No stranger to music, Gabe Chase grew up in a household of creativity and songwriting. A drummer from a young age, he often played with his dad and brother, who were both guitarists and songwriters. Eventually, he became the drummer for the progressive rock band Notion Blue with his brother Luke and their friend, Max Barbi.

Gabe began trying to write songs early in his adulthood but the efforts often felt forced and unoriginal to him. It wasn’t until the isolation of the 2020 pandemic that an explosion of musical ideas came to him, and he picked up his guitar and wrote as often as ideas came and an instrument was in reach.

He spent the next 2 years revising and improving this collection of original songs, soon to become his debut album, Face the Feeling. While it was Peter Gabriel’s solo work that inspired him to originally write, “when I went to write, I found that my only instruments were drums and guitar, and that my primary writing language—for better or worse—was rock, rhythm, and blues,” Gabe said.

As an album, Face the Feeling is a collection of the most cohesive 6 songs Chase wrote in that time period with inspirations that range from Tool and Jack White to Jonny Lang and Larkin Poe. As a lyricist, ideas came naturally when Gabe channeled the voice of his life hero Fred Rogers, combining the lyrics of an encouraging mentor with guitar riffs akin to inspirational innovators like Tom Morello. The album themes were inspired both by Gabe’s career experiences as a counselor and his own personal struggle with anxiety and loneliness during the isolation of Covid 19. Lyrically, the album is an unflinching look at struggles with suicidality, anxiety, and depression, ultimately offering hope for healing when we name our fears and live in community.

Face the Feeling will be released January 27 2023, and it will be available on all major streaming platforms.