“Chance” EP Out Now!!!

“Chance” artwork by Dan Verkys

Today sees the release of “Chance”, my new EP and first official solo release since 2014!!!

During the writing and recording of two albums with The Feckers during lockdown in 2020, I looked one day and realised that I had even more songs ready to go, and as fun and inspiring as doing The Feckers is, sometimes doing some tunes on a smaller scale is a good “yin” to the “yang” of that crazy but amazing situation we have created. I might not have looked at these songs again seriously for a couple of years, but with the pandemic hitting and so many friends losing months of work instantly, I thought of Brett, and figured that all things considered, that it might be a good “chance” to do some tunes together. Luckily for me he was keen! This whole “lets do this while we can” line of thinking, which is how I try to approach life anyway, was really apparent after something as big as what happened, and became a big theme to the songs, and meaning of the EP.

It was recorded very quickly mostly during July of 2020, with Brett busting out a track or two at a time, and myself chipping away on the remaining tracks over the remaining weekends in July and August with a plan to mix a song here and there for a while, and release it around July of 2021. Just a nice casual thing that wouldn’t interrupt anything else or be too stressful for anyone. When I did revisit things in the leadup to release, I noticed a couple of things I wanted to touch up which happened over the last couple of weeks literally.

One of my favourite moments from the creation of this EP with when the song “Who Could Have Seen” was coming together. It came about from a little idea I captured in my hotel room in Brisbane during a trip there visiting friends and family the previous year, and when it was time to record it for real it was likely going to be a stripped back acoustic song, with maybe a cajon but lots of space. I sent it over to Brett, mentioned this and said “what do you reckon”, and he responded something like “give me a couple of hours”. I had lawns to mow, so figured I would do that and come back and check my emails. Not too long after I had finished I had a version of the song from him with a drum track AND a totally cool orchestral section that he had mapped out on his keyboard. DAMN!!!

When it came down to those beautiful lines appearing on the song, there was no choice but to have real instruments playing them, which is what led me to coming across the amazing Rick Curran, a great person and player from the UK. Boy did he deliver!!!

To listen and / or purchase, check out my Bandcamp Site.

Links to more digital stores will be coming asap!!!

CREDITS:

Words and music by Chris Szkup (Except “Who Could Have Seen” – Words and Music By Chris Szkup and Brett Collidge), mixed by Dennis Leeflang @Livelong Productions, mastered by Joe Carra @ Crystal Mastering, artwork by Dan Verkys.

Chris Szkup – Vocals, guitars, bass, piano
Brett Collidge – Drums, extra piano
Rick Curran – Strings

“Chance” EP Out August 27, 2021 – Preview Clips Available!!!

Happy to announce that “Chance”, my new EP and my first official solo release since 2014, will be out on August 27, 2021, here and on my Bandcamp Page!!! I hope you enjoy these preview clips!!

It features Brett Collidge Musician on drums and extra piano, Rick Curran on strings and myself on vocals, guitars, bass and piano.

Mixed by Dennis Leeflang @ Livelong Productions, mastered by Joe Carra @ Crystal Mastering, and artwork by The Art of Dan Verkys.

New EP “Chance” – Coming soon!!!

“Chance” artwork by Dan Verkys

Happy to share the artwork for my new EP “Chance”, which will be coming out asap!! During the lockdown of 2020, we had such a creative rush of songs with The Feckers and when I thought about it for a second, it turned out I had even MORE songs ready to go.

Hearing about so many of my musician friends having their work instantly vanish on them, I thought it might be a good “chance” to check in with Brett Collidge and see if he was up for playing drums on a few tunes. Lucky for me he was, and it was a real pleasure to do!

On the last song we did, I sent a stripped back demo to see what he thought, went to mow the lawns, and when I got back inside there was a message that said “let me know if its too much, but…” and a file that included drums and a beautiful string arrangement for the song!!! We got Rick Curran from the UK to play those lines and it is really something!!!

I couldn’t release music without the amazing mixes of Dennis Leeflang or the incredible artwork of The Art of Dan Verkys either! Thanks to all of you guys for making me sound and look much better than I am! ? This is going into mastering and then will be released digitally asap. Will keep you posted.

BEHIND THE SCENES AND TACOHAT:

Me being a typical vain, arrogant musician, shooting THE cover image for the “Chance” cover took a few go’s. If I recall correctly, three shoots in total. Some I looked ridiculous in, some were a good vibe but the quality wasn’t the best, and some were really good except for me stepping outside the view of the greenscreen thus making it useless. During the process for a laugh, Dan commented on this and sent back a “Tacohat” version of the cover that just killed me!!!!

“Tacohat” artwork by Dan Verkys

This was a few weeks ago. I knew I HAD to post it, and would when we nailed the real cover and the release was a bit closer as well. So we had some fun with it on social media – seemed like it would be a cool thing to break up all the divisive stuff in Facebook feeds for a minute. Anyway, the gags continued, and we came up with an idea of a “World Tour” for the Tacohat EP, and the following poster came to be. Make sure you click on the QR code haha!!

As always, the BIGGEST appreciation to my mate Dan Verkys for the consistently amazing work over a long time, always going above and beyond, and laughing with us along the way!!!! 😀

See ya’s on tour!!!…..Haha!!! 😛

New bands, music, a return to the stage in Hobart, art exhibitions and new vids!!!

Cunning

(Photo above from the Cunning Stunts gig at the Republic Bar and Cafe, Hobart – thanks to Colin Mahoney!!)

Welcome to the first update in a while! My apologies for that, but here’s the latest!

  • The Szkup, Lundgren, Leeflang, Szkup collection of songs is still happening!!! Sometimes life happens and gets in the way of the plans you’ve made, but rest assured that this stuff will be coming out. It’s some of the best stuff I’ve ever done by a long shot. Here’s a short vid from guitar tracking today!

  • Recently I also made my return to the live stage in Hobart for the first time in 11 years, as part of a

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    Post gig shot photobombed amazingly by Colin Mahoney! (Jake Cowburn, Brett Collidge, Mathew Szkup, Chris Szkup)

    Metallica Tribute band Cunning Stunts, featuring Brett Collidge – Drums, Jake Cowburn – Bass / Vocals, Mathew Szkup – Guitar / Vocals and Myself – Guitar. The night was an amazing success and totally took us by suprise. So much so that we’ll be doing it again semi regularly as we’re able to find free dates in everyone’s schedules. Will keep you posted!

(Photo courtesy of Shot By Slaidins Photography)

 

 

  • Over the past handful of months I’ve been getting a line up of guys together slowly. It’s intended to be very heavy and aggressive thrash metal, and we’re writing for it as we speak. Still on the hunt for a singer and a bass player if anyone is out there.

Here are a couple of vids from us jamming!

  • Back in February I was honoured to be asked again by the mighty Dan Verkys to provide music for his latest exhibition called Chaos Dreaming!!! Was a great day as always. Here’s a few pics from the festivities!!

(Photos by Daryl Bean)

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The Waiting for Yesterday Henchmen / Women!!! (DJ Bun DMC, Amber, Dan Verkys, Chris)

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CS noodling away during the exhibition!

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The selfie wall!!

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Dan and Chris catching up before kickoff!!

Here’s a vid of me playing there on the day!