Ok. Before we even get started I wanted to apologize for introducing you as 'That guy from Chief' at that benefit gig.
Don't worry about it, I don't know if I even heard that!

Well, it was really rude and I'm sorry.
It's all good. Not a problem.

Ok. Lets do it. Hi Evan!
Hey!

So how long has Chief been together?
I guess about two years.

Have you always been 'Chief'?
Yeah, always been Chief.

Who came up with the name?
I did.

Why didn't you go with 'The Chiefs'?
Well, we're trying to be a little unique, we didn't want to...

Get on the 'The' bandwagon?
Yeah.

It passed a long time ago anyway.
It did.

Describe the Chief 'sound.'
Ahhh... it's hard to say, I mean, it's kind of a little folky, a little... '60s throwback kind of thing, but there's also something kind of new about it too. But ahhh... it's hard to think of our influences...

Yeah, and you're the lead singer?
Yeah. I write about 70 percent of the music, and then Danny (Fujikawa) writes some too, so it's pretty much me and him, but I do most of the singing, most of the songwriting.

Right, right, and you cut your hair off recently?
Yeah...

Which shouldn't matter, but it does to me. You cut all you hair off?
Ah, yeah.

How come? What happened?
I got a bad haircut, it was a trim but kind of too much of a trim, and then I just had to go all the way you know?

Yeah, it must have been tough though right? I mean, it was below your shoulders.
Yeah, it was real long. I do that though, for the last four years I've been growing it long and then shaving it off.

That's kind of amazing because I know most people when they grow their hair really long, they get attached to it, it becomes an achievement, like— 'Check it out! I grew this all myself!' and the last thing they wanna do is cut it off.
Right.

Right, I'm sure it must get heavy after a while.
Oh yeah, also it becomes difficult to manage, it gets tangled...

Right. What are you washing it with? Shampoo?
Yeah, I'm just doing a little shampoo.

Once a week, say?
Yeah, about that.

Good, good. So what's happening with you guys as far as recording goes?
We're recording right now, we have about six songs that aren't mixed.

Cool.
And we released an EP about eight months ago.

The Castle is Gone; it was brilliant.
Thanks! We'll probably put the new tracks up on our MySpace page pretty soon.

What were you doing before the band?
Ah... I went to NYU and I graduated in like, 2004.

What did you study?
Philosophy.

Right on. Do you think if like, the Chief thing doesn't work out you'll... philosophize?
I really doubt it.

CHIEF: Studio Sessions

CHIEF: "Your Direction"