Ben Chute holds his guitar, Storytime, at Rockport Harbor after playing at the Donut Festival on Saturday, June 13. Chute has always had a passion for music, and has played since he was a child. (Christine Simmonds photo)
Even as a child, Ben Chute always had a guitar within reach.
“My mom has this story of how I was just a little kid, and she would come to wake me up in the morning, and take the bed sheets off, and there’s a guitar in the bed with me,” Chute, of Damariscotta, said.
There was no particular moment where he knew he wanted to be a musician. Chute said he just always did.
“I always said when I was a kid, that’s what I was wanting to do for a living,” he said.
His parents told him music was a hobby, and suggested he become a lawyer.
Chute said he told his parents he would probably become a musician and find a way to be a lawyer as a hobby.
Chute’s father was a software engineer and a musician. He played piano in a Christian band and with their church band. Chute said people were at their house all the time, playing music and rehearsing.
“I always kind of had instruments around,” Chute said.
Guitar was the only instrument Chute said he was interested in playing, which probably stemmed from the two guitar players in his father’s band. They were very different musicians who played very different guitars. One had the more traditional Fender Stratocaster; an iconic electric guitar with a contoured body. The other had the Gibson Flying V; a futuristic guitar style with a V-shaped body.
Chute said seeing the men play those two disparate instruments really caught his attention. Soon enough, he started playing the guitar too, and eventually could play well enough to join in with the church band.
“That was my first gig,” Chute said.
From there, Chute started playing at other churches and church events.
“I feel like I kind of had a little bit of a taste of what professionalism was with music,” he said.
Now as an adult, Chute said it is fairly accurate to call him a semiprofessional musician, since he still has a regular day job. He is hoping that changes someday, though.
“I’m not strictly making money off of music,” he said. “I could theoretically do it, and I kind of have plans to.”
Chute has played all over New England, with groups from any number of genre of music, from hip hop, to funk, jazz, blues, and cover bands. His favorites to play are blues and funk, because they pair so well.
He also likes when people dance to his music.
“People dancing is always good, because they’re part of the band at that point,” he said.
While there were times in his life where Chute was a member of anywhere from five to 12 bands, these days he primarily plays with the blues band he joined three years ago, Cryin’ Out Loud. He calls the group his “main gig,” and they have a contract with a record label in Connecticut.
Chute said he has played all over New England with them, and is working on a music tour which will go down to Florida.
Cryin’ Out Loud has also recorded an album of original songs, “Play Loud & Smoke Often,” which is available on Spotify.
While he has recorded albums before, Chute said all of those albums were “less intense.” The band even hired Grammy Award winner Paul Nelson as a producer.
“It’s like, you may have worked in kitchens and stuff, but have you worked in a kitchen with Gordon Ramsay, you know?” Chute said. “It’s a different sort of experience.”
Chute said he noticed having a producer kept the band more focused on the final outcome, and provided a source of unbiased feedback and advice.
The band saw a difference right away, he said. They played a song in their usual style, and Nelson had the group come back out and listen.
“We’re like, ‘This sounds like an open mic! What’s going on?’” Chute said.
Nelson had them simplify a lot of what they were playing and record it again. Chute said it seemed boring while he was playing it, but then when the group listened to the recording, he saw that Nelson’s changes made a big difference.
“He knew how much needed to be taken away to let the song kind of breathe and come out,” Chute said.
Chute said if he could give advice to any young people who wanted to play music, he would tell them to just start a band.
“Anybody, at any age; just start a band with your friends. That’s all you have to do,” he said. “It’s one of the most fun things you can possibly do. It doesn’t have to be good. Play loud, have a good time.”
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