By Zoe Luczaj | Special to the NB Indy
A scrappy and wildly inventive five-piece outfit right out of Newport Beach is reviving a dying musical genre with its energetic performances and DIY spirit.
Chudson has an upbeat and explosive sound that’s equally indebted to ska and punk, and they’re shaking up the local Orange County music scene and exciting ska fans worldwide.
Ska blends Jamaican and Caribbean rhythms with rock and jazz and is known for its infectious tempo and danceable horn sections, popularized in the Western market by 90s bands like Sublime and No Doubt.
Collin O’Connor, the frontman of Chudson, explains their new, spunky take on the fading ska genre: “We use a lot of punk elements when we write songs, we’re not thinking, ‘Oh, this has to be a ska song’ or ‘This has to be a punk song.’ We just pull from all our influences and try to make fast, energetic punk-adjacent music.”
Playing exclusively all-ages shows, Chudson’s madcap sound has created a new, vibrant space for OC’s restless youth. At one show, the group absorbed extra members, becoming a nine-piece band including an additional trumpet, two saxophones, and a trombone. The band’s mascot, O’Conner’s cousin Hudson (the band’s namesake) crowdsurfed on a boogie board as a unicyclist circled the pit.
Although the band was formed last summer, they are about to embark on their first tour, playing two dates on the east coast before returning to play multiple dates on the west coast including Portland, Berkeley and Reno.
At a recent practice session, NB Indy music writer Zoe Luczaj talked to four of the five band members: Kai Bixby (bass), Anthony Murayama (drums), Noah Seward (trumpet), and Collin O’Connor (vocals and guitar). Matthew Stockbridge (trombone) was unavailable. Murayama, Bixby and O’Connor all attended Newport Harbor High School.
NB Indy: How did you guys meet?
Kai: Me and Colin knew each other through school, and during our last year of high school, we started a band together. Eventually, through one of the other members, we found Anthony. He became our new drummer, and then that band turned into Chudson and he stuck with us.
Noah: I just started going to local shows and eventually landed with them. When I started with them, they needed a trumpet player, so I just kinda hopped on.
NB Indy: What artists have influenced your writing?
Collin: Jeff Rosenstock, he kind of changed how I look at songwriting and the Impossibles. What’s cool about the Impossibles is they’re just a bunch of dorks, like they have a breakdown that’s like the Imperial March from Star Wars. All their songs are just about being nerds and playing Dungeons and Dragons. Even stuff like Weezer, where it’s just lyrics about not being cool because I don’t like when songs insist upon themselves. Just be honest.
NB Indy: How did you land on the genre?
Collin: It’s just the most fun genre to play. It’s also something that’s not being done around here at all. Ska has this really positive, hopeful energy, which is kind of the opposite of a lot of the bands in the scene right now. So much of it is doom and gloom, so we thought, why not do the opposite of that?
NB Indy: What does ska mean to you?
Collin: Ska is about unity. It’s music for anybody, and you can’t have ska without the political messaging. That’s why ska died; the unity was taken out of it. You can’t have a ska show where people are beating each other up, because then they’re not really listening to the message. What I love about ska is that unity is always there. If you’re at a ska show, you and everyone else are on the same page about that.
NB Indy: How is the energy different at your shows?
Collin: At a lot of other shows, people aren’t really listening to the music—they’re just using it as an excuse to be violent or get drunk. It’s not about the music or the community. We try to encourage people to actually build community, and even when things get crazy at our shows, we want people to take care of each other. Don’t just show up and pass out because you’re not taking care of yourself.
NB Indy: How do you want people to feel when they come to your shows?
Collin: Welcome. Because I can say it because I am one myself. We have some freaks that come to our shows, and it’s great because they’re always welcome. If I see somebody wearing some crazy outfit that just looks ridiculous, I think it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I want our shows to be a space where you can do something like that because there are no set guidelines for shows. You don’t have to change anything about yourself if you want to come.
NB Indy: Is there anything readers should know?
Collin: We have a website, www.medicinecabinetmusic.com, a collective that showcases weird and underappreciated artists in the OC. All the music’s available to download for free, it’s donation-based, and we have merch up there. We’re all helping each other make the music, so we want to help other artists record and promote.
NB Indy: What’s the dream for Chudson?
Kai: Just having a blast.
Find out more about Chudson at https://www.instagram.com/chudson.band/?hl=en
