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Chris Conley

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Christopher Lane Conley
Chris Conley (Photo: Mary Gaston)
Background information
Born	February 29 1980 (1980-02-29) (age 28)
Origin	Princeton, New Jersey United States
Genre(s)	Emo Indie rock Power pop Punk rock
Instrument(s)	Singer, Guitar, Bass
Years active	1997 - Present
Label(s)	Equal Vision DreamWorks Vagrant
Associated acts	Saves the Day

Christopher Lane Conley (born on February 29, 1980) is an American musician and songwriter/composer, and the lead-singer/rhythm guitarist in Saves the Day. As he is the only remaining original member as well as major artistic contributor, Saves the Day has been referred to, in recent years, as "essentially the Chris Conley show"^[1].

1 Background
2 Saves the Day
3 Solo Touring
- 3.1 Crohn's disease
4 Discography (Conley as primary composer)
5 Compilations featuring Conley's compositions
6 References
7 External links

Background

Conley was born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, and began playing the guitar when he was thirteen years old. He says that listening to Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith as a child made him interested in writing and playing music. The first song he ever learned on guitar was Stairway to Heaven ^[2]. Immediately after learning how to play the guitar, he formed a band with a group of classmates at Princeton Day School.^[3] The band was originally titled Indifference, but later renamed the band Sefler. Conley has cited some of his early influences as the Beatles, the Smiths, Billy Joel, Superchunk, the Smashing Pumpkins, Sunny Day Real Estate, Archers of Loaf, Screeching Weasel, Jawbreaker, Gorilla Biscuits and Lifetime^[4]. Sefler was originally composed of Chris Conley, Bryan Newman and Justin Gaylord. They recorded a 3-track 7" entitled "13 Hours of Everything" one afternoon in a friend's basement. They then recorded a nine-track demo at Trax East Studio in New Jersey. While recording, a friend of the band (and later bassist), Sean McGrath, suggested that they change their name to Saves the Day, which they did.

Saves the Day

Saves the Day signed to Equal Vision Records and recorded their first album Can't Slow Down, which was released in 1998 during their first US tour alongside bands Bane and Countervail. Lyrically the album included idealistic dreams, feeling inadequate, honesty and unhappiness, which reflected Conley's life at the time. The style of music is often considered very similar to that of the band Lifetime^[5]. In 1999 the band released their second album Through Being Cool. With this album, Conley's lyrics started becoming morbid and corporeal, and the style of music changed into a more pop punk sound. At age 19/20 he started listening to the Beatles and has cited them as the main influence for In Reverie ^[6]. Conley with Saves the Day have released 4 other albums, lyrically are all considered similar except for In Reverie, which is a more positive album. This is largely due to the fact that there was no turmoil in Conley's life at the time, therefore there wasn't much to vent about as he recalls.^[7]. This lack of turmoil impacted upon Conley's songwriting ultimately resulting in them being released from their major label Dreamworks. In April 2006, Conley made comment in Rolling Stone magazine that Saves the Day's last release Sound the Alarm, is "about the black clouds inside my mind, It was these intense fears and paranoia and diluted thoughts that were eating me alive. It was utter insanity." in regards to the failure of In Reverie and subsequent release from Dreamworks^[8].

Solo Touring

While there are no plans for any solo recordings, Chris has recently toured throughout the USA, playing acoustic versions of Saves The Day songs.^[9],^[10] Conley, and an army of committed fans recently have posted performances via the bands website[1], the band's official YouTube account and elsewhere on the YouTube site.^[11][2]. He has also been involved in music production, working as a sound engineer and producer on releases by Kid Dynamite and Bob Dylan.^[12]

Crohn's disease

Conley suffers from Crohn's disease and is active in bringing awareness to the disease^[13],^[14]. The Saves the Day song "Where Are You?" was penned highlighting his struggle living with the disease "I have a stomach disorder called Crohn's disease and it was getting really bad when we were getting ready to tour with Weezer. I had to take steroids, which disturbs your emotional state and balance; your equilibrium is thrown off and it makes the lows lower. I happened to be going through a sad period. The overall theme is about taking everything in, the depression, confusion and anxiety, but also the incredible highs."^[15]

Discography (Conley as primary composer)

Can't Slow Down (1998) on Equal Vision Records
I'm Sorry I'm Leaving EP (1998) on Equal Vision Records
Lisa's Birthday Tape (1998) self-released
Through Being Cool (1999) on Equal Vision Records
Stay What You Are (2001) on Vagrant Records
In Reverie (2003) on DreamWorks Records
Ups and Downs: Early Recordings and B-Sides (2004)
Bug Sessions Volume One (tour exclusive) (2006)
Sound the Alarm (2006) on Vagrant Records
Under the Boards (2007) on Vagrant Records

Compilations featuring Conley's compositions

on Supersoul Records, Good Life Recordings, Temperance Records (1999) (features "The Art of Misplacing Firearms")
(1999) (features "Shoulder to the Wheel")
(1999) (features cover of Clash' "Clash City Rockers")
Equal Visions Records Sampler (2000) (features "Always Ten Feet Tall")
(2000) (features "Holly Hox, Forget Me Nots")
Another Year on the Streets (2000) (features "A Drag in D Flat")
Another Year on the Screen Vol. 1 (2002) (features "At Your Funeral")
Another Year on the Streets Vol. 2 (2002) (features "Nightingale")
Welcome To Vagrant Records (2003) (features "At Your Funeral")
(2003) (features "A Drag in D Flat")
Another Year on the Streets Vol. 3 (2004) (features "When It Isn't Like It Should Be")
A Compilation to Beat Cancer (2004) (features "Don't Go Outside")
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (2005) (features cover of Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer")
Warped Tour 2006 Compilation (2006) (features "The End")