The Chance of a Lifetime

How has the band managed to keep itself fresh, relevant and on top of its game in the music industry, and in DC?

Joshua: The Chance is alive and ready to live!!! We’ve been around for some years with a steady cult, but as of late we’ve hit transcendental mountain-like peaks in songwriting and live performances. We’ve developed mental connections to each other musically that is untouchable in pure soul power. We’ve always done our own thing, our own sound, we live in our own world. We’re still on the rise in the industry, and DC knows us by our passionate live shows.

Are there any highlights that you want DoS readers to know about in advance for your upcoming show at The Rock and Roll Hotel?

Joshua: The Chance will be premiering never-before-played-live songs from our upcoming record “Oblivion” at the June 16 show. This new full-length is being produced by noise visionary Chris Grier (of To Live and Shave in L.A.) and engineered by Hugh McElroy (of Black Eyes)—a really great team behind this record. We’re very excited to debut these songs at the Rock N Roll Hotel, and get everyone ready for this album (still in production) of epic sonic love.

On your MySpace page you note that The Chance sounds like "artcore." Can you elaborate on this description and how this describes with your band?

Joshua: Artcore for us is like a combination of avant-garde instrumentation and a post-punk spirit. We incorporate these elements into a classic rock structure, super heavy with the aural erotica that is shoegaze. We love all cinema and art, so these visual expressions of the mind work their way into our music as well.

Your songs have this intense and driving quality about them with lyrics that go from serious to tongue-in-cheek at times, which is great. I couldn't pick a favorite, but found myself listening to "Never Let You Go" a few extra times... what was the process for creating this song and what do you hope listeners take away?

Joshua: First, thank you for the compliment! My lyrics have always been intensely personal, but there are universal themes of pain, love and joy. Influenced by the realistic intensity of hip-hop and the otherworldly blur of shoegaze, my lyrics recount my real-life experiences in self-destruction and spiritual self-resurrection, filtered through a veneer of dreams, nightmares and the soul’s struggle. “Never Let You Go” is an older song I wrote, a very bleak and tragic love song. Deep in the love of horror movie imagery combined with a sense of delirious obsessive romanticism. I want listeners to be emotionally moved and creeped out by these words, words filled with the fatalistic and beautiful components of life.

Who does your show flyer/poster art and what inspired the concept for your latest promotional piece for the Rock and Roll Hotel show?

Finley: I design the poster art and Viraj is the master illustrator behind the “Dimensions” EP. This poster, for me, is a paradise where life and death exist – a dream of immortality. A place of limits where not even the greatest mountain lasts forever…

You give a nod to your strong "cult" following on your promo Web site. How have your fans played a role in your band's successes and milestones over the years?

Joshua: We have some truly loyal fans. People that stuck by us through the years, through the dark times and the insanity. The things that would break most bands but only made us stronger. These fans are still here and more rabid than ever. The night we had our CD release show (for 2009’s “Dimensions”) at the Black Cat, everyone came out, old faces and many new ones. It was a packed house and a glorious night. A total party. They helped make it special. We want to give back the love by writing the most haunting and powerful songs we can as a thank you!

Check out The Chance at their next show on June 16 at the Rock and Roll Hotel!