Team Illuminati is the purple gummy bear of the Nashville music scene; unexpected, totally unique, strangely compelling, and a much-appreciated surprise in a world full of Yellow 5. What does a purple gummy bear sound like exactly? Try somewhere between Nine Inch Nails and Randy Newman, or simply put, post-industrial rock in the hands of a quirky, masterful songwriter.
Team Illuminati is the brain child of Nashville-native Ernest Chapman, who grew up with a passion for music and conspiracy theories. What first started out as a joke name for a band soon became a world unto itself, complete with a secret take-over-the-world-agenda, exclusive club-member ID cards, a constitution, and a growing fanbase of people with a taste for the theatre of the absurd.
Interestingly, Ernest is the son of hit songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman (Faith Hill, Willie Nelson and Elton John). Due in part to his having grown up surrounded by great songwriters, Ernest has learned how to take the traditional values of songwriting: great melodies, meaningful lyrics, and to-the-point song structures, and make them come alive in a rock context all his own. The tunes stand out for the riffs alone, and the jokes make the live show a fun event, but beneath all that is a thoughtful message.
After recording albums in his bedroom for years (14 albums so far) Ernest's most recent efforts caught the ear of producer Matt Rollings (keyboards for Mark Knopfler). Rollings whisked Ernest away to Los Angeles, where they, along with the help of mixer Greg Collins (No Doubt) and mastering genius Dave Donnelly (Beck), birthed Team Illuminati's first official record, American Dream.
American Dream defies the expectation of rock albums today, both in its lush sonic quality, and in the emotional breadth it covers. It goes from the sarcastic antics of the mock-dance song Apocalypse; "it's the apocalypse, the world is ending, don't be a whiny bitch, shut up and dance", to the tender frailty of the piano-vocal piece Ashtray; "I fell in love with an ashtray, it's not what I had in mind, back when I was an open hearted child", before landing on the dark, oddly-phrased prog-rock anthem God of Lies; "you say your prayers to the man upstairs, and hope he hears you crying".
Team Illuminati is already generating a lot of attention from music insiders, including David Leonard (engineer for Prince, Indigo Girls), Trina Shoemaker (engineer for Queens of the Stone Age, Sheryl Crow), Benmont Tench (keyboards Tom Petty), Randy Jackson (Judge, American Idol), to name but a few.
Though Chapman plays most of the instruments on the record, Team Illuminati's live band-members include bassist and co-writer Jessie Friedman, drummers Jerry Roe (Head Automatica, Michelle Branch) and Charlie Morgan (Elton John, Bjork), and guitarists Bobby Holland and Ethan Stone.
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