Meet Michael Davis, Caleb McFadden and Justin Daggett of Chess at Breakfast in Fort Collins

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Davis, Caleb McFadden and Justin Daggett.

Michael, Caleb and Justin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Having been friends in music for many years, Caleb and Justin began writing lounge-rock songs in about 2013 or 2014. With the two of them taking on multiple roles for this project, it moved at a slow, but steady, pace for a few years. The project was named Chess at Breakfast, originally being a representation of the low-key energy of the songs, but Caleb and Justin had no idea that the name would take on a whole new meaning in their future.

Amidst the struggle of trying to get songs written and recorded with only two people, the duo looked towards playing shows. They ended up booking their first set at The Colorado Room, before they had secured a third member, ideally to play the drums. Around this time, their acquaintance and occasional jam partner, Mike Davis, reached out to them to offer to be their producer. Realizing that Mike was also a drummer, the idea of him taking on the role of live drummer seemed only logical. So, the decision was made and the band began practicing for a show that was only ten days away! The band quickly understood that the addition of Mike’s energetic drums, they would no longer be considered lounge rock, to none of their dismay.

This first show was in July of 2016, and the band still remembers that show as one of their favorites. Since then, Chess at Breakfast has painstakingly honed their craft into a dynamic and high-energy live performance, accentuating lyrics laced with dark humor and poignant political commentary.

In addition to improving their live performance, they have vastly expanded their repertoire of original songs; their first release was a five-song EP titled “The Gutshalls” in March 2017. With a successful release show at the local venue Surfside 7, the band seemed to be on a solid track to success in Colorado’s live music scene. The band supported their EP with a short tour to the Southwest US, really testing their sound with entirely unfamiliar crowds and learning many lessons from that experience.

Incorporating those experiences into forward motion, the band immediately got to work on new material, which occupied their free time for the rest of 2017, amongst a substantial amount of FoCo and Denver shows. They ended up booking studio time in November of 2017 to record drums for 12 new songs. These recordings were refined and other instruments were overdubbed at drummer Mike Davis’s home studio, throughout 2018, with a hit single “Pushing Daisies” hitting the airwaves in April 2018.

Coasting off the momentum from the single, C@B got the opportunity to play at a couple local festivals, FoCoMX and Underground Music Showcase. These performances expanded their reach, just in time for them to finish up work on their upcoming debut LP, Wealthcare, for which the band prepared a massive promotion campaign to maximize their release’s impact. After a few promotional singles, the band released the LP in May of 2019 and has since toured the Midwest in the summer, as well as having their first couple sold-out shows.

As 2020 nears, Chess at Breakfast is poised to continue their journey into progressive rock with even more new material, all while maintaining their roots as a DIY rock band. Be on the lookout for new music next year!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Our journey as a band has been sprinkled with trials and tribulations, but overall, we have been very fortunate with the support we have received from family, friends, and the Fort Collins music community.

One of the big difficulties, as is the case for many businesses, has been financial success. Early on, we found ourselves playing many shows for free or for food and drink alone. This is to be expected, as that is part of paying your dues. And the privilege to play shows allowed us to refine our live performance so that we are more fun to watch. Luckily, we have reached a point where we make a decent amount of money with each show.

Another struggle we have had to endure has been delegation of tasks. Since a musical act requires many different types of maintenance, from social media to production to booking, it helps to have more people in a band to more reasonably assign these individual tasks to band members. Having only three people, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to accomplish tasks that bands with more members could achieve with less time and effort per person.

In addition to finances and task delegation, it has been a bit of a struggle being a self-produced band. We save a lot of money by producing our music ourselves, but our output is slower and sometimes we may overthink things because we have complete control of the outcome. Despite this dynamic, we have really become very efficient due to our commitment to self-production, and our writing process is very streamlined because of it.

Despite these struggles, we have made very substantial progress from when we started, and we are very proud that we have stayed true to our DIY spirit throughout that journey. We also have to give a shout-out to The Music District for providing so much help to us in getting on our feet.

We’d love to hear more about your band.
We are a progressive rock band that specializes in creating audio-visual experiences for an audience that enjoys unconventional music and dark humor.

We are most proud of our commitment to being self-sufficient and learning as much as possible from every aspect of our musical journey. That self-sufficiency comes through in our performance too, which definitely sets us apart from other bands. We bring a lot of energy and volume to the room, and the audience always feeds off our energy. This dynamic really drives us forward and keeps us motivated.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
First and foremost, good luck has brought us together as a band, and we are so grateful for that. We mesh very well with each other, creatively, and we have all become great friends through our musical journey.

Also, we have been very lucky to have started in such a supportive music community as Fort Collins. It has a great balance of being a small town, but still having enough venues to play and enough fans to reach. We really haven’t experienced very much bad luck, which has been nice.

Chess at Breakfast plays Aggie Theater Saturday, January 25th.

Pricing:

• Wealthcare CD – $10
• Logo T-Shirt – $15
• Chess Hand Pin – $5

Contact Info:

• Website: chessatbreakfast.com
• Email: chessatbreakfast@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chessatbreakfast/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chessatbreakfast/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3qDNRekmsW3Fk49pqmp5Hk?si=2WOmkiA1Q1usYOslZx9oJw

Image Credit:
Callen Liverance

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