Biography
Johanna Chase picked up the guitar in 5th grade. Before the 5th grade she played things like the Bass Clarinet, Piano, Viola, Ukulele and her sister's Violin, sideways over her knee while hiding in the shoe and dog food closet. She was born into a strong line of Rocky Mountain Oboists and her paternal grandparents were opera coniseures and community business owners. Johanna grew up listening to music constantly. From church music to the Mamma's and the Pappa's, her early childhood was nurtured by humming and making up songs in the family van when the engine was loud enough to keep her secret songs a secret. When her sister got her driver's license, Vladimir the Volvo unleashed the secrets of the Indigo Girls, Elton John, the Cranberries and Janis Joplin, along with local Seattle bands like Poor Old Lou. Johanna began her first band in 5th grade with Robbie DeLong and T.J. Mothersbaugh. They had 3 practices and had to disband for practical reasons like gas fumes from the lawn mower in the garage. Johanna wrote and performed a few songs at school with her first guitar, a used Les Paul copy and a Fender Princeton solid state amplifier.
In junior high Johanna played in three bands. Two bands were organized church groups in which Johanna played weekly and rehearsed up to three times a week. Her after school garage band, No Bigshot was put together by her and T.J. Mothersbaugh and included Chris Schroeder, J.R. DeGuzman and Tom St. Clair. Along with playing a few concerts in Washington and Oregon, No Bigshot recorded a 7 minute long single in a small studio in Redmond, WA, with engineers Blair and TerrySchmautz(2001). It wasn't until Johanna played alone at a Young Life open mic in Malibu, Canada that she realized she wanted to play on her own. Around this time her church band visited Sydney Australia and toured the local area where Johanna premiered her first solo song on their record. In 2003 Johanna and T.J. recorded Not Nearly Enough, a 19 track spill of early songwriting all recorded in T.J.'s room on a 8 track digital cassette. Around this time Johanna wrote and recorded a commercial song for Money Tree Cash Lending in a Seattle studio in Pioneer Square. Madonna listened to Not Nearly Enough and began conversations with Johanna through an assistant but stopped when Johanna expressed desire for full artist control. Johanna opened for Aaron Sprinkle(Fair, Poor Old Lou, The Compound) and Rand Univak(Spokane, WA) by fluke in Bellingham, WA sometime in 2003. She formed a live backing band of Kyle Frank, Josh Wight and Thadd Wight/Tim Oas and they played in the Seattle/Redmond area and released Less Talk, More Rock in 2004. Thadd Wight co-produced and engineered the project out of his home in Bothell, Washington. Johanna had built a small Northwest fan base through her time in the Seattle area.
In 2004 Johanna moved to the Los Angeles, California area for college and played a lot of local shows with Justin Little, a couple shows in Yosemite National Park and a few Hollywood venues. In the summer of 2005 she won a spot at a GMA conference in Estes Park, CO. Despite her personal departure from popular Christian music, Johanna met talented and honest musicians that encouraged her to continue doing what she's doing. While attending Azusa Pacific University, Johanna wrote and performed A Pretty Kind of White (2006). Drew Walsh recorded and co-produced the project and Owen Rheinhert also performed djembe and kahone. Johanna booked and promoted her Off White West Coast Tour in the summer of 2006, playing 20 dates from Seattle to Ensenada. She was flown back down to Ensenada two weeks later to perform a private concert for the Young Presidents Club.
In 2005 Johanna began reopening her musical relationship with Robert CE DeLong and his band, The Denouement. Matthew Lee, The Denouement's guitarist, and DeLong began recording an album with Johanna. The album was abandoned after tracking the scratches, but some of the songs were performed on the 2008 release,AZUSA. Recorded and co-produced by DeLong and Lee, AZUSA, captures Johanna's first struggle with faith and social identity. Recorded live simultaneous in an A-framed church in San Dimas, California, AZUSA shows Chase's maturity and organic songwriting at a new level. Her song "Get Up Good" bore fans all across the country. Her song "Yet To Come" has been featured as the theme song on an up and coming indie film being screened at international film festivals in 2010. After the release ofAZUSA, Johanna booked and promoted her 2008 National Tour of the Maimed Jaw, playing 24 shows in 16 cities by way of planes, trains, automobiles and buses. Playing at nationally well known singer/songwriter venues such as Eddie's Attic in Decatur, Georgia and MoMo's in Austin, Texas, the TMJ tour was a success. Upon her homecoming to Los Angeles she opened for David Bazan at Fuller Seminary and played at L.A.'s Hotel Cafe.
In 2009 Johanna Chase built a studio in her Los Angeles garage with housemates from her intentional community (Synchronicity LA) and released a live acoustic performance in the studio that is available for free on her media page. Johanna was featured in Southern California's Annual Female Singer/Songwriter's Showcase and at Phoenix Pride. Johanna performed at the Duke Divinity School fundraiser for their new Masters of Divinity certificate in Gender Studies in the Church, a focus of studies that Johanna dedicated herself to in her undergraduate work.
Johanna Chase has been playing live shows in Los Angeles and up the west coast with her band mates, Matt Knapil, Robert DeLong, and Adam Edwards. Johanna tours nationally and regionally. Her and her L.A. backing band released her fifth studio album, Translator, in August 2010 and have a documentary being released in the Spring of 2011. Johanna has recorded and released over 100 songs, toured nationally and regionally, and continues to write and produce music in the Los Angeles area. Her honest story telling, instinctive songwriting and high energy performances have intrigued small and large audiences for the last decade.
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