Chance's End (Ryan Avery) puts the violin at the center of electronic music. Influenced by artists such as Hybrid, Groove Armada, and Vanessa-Mae, Chance's End is fusing electronica with solo violin, bringing it into the 21st century.
Ryan and Emily will be performing a VERY special house concert in San Francisco on May 13th. We'll be previewing a LOT of new tracks from the upcoming Chance's End "Down The Doors" album, as well as playing material from Emily's wonderfully diverse folk catalog.
For more information, head over to the Facebook event page or go to the 450 Live house concert series website. Because of the intimate nature of this house concert, seating is very limited! Please RSVP at chancesendandemily.eventbrite.com to secure a spot.
Heading into the middle of February, I hope that 2012 has been off to a great start for every one of you. Certainly, it has been an AMAZING time for Chance's End! Myself (Ryan) and Emily Zisman have been practicing our butts off and playing a select few shows around the San Francisco bay area. But most importantly, we've been holed away in the studio. Why's that? We're wrapping up on the next studio project. So I'm extremely happy to announce that:
The new album "Down The Doors" is coming soon!
Just how soon? I don't want to put anything down in stone, but with the final steps that need to happen, it should be sometime at the end of April! Some of you have been hounding me about another album for what feels like years (it probably has been!). Though it's taken us awhile to get to this point, I KNOW you'll love the end result. :-)
However, this brings me to the matter at hand. We've been so busy working on the music itself that we haven't had time to think about the rest of the package. So we thought "what better way to show our gratitude to our fans than to include you in the album?!"
Here's what we're looking for:
- The album cover for the new CD "Down The Doors"
- A new Chance's End logo
- Genre description (yes, seriously!)
- A design for the overall CD package
Now, some of you might be thinking that we're just trying to get free design work out of you. Don't worry! We will be fairly compensating everyone who's work gets included in the album. The exact details will be worked out with each contributor.
How should you get started?
We know there are at least a few of you out there who have said you're itching to design something. So head over to our Bandcamp page where we have a few songs from the new album online that will help you get in the mood as you think about ideas. These are fairly representative of the rest of the album
If you're interested in creating the CD cover: The album title is "Down The Doors", and we want the cover to reflect that somehow. Start thinking about ideas, and perhaps make a quick sketch or mock-up. We don't expect a finished project at first, nor do we want you to do a bunch of work just to have us say that it wasn't what we are looking for.
If you're interested in designing the logo: Take a look at the previous CDs "Set Me Free" and "The Outsider" to check out the previous logo. Also take a look at the Chance's End website which has the current temporary logo. Listen to some of the music, and mock-up any ideas that you have. And make sure to give us a peek so we can tell you if we like what you're doing, before you get too far down the line!
Genre description: I feel a bit silly asking this, but who better to tell us what we sound like than the fans who listen? We have always used "violin breakbeat-electronica", but now we're not quite so sure since we've added some more elements. What do you think?
In any case: Contact us! Whether you're a photographer, graphic designer, painter, etc., we want to work with our amazing fans. Let us know what you do, any ideas you have for the logo or the album, and where we can see some of your other work online. Just email us at info@chancesend.com and we'll get back to you. :-)
We're looking forward to seeing some awesome ideas!!
(And don't worry, if no one emails us, Ryan knows how to use Microsoft Paint...) :-)
As I sit in my living room catching up on some long-overdue emails and postings, I wanted to give an update on the state of Chance's End
Though this website been relatively silent over the past couple of months, that does NOT mean that things have been stagnant. Far from it! In fact, in early December Emily Zisman came into the studio to record the final track of the new album!! This means that the culmination of 3 years of work is quickly coming to a head! Tentatively, the upcoming album has been titled Down The Doors and it will feature Emily's vocals on most all of the songs. It is this fact that I am truly excited, because those of you who have heard some of the early tracks with her (and heard her live) will agree how truly talented she is as a singer. Including her on this album will represent something I've been working towards for a long time: bringing other talented musicians on-board to help give Chance's End another dimension.
Now don't get me wrong, the violin will always take a very prominent role in this album and any future tracks. I consider that the bread-and-butter core of what this project means to me. But as long as I've been working on this project, it has always been my vision to include a vocalist, a bassist, a keyboard player, and a dedicated electronics person. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
So what does 2012 hold in store for Chance's End? Three exciting things:
1. A new full-length album
2. Another west-coast tour
3. A LOT of grass-roots promotion
That third one is where you, my fans, will play a big role! But again, I get ahead of myself - more information will come with time.
Finally, I hope that you are able to celebrate the holidays with friends, family, or other loved ones. As my gift to you, here's a list of links to the songs that I'm giving away:
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
- We Three Kings
- Set Me Free (that's right, the ENTIRE album!)
A good musical friend of mine, General Fuzz, released his latest album "Miles Tones".
I came into his studio on several occasions to record violin parts for several tracks, and it was an amazing experience being a part of their creation. General Fuzz has a great sense of musical aesthetics, especially for contemplative emotional electronica. From the first session to the last, I was privy to watching his musical vision coalesce into finished tracks.
As I write this, I realize that I haven't even heard the final result yet (I'm downloading it now)! But I'm so confident that it'll be amazing, that I recommend everyone check out the album for themselves. :-) General Fuzz releases all his music as Creative Commons, so you're free to download and share his music as much as possible!
Thanks to everyone who emailed requests for the Chance's End stickers. Unfortunately, they are now all gone! :-(
For anyone who didn't get a sticker, please sign up for the mailing list
and you will be the first to know when a new batch of stickers is produced.