Chon
Chon / Chon / 2019 / 0810016760337
Chon - a reserved, progressive math rock group that got the attention they very well deserved! Based out of Oceanside, California, Chon is a predominantly instrumental focused band comprised of Mario Camarena, Erick Hansel, Nathan Camarena, and Esiah Camarena (Yup - three brothers and their best friend). They draw on influences from metal, jazz, and Super Smash Bros. video game culture. I remember discovering these guys on Audiotree Live back in 2014 playing tracks mostly from Newborn Sun. I was in awe of it all - the guitar work, tones, polyrhythms, drum fills - just the pure cohesion of all them playing together. Not to mention the amount of talent coming from young Nathan on the drumkit (you can check out the live session here). It’s hard to find bands that are extremely tight together in a live setting. They’re one of those bands that I would say sound better live than on their recordings. Coming from practically nothing, Chon grew to the point where they ended up touring with bands Circa Survive, Polyphia, Strawberry Girls, and Periphery and even landed some huge endorsements from Ibanez Guitars, Earthquaker Devices Pedals, Tama Drums, and many others. It’s been five years since Chon’s last outing with their third LP release self-titled Chon. Though I feel it may not hit like Newborn Sun or Grow do, it is still a fantastic record full of some refreshing instrumental songwriting and signature guitar tones.
Chon is a record that speaks without saying a single word. It’s full of guitar proficiency integrated with a multitude of Earthquaker Devices from both Mario and Erick’s pedalboards to create soundscapes and textures that are quite special. Most notably, Chon is known for the compressed, “squashed” clean guitar tone that comes from ED’s Warden Optical Compressor pedal (currently running this on my personal board). My album favorites include Ghost, Petal, and Peace. Ghost opens with an automated low-pass filter before letting all that treble goodness in. Mario’s boosted guitar solo slides in sooner rather than later with Erick laying modulated chords in the background. The drums and bass are so clean I’d eat it right off the floor. The mix is phenomenal - a recurring veracity throughout the record thanks to Javier Reyes. Petal makes amazing usage of some modulation and delay effects working together to create an almost synthesizer-like tone. The bass occasionally syncs up with the guitar riff to create a natural octave layer. And of course the galloping drum rhythms fit in perfectly throughout the track. Peace has a really sweet guitar solo that sounds like they recorded Mario’s amp in a closet. The warbled, warped vinyl outro is super cool especially with the lightly reverberated drums still slapping some quick beats.
Chon was written and produced by the band and Javier Reyes. The drums and bass were performed by studio musicians Brian Evans and Anthony Crawford. If you enjoy Chon, I recommend checking out their first self released EP Newborn Sun as well as their debut LP through Sumerian Records, Grow.
