This Calgary country singer's first single soared to the top of the iTunes chart in 12 hours
3 other Calgary musicians co-wrote and produced the song All Over It and it's doing great
Just before midnight Calgary time on Jan. 4, Ben Chase — a Calgary-based country musician — was lying in his childhood bed in Prince Edward Island, shaking.
His debut single was set to drop at midnight.
And when it did, it quickly soared up the iTunes Canada country charts.
"My sister and her friends are huge supporters of my music, which is awesome, so I went and woke her up and said, 'Check this out, my song is number 17 on the iTunes charts,'" Chase said.
He said his expectations with his first song were moderate.
"I had expectations to maybe get in the top 200," he said.
"I scrolled right down to the bottom on the day of the release and I thought, 'Oh darn, it didn't make top 200' and then I saw it at number 17 and, wow."
Elated, Chase said he returned to bed, only to be woken up by his sister a few hours later.
"She told me, 'Your song is at number three,' and I just said, 'no way,'" he recalls.
"I was so excited I texted the other co-writers on the song we were all like, 'What the heck? Like what's going on here?'"
And 12 hours after it was relased, All Over It topped the charts, hitting the number one spot.
"It was really cool just to click there and see our song right at the top. It was awesome," he said.
Chase made Calgary home two years ago, seeking to create new music and establish himself as a country artist. And he said it's been an amazing thing for him and his music — especially because of the supportive community in the local music industry.
"Even on the day of the release of this song, the amount of artists that were sharing on their own platforms … saying 'Check this guy out,'" he said, "It doesn't feel like competition out here. Everybody's such great people and they're all really supporting each other."
His co-writers include Calgary-born and -bred musician Aaron Pollock, George Canyon's long-time drummer, Adam Dowling, and 2017-18 Canadian Country Music Award's guitar player of the year, Matt McKay, who is also in Brett Kissel's band.
Pollock said often times songwriting can be solitary. So, one of the highlights of this acheivement is doing it with friends.
"It's nice to be recognized as a writer," he said. "The best thing about it, is getting to work on a song with a bunch of really good friends, just having a really good time with it and getting to share that success."
And only four years into his own career, Pollock said he was also astounded at the instant success All Over It experienced — even making an appearance on the iTunes Canada pop charts in the first few days of its release.
"I never really expected that to happen. But I was so grateful for it," he said.
Dowling said he's been doing music as a job for more than a decade, but only began songwriting five years ago, and after commuting to the city for some time, he moved to Calgary full-time two-and-a-half years ago.
Fluid, frustrating and rewarding
He said the music industry isn't always like riding the high of a number one song.
"It can be really fluid. It can be frustrating. It can be rewarding. And right now it's very rewarding," Dowling said.
He said songwriting can be a bit of a mystery, even to those who do it, but writing with these guys made the process fun.
"The four of us were quite focused on what we wanted to do," he said.
"Create a story. Create an emotion that you want to convey and then hammer away at it and pick away, word by word, phrase by phrase, thought by thought until everybody agrees that we have what we want."
McKay — who also produced, played guitar and worked on the song's arrangement — said he's worked with many more established artists, but never saw those recordings climb so fast on the charts.
"It feels good," he said. "It's not really why I do this, it's a really huge bonus."
McKay said All Over It is just one example of how good the music scene is in the city.
"There's actually some unbelievably world-class talented musicians that live in Calgary," he said.
"It's really nice to see that grow and to be a part of that, especially because everybody gets along so well and we have a great friendship."
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