Chase Petra Q&A
By Peter Nomeland
Chase Petra is a Long Beach, California-based pop-punk band consisting of lead singer Hunter Allen, guitarist Genevieve Quiquivix, bassist Brooke Dickson, and drummer Evan Schaid. Their latest EP, “4 o'clock in the afternoon”, is available for streaming everywhere, as well as their recent single, “Reliable Narrator,” along with an accompanying music video. You can see them here in Minneapolis on March 18th at the Whole Music Club in Coffman Memorial Union. Allen sat down with the Wake to talk about their origins, perseverance, touring, and Keanu Reeves.
How long have you been performing music professionally?
We started quite some time ago. I was fresh into community college and had been playing in bands for a while throughout high school and my teenage years. And when I got into community college, it was just becoming more and more apparent that, you know, people were moving on and, starting their degrees, getting careers, they weren't really bothering with music anymore. And I was still trying so hard to, like, hold onto the dream, and it was really, really difficult to keep up the energy, but by persevering and kind of pushing through it, regardless of those feelings.
When did you guys start together as a group, and what's been your career trajectory?
I think we started technically under the name Chase Petra in like 2017 or 2018. But Evan, Brook, and I started officially being a band, probably closer to the end of 2018, and really finding our footing then. So it's been five years now. And frankly, we have no idea what we're doing in terms of our career trajectory. We've always just tried to stay open to the opportunities, and as time has passed, we've just gotten bigger opportunities, and it's been really exciting to see the effort of the past five years actually pay off. So again, like there's no real master plan per se. I wish that I was a bit more of a planner or a bit more of a business person, but it's super go-with-the-flow right now. That's how we ended up in Minneapolis because somebody reached out to us and was just like, Hey, is this something you'd be interested in? And we'd never done it before. And we just decided, well, like, fuck it, let's do it because, you know, somebody offers you something new, why not?
How would you describe your sound?
That's a great question. I don't know. There was a period when we were calling ourselves a quarter-life crisis, pop-rock, and that was kind of a joke, but kind of not a joke, you know what I mean? On the internet, we've been called pop-punk and pop-rock. I heard another one recently that was a genre I had never even heard of before. But I'm gonna say pop-rock music is probably the most accurate descriptor.
What has touring been like?
Well, we went on our first major tour in November and December. We had just come out with our EP, 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and it being our first time, you know, we were nervous, we were scared. Touring is new for us and a burgeoning part of our career. Minneapolis is actually just a one-shot for us. So we're actually just flying out and playing the show and then coming back home.
I saw that you guys are going to Europe in the fall. How did that come together, and are you looking forward to that?
A booking agent from Europe literally just emailed our booking agent and was like, would they be interested in going to Europe? And you know, like, we have fans internationally, but it had never occurred to us to make that leap. But again, when the opportunity arises, if you can make it work, we're just gonna make it work. And I'm so, so excited. I'm a little nervous cuz like, obviously, the tour life is new to us. We're gonna be touring mostly in the U.K., so at least we'll be able to read stuff. [Laughs]
You guys just released a music video for your song "Reliable Narrator" could you explain how that came together and sort of the aesthetics you chose?
The video was kind of inspired by early Panic! At the Disco vibes. We worked on it with an old friend that we've made music videos with for years, but we just decided to kind of like step it up a bit more this time and put a little bit more pre-planning and thought, and effort into it. And I think it really paid off like it's my favorite music video we've ever made. I was so happy with how it came out. The invitation for the video was literally just like, wear your craziest outfit. Like, feel good, look hot, do what you wanna do. So, a bunch of our friends came and dressed up in corsets and heels, and it was so much fun.
Lastly, can you explain the Keanu Reeves cardboard cutout video? (Go to their Instagram @chasepetra to see what I'm talking about)
[Laughs] We have a song called Keanu Reeves, and it's one of our singles off our last EP, and it's just a part of the lyrics. Like the song isn't about Keanu Reeves. But, like, it's a fun name for a song. And we had been joking about needing a cardboard cut out of him for so long, and then in the middle of our tour in the Midwest, I think we were in Columbus, Ohio, this person had printed the cardboard cut out of Keanu Reeves, and it is one of the funniest, coolest things, anyone has ever done for us. It was such a beautiful moment in the career of this band. We have it hanging up in the studio now; it's a beacon of hope for us.
