CROQUET
Croquet is Chaetan Newell’s inexorable right to do whatever he wants. This includes aiming a blow dryer at various woodwinds, playing four different instruments at once, and providing handmade stage backdrops for ambience, not to mention surprise hip-hop shows. Beginning in 2007 by way of Boston, this project’s live show has spanned from one-man performance art to solid indie-pop quartet, from ethereal jazz improv to balls-to-the-wall psychedelic rock, and two things bind it all together: subtle complexity and raw, concentrated emotion.
Part of noise pop label Should Be Flowers’s catalog, Croquet’s first release in November of 2007 was a split LP with Steve Wood, a homeless man dying of AIDS who claimed to be the original singer for The J. Geils Band. This has yet to be proven or disproven. This texturally diverse 29 track album flows seamlessly back and forth between experimental yet catchy analog bliss and the sound of a man against great odds singing his heart out across Massachusetts Avenue. Two years later, Newell finished the Sodomize the Silence EP leaping out of the bedroom and onto the drum kit with fuller instrumentation and more passion and sincerity than ever.
A common fixture of premier Boston venues (TT the Bear’s, The Middle East, Great Scott, etc.), Croquet has also toured as far south as Athens, Georgia maintaining a strong presence in Newell’s home state of North Carolina (this is explains the airplay on multiple college radio stations as far as Tennessee). It was here that Newell began his training as a musician, picking up a new instrument every few years. After playing upright bass with various orchestral groups including The North Carolina Symphony and obtaining a Bachelors of Music with guitar, it should come as no surprise that he has worked with members of notable groups such as The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Helium, Pele, Victory at Sea, Dumptruck, Bang Camaro, and even legendary Motown group The Chairmen of the Board. In fact, Newell lists the verbal thumbs up he received from iconic artist Thalia Zedek as a high point in Croquet’s existence thus far.
After playing lead guitar with St Helena (“every indie enthusiasts dream” according to The Noise Magazine), Newell relocated to Chicago in 2010 with plans to further conquer the world and has since played out with much success joining David Baker’s new group Variety Lights on drums. Is the world ready for such methodical madness? We can only wait and see.