Chapters is Dave, Tom, Odon, and Dustin
A blast of sound and a gravelly voice come on, then you get caught in the wave of guitars and you’re off. Chapters, an Orange City-based Southern Hardcore band, has you—wait, what? Orange City-based Southern Hardcore? To answer the questions, Tom Westerholm, the guitarist and founder of Chapters said, “Dave Lesage [the drummer] has always been into southern rock and he kind of got me into it.” On their MySpace page, Chapters claims their mission: “[to bring] dirty southern riffs with a heaviness that will pick up your feet, melodies that will catch themselves between your ears, and an explosive stage presence that will never make you regret coming back for more.” And they do so.
My first experience with Westerholm’s band came two years ago. At that time, they had a different name (Of Alacrity in Sinking), a lighter, poppier metal sound and almost a completely different line up. Their new EP, “Resilience,” reflects those line-up changes. Westerholm asserts that it’s not a concept album, but an album that reflects the long, complex road they’ve come down.
The only two people I can vouch for on the subject of “explosive stage presence” are Westerholm and Lesage, and they deliver just what they claim to. Westerholm can be seen bouncing about his corner of the stage, letting up only for the occasional singing part, as he covers that. Lesage’s head-down and flail-your-arms style is both entertaining to watch and killingly accurate, dropping beats that pulse through your entire body.
Westerholm’s pride is the song “Gladiator,” which you can hear on their MySpace page, in which transitions are smooth and keep you on your toes, never giving you the same riff twice. Dustin, who’s voice is reminiscent of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster (a band which Chapters claims as an influence), has the elasticity to jump from a gravelly, dirty shout to a cavernous roar within a matter of seconds.
A Chapters song starts simply with Westerholm sitting in his room on an acoustic guitar just making up riffs. From there, he goes to Lesage to arrange and work on transitions, then Lesage works up some break-downs and writes the lyrics. Lesage, an amazing poet, puts a lot of work into the lyrics and then passes it on to Dustin who, in Westerholm’s words, “does whatever he wants to do. He and Lesage work together on that.”
On October 16, the band will release their new EP “Resilience.” Chapters’ show will bring down the house at New Hope Evangelical Church in Orange City at 7 p.m. “I want them all to come to the show,” Westerholm says. “We’re stoked to play and really aiming our show around college students.” Keeping the price to $3, it does happen the first day of fall break, but if you’re a metal fan you can’t miss the chance to see Chapters in their EP release concert along with local band Cadence to Arms (who always do a great show!) and A Cause to Prosper, a band from Minnesota.
If you want to preview their music, you can find it at www.myspace.com/chapters. Also look there for more information on shows.
