It’s common for musicians to believe they were born to perform, but Caleb Chapman might have one of the most legitimate claims to artistic birthright.
Mr. Chapman is the son of Grammy Award-winning musician Steven Curtis Chapman, the most honored Christian musician in history, with 58 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards to his credit.
Caleb Chapman, his brother Will and their friend Scott Mills, known collectively as the newly minted rock band Colony House, are carving out their own path in music. The band is on tour behind the recent release of its 14-song debut album “When I Was Younger.”
“It felt a little preordained,” Mr. Chapman says of his grade-school decision to become a professional musician. “We used to go on tour with our dad, and we dreamed that maybe we could do that some day It never scared us. It was something we knew one day we would try to do.”
The group is off to a solid start with rock tunes critics praise as ranging from gritty to atmospheric. Although the music isn’t Christian, Mr. Chapman, the band’s principal songwriter, has written it with decidedly infectious and generally positive lyrics and plenty of life lessons and spirituality wound through them.
Perhaps that’s most evident in the song “Won’t Give Up,” which was inspired by the 2008 death of Mr. Chapman’s 5-year-old sister, who was struck by a car in the family’s driveway.
Although some would shy away from such public reflections on personal tragedy, Mr. Chapman felt it was important to explore it in music. He did something similar on the song “Moving Forward,” which reflects his family’s efforts to reconcile their spirituality with the tragedy.
“Now especially people are listening to music and want something honest about it,” said Mr. Chapman. “We want the music to reflect us and we want our on stage presence — though it will be more energetic on stage than off — to be how we are throughout our lives. We don’t want a gap between the two.
“Really, with social media, everyone sees how [you behave in semiprivate circumstances], they don’t just see you when you’re in their cities.”
While embracing such honesty is natural for Mr. Chapman, pursuing rock rather than Christian music was not as effortless.
“It was a bit of a struggle internally more than anything, especially when I started thinking, ’Maybe I’m not supposed to play for the same audiences my dad plays for,’” he said. “The biggest help to me [in reconciling the issue] was talking to my dad about it, getting his blessing. I didn’t have to have that, but it certainly eased the struggle.”
And his dad wasn’t just paying lip service to his sons’ rock sound. When the group appeared on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” both his dad and mom (Mary Beth Chapman) were in the audience.
“If you want the episode when we are first introduced, there is this thing that happens with the audience where everyone just goes wild cheering,” he said. “That’s because my mom and dad and my sister-in-law [Jillian Edwards] went to everyone in the audience, told them about us, and asked them to do that!”
Colony House will play with Augustana and River City Extension on Friday at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place, Baltimore. Doors open at 7 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show. Tickets are $20. Visit www.ticketfly.com or call 1-877-4FLY-TIX.
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