HOUSE PARTY

Colony House invites you into their musical home as their Cannonballers Tour reaches Orlando

BY GABBY MACOGAY

When a fan told Colony House vocalist Caleb Chapman that his band reminded her of the movie The Sandlot, Chapman said he wanted to take that and run with it.

“That’s everything to me,” Chapman tells Orlando Weekly in a phone interview. “If I were going to dissect that, it’s really important for Colony House. We’ve always said we’re a conversational band. To have a good conversation, you have to be willing to start at surface level and then go deeper, ask the deeper questions.”

Existing within their own self-coined genre of “landlocked surf-rock,” Colony House draws influence from both East and West Coast alternative rock sounds while still remaining true to their home state of Tennessee — which happens to be a huge influence on their latest album, The Cannonballers.

Chapman and his brother, Will — Colony House’s drummer — were both raised in Nashville, while their bandmates Scott Mills and Parke Cottrell grew up in Knoxville. Although Colony House have never intentionally leaned into their Tennessee roots, Chapman said this newest album found its roots in nostalgia and a fondness for home.

“It’s a really unique thing — we’ve all come from the same place. There’s synergy to that, that I don’t know if we’ve ever fully leaned into,” Chapman says. “Tennessee is such a beautiful place and it’s so much a part of our lives that it feels like in the effort to be authentic and real with people, why not bring that alongside us?”

The title The Cannonballers is a reference to one of the Chapman brothers’ favorite rollercoasters from their youth — Opryland USA’s Wabash Cannonball. Chapman said that his fond memories of the coaster, the lore behind the folk song that inspired the coaster’s name and the nostalgic feeling it summoned up all inspired the title track on the record.

Almost a decade after Colony House’s first album, 2014’s When I Was Younger, Chapman said the band continues to lean on each other creatively and build trust in each other as they grow more confident in their sound.

“When you’re confident, you take bigger risks and you also settle into what you’re good at. And so I think we’re a little more focused, we’re a little more comfortable being a guitar rock & roll band and not trying to chase as many random sounds as we were back then. At the same time, we’re always trying to explore,” Chapman says.

Although their confidence has evolved over time, Chapman said he is glad the band has remained consistent throughout the years with their dedication to observational songwriting. Colony House continues to push for connec- tions with the audience and dip deep into the human heart in a way that’s even bigger than themselves.

“Trying to be honest and vulnerable and real has always been a really important thing for Colony House,” Chapman says. “We have a good balance of fun and emotion, kind of all wrapped up in one. It just feels like a big group hug, in my opinion.”

Colony House holds a specific fondness for Orlando as well. Chapman thinks back to the band playing one of their first-ever gigs in the City Beautiful years ago, opening for Christian musician Amy Grant — a personal icon of his.

“We’ve played shows where we’re in the smallest, tiniest [venue] … no air conditioning, literally throwing our clothes away after the show just because there’s no point in keeping them because we got so sweaty, and our catering was gator, you know, like alligator,” recalls Chapman.

“So, so many memories there. And pre-show Disney trips. I have so many fond memories of Florida. It’s a beautiful, mysterious place.”

When asked how he would describe The Cannonballers tour, Chapman referenced a post his dad made celebrating the album’s release. In Chapman the elder’s words, the album radiates an energy summed up in three words: fierce, fearless and fun. So it goes for this tour, airing these songs for the first time live.

With this current tour, Chapman says he’s excited to bring such a big piece of his and his bandmates’ lives out on the road for people to see, returning to how the band’s roots in Tennessee have helped shape their sound and inspiration throughout the years.

“Down to the band’s name — it’s our apartment complex that we started the band in, here in Franklin. It’s all kind of woven through our band,” Chapman says. “So we’ll just keep preaching the good word about Tennessee, and all it has to offer.” music@orlandoweekly.com