Cellist and multi-instrumentalist Christopher Bell blends the classical and pop worlds. Clarinet, acoustic guitar, beat boxing and cello recorded live into dense soundscapes. Hip hop beats, gentle fugues, jazz and blues all wrapped up into his own brand of Quirky Pop. For fans of Paul Simon and Andrew Bird.
01. How did you get started in music?
I started as a drummer 20 years ago and switched over to cello.
02 .Where did your direction come from?
Checking out all sorts of different music and seeing how they could fit together.
03. Who were your major influences and inspirations?
Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Andrew Bird.
04. What inspires you to make your current type of songs and sound?
I’ve started studying eastern classical music as well as getting more into jazz
as well.
05. What can someone who has never seen you live before expect from your shows?
Having a lot of fun, maybe learning something, and seeing that classical instruments can be cool.
06. How do you begin writing your songs? What types of themes and subjects do you deal with?
Usually i just take something that happened in my own life and exaggerate it out, make it happen to someone dumber.
07. How has your music evolved since you first began playing?
Even though the songs can be based off real life, they’re less about me, and more about characters.
08. What has been your biggest challenge? How were you able to overcome this?
My biggest challenge was learning how to put in the work to achieve this, I just had to canoe 550 miles! Really taught me how to do something big its just a day
at a time.
09. If you could pick any song, what would you like to cover most and why?
There’s too many to count.
10. Where do you envisage being in five years time?
Hopefully still playing.
11. Who would you most like to record with?
I would have loved to sit in on a session with Louis Armstrong, even if I was just playing the tambourine.
12. What should we be expecting from you in the near future?
New music in within the next year, after I finish the next semester back at college, excited to put all this new knowledge to work.
Web Links:
www.thechrisbell.com
christopherbell.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/thechrisbellcello
twitter.com/thechrisbell
www.youtube.com/user/silenthomerecords
soundcloud.com/thechrisbell/sets/rust
