“Let’s rock and roll.” That’s a phrase that’s very cognizant with Chuck Prophet’s identity.
Chuck Prophet, in short, is an American rock artist that has been in the game for quite some time. Prophet first got his start in a band called Green on Red in the 1980s (which he describes as “the biggest, most bombastic records I will ever make”) and whom he recorded 8 eight albums with. From then he went solo, releasing his first album Brother Aldo in 1990. For the better part of two decades, he has since put out twelve more albums, done tours around the world, and also written for other artists - including the likes of Alejandro Escovedo and Peter Wolf.
Right now, though, the focus has been on his latest album Night Surfer. Night Surfer debuted in September of last year to a new kind of an untapped sound, the merge into what Prophet calls “kind of glam rock.” The album does keep a few notes of a more up-tempo sound, but it has an undercurrent theme of a not so bright future.
Get tickets to see Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express perform on April 11th here!
The story telling that encompasses the theme of Night Surfer wasn’t something Prophet had originally planned.
"I remembered when someone had asked Cormac McCarthy after Blood Meridian had come out that ‘How could you imagine such violence?’ He and responded by saying, ‘Well, it’s easy. I just look at everything that’s happening around me.’ That quote had kind of stayed with me and really pushed me to write what Night Surfer became.”
From then he took the inspiration from his surrounding to really mold the tone and theme of what the album is.
“When I was writing Night Surfer the album had started about one thing and then every day it changed. When I was writing the songs for the record there would always have been some sort of horrific news and I’m living in [San Francisco] where we’re pretty much under siege. It’s become a city where only the rich need apply and the working class is being drifted out. All of the money you could imagine is coming here and you can’t help but imagine what it’s going to be like in 20 years.”
Even if Night Surfer was a slight departure from his last few records, he agreed that his sound is ever changing. From his experience with his first band, to a Waylon Jennings cover album, Prophet said that this ever changing sound is what keeps an artist going.
“If you’re lucky enough that you have something to say that’s half of making something, but the other half is finding a way to say it. I think that has to do with the sound of the records. I never want to create something with an owner’s manual. I’m a populist, I want everyone to enjoy my records. I’m so sensitive to seeing what people like and what the musicians like when we’re cutting a records. I can viscerally see everyone wagging their tails, and I just want that to happen every time.”
When Prophet isn’t busy in the studio making music of his own, he’s fostering the music of other musicians. Along with dozens of songwriting credits, he also produces albums and participates in recording sessions. While some artists prefer to write for themselves and then give their songs for others to record, Prophet welcomes being a part of creating a piece of work for a fellow musician.
“I love working and creating work with other artists. Lately I’ve been working with Alejandro Escovedo living off beggars dollars, walking around little Saigon in San Francisco eating noodles and stopping to work in little coffee shops. If you’re lucky enough to find someone that you can do that with it’s a miracle. There’s some isolation and direct collaboration when you’re working with someone, but I like it both ways - writing with other artists and making my own work.”
Soon enough Chuck Prophet and his four piece band the Mission Express (which includes his wife Stephie Finch) will make their second stop back to Valparaiso’s Memorial Opera House, a now familiar ground. The band has is currently touring the US, Prophet has also recently made his eighth stop at the SXSW festival, and will make a trip to play many dates in Europe soon, but in the middle of that there’s the Opera House to play. I asked him what the people of Northwest Indiana should expect on their April 11th show, and he gave me a very simple answer: “If you love good rock and roll music, you’ll enjoy the show. It’s quiet in places, it’s loud in places. If you like American music, and your heart is in the right place, we hope to grab it.”