Top row left to right: Miles Pretel, Aliana Chambliss, Devin Collins, Dante Nottoli, Stephen Ryan

Bottom Row: Paris Catura

Courtesy of Grassman

For our first interview, The Limelight had the honor of sitting down with Grassman, an up and coming 6-piece hip hop/jazz fusion band consisting of Columbia College Chicago’s Stephen Ryan, Aliana Chambliss, Devin Collins, Dante Nottoli, Miles Pretel, and Paris Catura. They take us through their unique origin stories, spontaneous creative process, and ever-evolving teamwork as they quest to find The Limelight.

How long have you been interested in music? If you could talk about your journey to pursuing it seriously, committing to an art school, how would you say you got there?

Devin: Really 6th grade! I started writing poetry in middle school, and then I got my first Macbook, and I was recording on headphones and stuff, it sounded really bad. I didn’t know I was going to do it [music] full time until like senior year of high school after I graduated. COVID happened, so I didn’t end up getting the basketball offer that I wanted because they didn’t have enough scholarships available. Then I had to decide if I wanted to go to a junior college, or if I wanted to do music full time. And I wanted to do music full time, so we’re here now.

Aliana: I’ve been into the arts all my life basically. For music it was just a matter of deciding  that was specifically what I wanted to do. I was really into dancing, which then became musical theater, which then became music. I didn’t really like acting, which dropped the theater part of it, and I did dance for the majority of my childhood, so I think I just got tired of it maybe. And music was the thing that you know, kept on keeping on.

How do you think your musical theater/dance background affects what you’re doing now?

Aliana: I definitely feel like I have a sense of flow. And a sense of breathing as a singer when it comes to phrasing and song structure. It definitely influences a lot of how I write, what I do with Grassman, what I do with my compositions.

Stephen: Both my parents listen to classic rock and stuff that they grew up on, so I just got into that kind of music. I think it was 7th grade that I got my first guitar. My uncle, he played guitar just a little bit, he could strum a few open string chords. I was like that’s sick, I wanna do that. So I got a guitar, learned how to do that, and then kept moving up. Eventually, I started my own band in my hometown where we did covers of classic rock songs and blues, we’d play at bars and it was a good time. We did that all the way from my sophomore year of high school to my senior year until I ended up in Chicago.

Paris: I had to do the math real quick, I’m pretty sure I've been playing for over 15 years now. But I wouldn't consider all of those 15 years to be like, I’ve been studying music for that amount of time, going into the grind, I’d say it’s been around 9-10 years. My parents definitely had a huge influence on me because my dad is a woodwind player. He plays mainly tenor sax but he plays all woodwinds, he teaches all woodwinds, he’s freaking crazy. He and my mom both played together a long time ago, like multiple times on multiple gigs because my mom’s a vocalist. I got that jazz style because my dad is a jazz blues player. He would always have me on gigs, to sit in on one song or just to play something small when I was younger, just for fun. But yeah once I got to college and stuff it was just, man, I guess I’m doing this full time now.

Dante: I first started music in second grade, I took piano lessons at my school because they would pull me out of class, so I wanted to get out of class. So I started taking piano, and we would have recitals and stuff and I really enjoyed doing that. I did that for like 3 years. The summer before 5th grade, my dad had a friend who was opening a School of Rock and was like, maybe you would want to be a part of that. But I didn't want to play piano. I wanted to play bass, because my dad plays bass and he’s like a huge inspiration in general for me. So I started playing bass because of my dad.

Miles: I guess I started piano lessons and stuff in elementary school. And it was fun but I didn't really connect with it a lot, I didn’t get the bigger meaning. And then I picked up saxophone for a little bit, I didn’t like it that much. And then eventually I got connected with this school, called Walker West Academy, which is a jazz school and it’s the oldest owned African American run music school in the country. I mostly did jazz stuff there. It was definitely rooted in the spirit of the music as it is like originally. One of my biggest inspirations through my whole music career is this drummer, Kevin Washington. He was one of the teachers in the combo so I had combo there in high school and I think that's where my spark for music and my passion started, in the combo, playing with other people doing music I loved and taking solos.

I wanna know more about the band! How did you come together?

Stephen: I came up with the idea last summer. I knew I wanted to get together with a group that was kinda like jazz fusion, get a bunch of good instrumentalists together, and I wanted to get someone rapping over it. I think Devin was the first person I asked. I really like Devin’s personal music, the stuff he makes and puts out. I asked Aliana second because we were in an ensemble together through the school. I remember we had a gig, we were playing blues music. All the instrumentalists were supposed to show up, and all the singers too. But Aliana was the only singer that showed up to the gig. I think I asked Dante after that because we were in an ensemble together, a guitar ensemble. I was like okay, this guy’s really good. It’s funny because For Dante, Miles and Paris, I was meaning to ask all 3 of them, and then I chickened out because I didn't know them. And then I bumped into them right after [and asked them]. Me and Miles had a class together as well, same situation. I asked him if he knew any drummers and he recommended Paris. So yeah, we just got everyone together and started jamming. A big thing I wanted to do was just bring a template of a song, and then be like everyone do what they want over it, like express yourself and we’ll try to direct it into one piece, and I feel like we did that pretty well. That was a good feeling, that first time we got together.

With all of you coming from different places, not knowing each other that well from the start, what kind of conversations did you guys have in the beginning? As an outsider, it sounds like you already have a highly developed and recognizable sound, so I was wondering how you got to that point!

Paris: We were like, let’s just play something and see what happens. And I feel like when we played that first jam together we were like, okay these guys are chill!

Dante: Yeah, I remember that feeling!

Paris: It made it feel like we had been playing for a while. Everyone was just building off of each other, it was coherent, like everyone was on the same wavelength. And that’s never really happened to me before. I think it was like 20 minutes, the first recording.

Devin: 22 minutes and 22.. What was it?

Stephen: The first few times we met up we just did these long jams that went on for 10-20 mins just like fleshing out ideas and kind of getting a feel for each other. When I was trying to pick who I wanted in the group, I was trying to pick people that I knew could listen good, had good ears, and could pick up on stuff. One good example of that is when I played with Dante for the first time. It was just me and him jamming in my apartment, and we were just trading off and taking solos and stuff. He was really picking up stuff that I was playing and implementing in his own playing, and I was doing the same thing. And that was a good experience. I feel like I've gotten that from everyone that’s in the group.

Tell me more about Run to the Sun!

Devin: Run to the Sun was interesting. I probably had maybe 5 versions of that song, put it on like a thousand different beats and tried different types of flows and different types of ways and none of them ever really stuck to me. But during one of our jam sessions, that one just worked out perfectly. Since I already had the verse and everything, we then put in all the little nuances like the pauses. So yeah, that was pretty cool to see that song almost get like a second life. And now it’s complete, and I think that’s how it was intended to be from the start.

How would you say working with Grassman differs from your own personal projects?

Devin: Writing songs has been a change of pace for me. It's different writing songs in your room with a beat on loop, and writing songs with different moving parts. It’s been nothing but improving my collaborative aspect to my artistry.

Dante: I feel that as well. When I'm writing songs on piano, I'm writing stuff that’s more composed I feel like? Or maybe it’s the reverse? I write things that are more specific, versus when we’re writing together it’s more like testing our ability to play interesting things in the moment and coming up with ideas for different things we can put into the final version of the song.

Aliana: For me, the improv aspect, I was definitely not used to it before. I did some jazz stuff [before], but I think working with everyone has really challenged me. It’s also brought out something I didn't know I had in me when it came to music, singing, and improv.

How does performing differ from when you’re alone to when you’re together as Grassman? 

Aliana: I have so much more confidence when I'm performing with everyone. When I'm by myself I feel very exposed, but [with Grassman] I feel like I'm part of a collective, you know it’s all of us together. And I really love that. It’s really great performing with everyone.
Devin: I was about to say the same thing. Performing alone is super fun, but with everyone I feel like it makes everything 10x better. Just having other people there for you. Cause I remember before Biggest Mouth, Paris you probably remember this, I was freaking out. And Paris got everybody together and was like, “We’re going to take a couple deep breaths.” And we calmed down, took a couple deep breaths, had a little pep talk and a huddle, and then we went out there and did our thing. It’s just stuff like that you really can’t get being on stage by yourself.

To close this interview off, what do you consider to be the most fulfilling part of pursuing music?

Devin: I think the super fulfilling part is seeing everyone in the band work. I was a music major, but I flunked out of like two classes, I was horrible (laughs). I switched my major. Seeing these guys talk and articulate an idea so well... I see it come to life just by them going back and forth, and actually collaborating. Seeing an idea actually come to life, then once we play it, it’s a thing now. And us making cool shit, I think that’s the most fulfilling part. We all came together and now it’s a thing. Then to go share that with other people and then for other people to receive that and resonate with it… Super fulfilling.

Stephen: I think the most fulfilling part for me is like, in the moment when we’re jamming and we’re going through the song, the conversation that takes place between all of us through the music. The energy that comes through when you successfully do that, and you’re going off of each other, and everybody is living in the song and in that moment. And we’re just all there together. It’s a great feeling.

Paris: That’s something really cool with our group specifically. Most recently, Stephen had a really cool chord progression he was playing and it just kept sparking ideas. The thing that I love the most about how we build a tune is that it’s all, “What if we try this?” See what sticks, see what doesn’t. Going back and forth between ideas and seeing what fits was really fun. That’s how we built Things Could Be Worse and Run to the Sun. Someone thinking of an idea while we’re playing and jamming over it. That’s something that I really find fulfilling. This band really brought me back into my creative mindset. Starting second year, I was unmotivated in terms of my musical creativity. One thing that Grassman did was help me get back to that place. Having multiple persons around you in that same creative sense is really inspiring, so that’s something I got from all the people here.