PHOTOS AND INTERVIEW BY ZACH TIMBERLAKE

ZACH: On top of your work releasing music as Downey Chase, You're also the lead singer of the brazen youth. How different is the process of making music and touring as a solo artist, versus in a band?

DC: It's quite different, but also very much the same. I think the parts that are really different are that I have to be extremely like self reliant with the band, if I'm like, making something or have an idea that I'm not totally sure about, there's that sort of external validation of, like, collaboration with band members, to be like, Oh, that's shit. Oh, that's kind of cool, you know? But with solo, it's just you have to be completely reliant on your own judgments usually, at least, that's how it is right now for me. Then touring is different, because it's a lot easier because it's just me and a guitar, you know. Like I wouldn't be able to do what I'm about to do in Europe with the band, to be honest, with the margins, because it's just me on a guitar on a train. So it's, like, really inexpensive to do it, and the setup is really easy. And so that's what I would say is mostly different. It's just, like, a much smaller scale.

ZACH: You've been making music for over 10 years now, all the way from 2015 to now…

DC: Actually, even earlier.

ZACH: I guess that's just the first brazen youth release music, right?

DC: We actually have three albums before that, that we took down.

ZACH: Three albums before that? oh my gosh, so all the way back to high school, that's pretty crazy. What's like, the best and worst change you've seen in the music industry from like then to now?

DC: I mean, AI for sure, but I also think AI will be, I think it's in a way gonna save... I have to be very careful with how I say this. I think it's gonna force people to not make generic things. It's gonna force people to, like, actually really think about what makes art, individual and unique and human, and might, really be, this mass awakening of the most amazing art we've seen since the Renaissance, or something.

ZACH: Yeah, that's true. I mean, you have to elevate yourself, above the base AI slop level.

DC: yeah. Like, okay, the issue is not... oh, again, I have to be very careful. The issue is not like to me, at least, isn't, oh, I'm worried that AI is going to make something that I can make. It's more of is this music I make so replicable that it could be replicated by AI? So I'd say that's the biggest change. Then I'd say, just like streaming in general. It's really interesting, like having started making music, when I was in early high school, it was, you know, buy my CD, or buy my song on iTunes, and now into the streaming world, and having to kind of like shift in real time. And I know that every musician has dealt with that, but it's also really interesting to have been in it since the very beginning of streaming into what it is now, which is mostly just algorithmic, you know, personalized playlists.

ZACH: Is that like a good change? I feel like, for some artists, it makes it easier to get their music seen, but then, you don't have that somebody buy your CD, right? You're competing against so much now/

DC: It's tough, because I think for a lot of artists, they rely on the recurring income that streaming brings, but I also think a lot of artists who made a living before, from selling CDs at concerts and everything, can't make a living anymore. And it's, I think it's probably a net negative, but like everything it has its positives and its negatives.

ZACH: Physical media is making a comeback, so maybe some positive changes in next, next five years.

So anybody who follows you on social media sees you're always out in nature, always out in the mountains. What's the best secret hiking spot in Colorado that you have? And also, how does it affect your music making process, just being surrounded by nature all the time.

DC: The best secret, that's a good question, I think the best spot is always the next, the next one that you discover. I love, like when we make our videos, we just go and we drive down roads that we haven't been on, and we find cool spots. And I think that's what I love so much about Colorado, is like, there's just, like, this endless discovery of beautiful places. That's kind of a political answer.

ZACH: No, no, no. I think it's good. I mean, I feel like you always remember the last one you were just on, but maybe not the one from a long time ago.

DC: Well, I definitely go through phases with spots like that spot that we did our first shoot at, right off of Canyon, and, like, I kept going, for a month, I'd go back to that spot again every weekend. Now I have like, these new spots that I'm going to and it's just kind of cool, like, rotate and, go back to the same spots, but, yeah, I really like the pull offs on those country roads.

ZACH: How does it affect your music making process? Just being out in nature all the time, every week, it seems like you're out there.

DC: yeah, it just makes me. It's like a constant reflection of why? Like, what drives it, you know? It's just like wanting to get closer to that sort of natural state of being, you know.

ZACH: Okay, Last question, what's your Mount Rushmore of influential artists?

DC: Oh, that's, that's a good one. Adrianne Lenker, So does it have to be, how many…

ZACH: It has to be four most influential for just you in general, or it can be for what drives your music making?

DC: Okay, Adrianne Lenker, I'll keep that. Thom Yorke, Sufjan Stevens

ZACH: Classic, Come on, feel the Illinoise…

DC: yeah, okay, maybe I mean, I love electronic music, so I feel like I have to throw one of those in like, Aphex twin, that's already, that's already four, yeah, or like, Olafur Arnalds, who's a really awesome Icelandic composer, someone like that. Because I mostly will during the day, like, just listen to instrumental music. And I think instrumental music inspires a lot of my songs.

ZACH: Yeah I know, a room of motion, you have that last track, tenant. It's super atmospheric and instrumental. So, definitely see those influences.

DC: yeah, love it