what this is."

If there were to be a definition associated with the band, a trained ear would simply deem it a chill project. More likely than not, listeners will be comforted by the consoling voice of Norris, the uplifting riffs that he and Fingerut orchestrate and the brilliant rhythmic styles that Collins and Kay consistently produce. All of that coupled with the fun-loving, crowd-appreciative, slightly intoxicated response that Norris and the rest of the band always exude during live shows makes chemicalwarbear a memorable set for any fan of true music to experience.

Collins said that he wasn't playing the bass when Norris asked him to join the band, and that he started it up again. He said he feels as if he is constantly getting better at his own instrument while the entire group continues to become tighter as they write more and more material together.

"Just being able to play with your best friends gives you some room to relax and not worry about if your riffs are heavy enough," Collins said.

Being serious about the music they are playing while being able to laugh off a number of situations is a great trait this band encompasses. They are also able to find the importance behind finishing school while keeping their friendships strong.

"We once played a show in the back of a Chinese food restaurant," Fingerut said. "The stage is in the back where the bar was located, and I turned to Gabe and said 'this can't be the right place, man.'"

"Gabe and I take the stage for 20 middle-aged bikers while music videos of Buckcherry, Staind and Nickelback are playing in the background, and we are up there with our acoustic guitars and get booed almost immediately."

"They were yelling things like, 'Play some Metallica!' It was awesome," Norris said with a laugh.

All of the OSU members of chemicalwarbear (Collins, Fingerut and Norris) are in their final year of college and are anticipating a move up to Portland to be in closer proximity to Kay and to pursue a more serious approach to spreading their music.

"I think what has kept us together is the fact that we are best friends," Fingerut said. "But we do push each other a lot."

The band is performing tonight as a part of an event called the Pre-Exam Jam 4, which will be held in the International Forum (Club Escape), which is behind Snell hall. The show is being put on by the Oregon State Musicians Guild, and it starts at 7 p.m. Also performing in the show tonight are New Mecca, A Starlight Incident and the debut of Splittin' Aces.

Craig Bidiman

diversions@dailybarometer.com