Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Chase Kerby, 30, of Oklahoma City, Okla., auditioned with “The Scientist” by Coldplay. Gwen Stefani turned around midway through the performance. She wound up being the only coach to do so. Gwen called his voice “special” and complimented him on the control he showed during the performance.

His background: Chase works at a candy store his mother has owned for about 15 years. As for music, he says his dad introduced him to jazz when he was really young and taught him some chords on a guitar. “I got kind of obsessed after that,” Chase says. As a result, Chase says he’s fronted three bands since he was 17, one of which enjoyed some regional success. That band, The City Lives, wound up opening for the All-American Rejects on one of their tours. After that group disbanded, Chase started doing restaurant gigs. He admits there have been times he’s considered giving up music, but says his mom keeps pushing him to continue pursuing his dream.

What the show didn’t show: In his Facebook bio, Chase says that when he was a kid he wanted to grow up to be a jazz saxophone player. Well, that is, until he started writing songs. “Eventually I realized I couldn’t sing and play saxophone at the same time,” he writes. “So I quit the high school band, joined choir, and bought a guitar when I was 15. After that the rest is kind of a blur.”

That’s because he’s been in a number of bands including Chasing Paris, The City Lives and Defining Times. He even played guitar for Meg and Dia, the pre-Voice band of Dia Frampton, runner-up on Season 1 of The Voice. Now he’s trying his hand at a solo career. He released a debut EP in November, with plans to follow it up with three more. You can check out the four songs from his debut EP on SoundCloud.

During a conference call with the media, Chase explained why he chose to perform “The Scientist” for his audition.

“The music that I write is always really emotional, and it means something to me. And I hope it means, you know, people can take it on for themselves,” he said. “So picking that song was something that I just needed to do because I needed to be able to connect with the emotion and the lyrics behind it. So I just figured if I go with a song that means something to me, hopefully I can convey that onstage.”

He said seeing Gwen turn her chair “was almost like this rush of — the excitement that comes with a weight being lifted off your shoulders. And also just the excitement that comes with the fact that Gwen Stefani is just looking at you.”

“And I think that it’s one of those deals where any (music or career) question I might have, or any issues or whatever, she’s probably already encountered that,” he added. “It’s almost like having to go in for a test and she’s the cheat sheet. You know, I need the answer, I can just ask her.”

For links to profile blogs on every singer who has landed a spot on Season 9 of The Voice, head here.

On iTunes: Chase released a four-track EP called “Tidal Friction” in November 2014.

Update:
Battle round: Lost to Korin Bukowski, singing “Samson” and was eliminated. The song hit #91 on the iTunes’s singles chart, the fourth best of the battle round.

Keeping up with Chase:
Website
Facebook
Twitter: @ChaseKerby

Amity (cover)

Never the Groom

Crazy

Blind audition — “The Scientist”