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Red Deer’s Ten02 next up in Stettler’s Entertainment in the Park series

Next up in the series is Tap9 on Aug. 18 and wrapping up the season will be Ryan Langlois on Aug. 25
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Red Deer-based band TEN02 is next up to perform for Stettler’s Entertainment in the Park series on Aug. 11. photo submitted

Red Deer-based band Ten02 is next up to perform for Stettler’s Entertainment in the Park series.

The talented group hits the stage on Aug. 11 at West Stettler Park, with the performance kicking off at 7 p.m.

“When I was really young I started with piano lessons,” explains Elijah Chauvet, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, reflecting on his own journey into music. “That was my first, and I did that for quite awhile. But it was more something that I did once a week - I was also big on sports growing up,” he added. “Music was always around, but I wasn’t very serious about it.”

During his middle school years, he was a drummer in concert and jazz bands.

“And then high school rolled around, and I started posting videos of me singing and playing the piano. My buddy and I were busking at the Farmer’s Market and I then decided that playing guitar would be really cool too,” he said with a laugh.

“So I self-taught, and from there I kept posting more videos of me singing and I was invited to some open mics.”

Eventually, through meeting via mutual friends, the band came together and a new creative chapter was launched.

“There are five of us now, and the band has been a thing for coming up on five years now,” he said. In terms of style, he said the group likes to go with the general description of ‘alternative’.

Rounding out the band are drummer Joshua Chandler, Kaiden Schauer on lead guitar, Emma Baker on keys and bassist Chase Bishop.

“When we started playing gigs, we started playing a wide variety of covers that represented all of our different tastes,” he said, adding that he’s into the singer/songwriter style and that Emma has similar tastes that extend even more into the alternative genre.

“Our drummer likes rap and hip hop, and our guitarist is really into blues/rock. Our current bassist is into heavy rock and metal. But I think the common ground for all of us - the genre that we all really like are the alternative, pop/rock, alt-rock style. That was really in the ‘middle’ of all of our tastes, so that’s kind of where we ended up,” he explained.

“At this point, we do have a diverse range of covers, and even our original songs can fall into a couple of different genres. But I think the best way to classify it is alternative. You have that bit of ‘wiggle’ room when you say alternative because you can dip slightly into other genres without getting ‘called out’ for it,” he added with a laugh.

“With our writing process, we also like to have the strong vocal parts - all of us can sing, so we do lots of three-part harmonies. I’d say we are more guitar-heavy then anything else, too.

“And we are also pretty light and easy listening for the most part - we aren’t a super heavy band, even though we do have some slightly heavier songs. But ultimately, we are definitely easy listening with lots of harmonies and we are guitar-driven for sure.”

The band released an EP back in March of 2020 called Songs About Girls, and Chauvet said the songwriting process is becoming more of a shared experience for the most part.

“Usually what happens is someone will come up with something like a chord progression or a chorus of some kind, and will bring it to the group.”

That’s when the magic of collaboration kicks in. “Basically, no song has been completely made before it has been brought to the band,” he said. “If anything, it’s the lyrics and chords - and then everyone is filling in their part and adding all the dynamics. It’s a little bit different every time. And we all have a pretty significant role in the writing process for sure.”

As to the recording, it’s an amazing experience with so many possibilities to explore.

“I also think our favourite part of the whole thing was going back to the control room, sitting back and listening to the unmixed music and thinking, ‘Wow’ - this already sounds so great - imagine how it will come out sounding at the end!

“We were just blown away. I think it was one of the bigger steps for us - just being able to see a professional studio like that. Getting to make music with your friends in the first place is so fun, but getting to record - you get in there and do all of your tracking and do your individual parts - just the whole experience was super cool for us.”

Recently they also landed some time in the studio with producer Mark Troyer who has worked with Taylor Swift, Brett Kissel and Nickelback to name a few. “When we got the final (single) back, we were blown away. It was really everything we had every wanted for our sound in terms of production quality. We got the track back and thought, ‘Wow, this is the next level’.”

For Chauvet, music has always been a key part of his life.

But finding like-minded musicians to create music with has taken it all to an entirely new level.

“When I started performing with the band, it was like a whole new world,” he said. “When it comes to the dynamics of playing with band members, it’s just an incomparable feeling. There is honestly nothing like it.”

Next up in the Entertainment in the Park series is Tap9 on Aug. 18 and wrapping up the season will be Ryan Langlois on Aug. 25.



Mark Weber

About the Author: Mark Weber

I've been a part of the Black Press Media family for about a dozen years now, with stints at the Red Deer Express, the Stettler Independent, and now the Lacombe Express.
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