Sign up for our mailing list!Philadelphia is currently whelping an eclectic, exciting and hard-working acoustic rock band whose live shows are not to be missed.
Reed Kendall has been recording his original music since well before his voice changed. At the early age of 13 he won free studio time while performing at The Point in the Philly suburbs in which he was raised. He released his first solo album while still in high school ("Shoot Me Straight", 2004). After quickly learning that tertiary education was not for him, Reed left school and started booking solo gigs at colleges and universities up and down the east coast, living on the road with friends who had scattered to a variety of schools.
In 2008 Reed moved back to Philadelphia determined to start a band and learn from/become a part of the rich community of musicians there. In March of '08, under the band name Up the Chain, he released a 4-track demo which immediately received airplay on WXPN. UtC then began gigging around the area, growing their fan base one sincere live performance at a time and eventually selling out premier listening rooms such as MilkBoy Coffee and the Tin Angel, as well as opening a show at the Kimmel Center for the great Lyle Lovett. In the first year of Up the Chain no two consecutive shows featured the same band members. It wasn't until their live album recording residency that a consistent lineup began to form.
Each Thursday night in May of 2009, Up the Chain played to a packed house at MilkBoy Coffee in Ardmore, PA. The best 14 songs were compiled and turned into the band's first full-length release, "Live @ MilkBoy" (September, 2009). On the record, Up the Chain take the substantive pop sensibility of Reed Kendall's songwriting and infuse it with hints of jazz and jam. Reed is influenced most by the poetic imagery of Conor Oberst, the live performance of Dave Matthews and the songwriting of Jack Johnson. Performed live, the songs take on a life of their own, giving way to soaring solos but never outstaying their welcome. The record features some of Philly's most well-known players: Chuck Treece (drums), Avery Coffee (electric guitar), Chris Aschman (trumpet), Anam Owili-Eger (keyboard), and Phil D'Agostino (bass).
