For this Tuesday’s Italian music feature, musician Chase Bell will tell you about his band White Licorish, which you can also hear here, and his band’s links to musically inspiring Italy. Over to you Chase:
Chase Bell & White Licorish are definitely the only band you will hear of that is based in both Los Angeles in the U.S.A and in Foligno in Italy.
7 of the 8 members of the band hail from Umbria, one of Italy’s greenest regions.
Umbria sure is a laid back (even for Italy) place to be. The birthplace of the band is the small city of Foligno which unashamedly calls itself the “centru dellu munnu” (The Center Of The World.)
While I live most of my time in Los Angeles where I work as a songwriter, I’ve gone back to The Center Of The World every year for the past 3 years to perform and record new songs with the band.
With White Licorish I want to create a sound and a story that is completely unique while being universally accessible. In order to do that I need to go off the beaten track. Enter Foligno!
White Licorish’s newest material is a cinematic piece called “Savior” recorded with my actress sister Emma who you may have seen in The Walking Dead and Dallas, and composer Darius Campo.
The second music video for “Savior” tells the story of an emotionally charged Italian couple played by Walter Nudo and Alessia Bonacci who have their lives changed by a bum (played by Camron Robertson) in Los Angeles.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
Here’s Savior:
[youtube width=”575″ height=”469″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTaetdR7Iqg[/youtube]
One of CB&WL’s more ambitious aims is wanting to change the world’s perception of Italian Pop music and we want to become Italy’s first international cross over band.
If you listen to CB&WL’s first album, the 70s Rock/Funk inspired “SkyWords” and then the group’s second album, the modern Rock/Pop “IknowUUknowme”, I think you’ll you will notice the maturity and refinement that’s entered our both our artistry and songwriting.
Chase Bell and White Licorish with You Are The Sun Music Video
[youtube width=”575″ height=”469″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSRjuWn7MrE[/youtube]
At its core though, I’d say CB&WL’s music is American Pop, but the songs have been truly transformed by Italian arrangements and instrumentation to create an original pop-rock sound.
In 2015, the band and I plan to release several new singles and videos recorded in Italy.
You can listen to more of our music and check what we’re up to here: www.chasebell.com
