Today we’d like to introduce you to Synthetic Chew.
Hi Synthetic Chew, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I first started playing music when I was a kid. A lady at my church kind of forced my parents to start me on piano with her. I was a really bad student and I absolutely dreaded the lessons and so I stopped after a few months. In second grade my school offered free orchestra class to students who wanted to learn how to play an instrument. I quickly signed up because I was told we would have to leave science class early to take the music class.
Around the same time, my church invited a solo violinist and a gospel saxophone player from Japan on two separate occasions to play for our congregation. This was a pivotal moment for me and my musical journey. I remember watching them play and thinking how free they looked when they performed. They were able to express their whole heart through music. And I guess I haven’t seen many Japanese people express so much emotion before and that kind of shocked me in a good way. So much freedom that I didn’t have within myself. I was a super anxious kid and was always trying to hide the things that made me different from other kids, but that freedom that I saw in those musicians opened up the world for me.
Throughout grade school I was looking for an instrument that I felt the most connected to. This took a long time – violin in elementary school, then clarinet, drum line, alto and tenor saxophone , and vibraphone in middle and high school- only to come back to my first instrument. I started playing piano again hoping to go to school for music. I started singing and songwriting around the same time.
Life happens and college didn’t really happen the way I wanted it to. I worked many odd jobs and then opened a business. Synthetic Chew is a fairly new iteration of something I had created a little after high school. I was writing under a different name at first and released a demo called Celery Cereal. It was a different version of me that I’m quite proud of, but completely erased off of the internet.
Synthetic Chew is version 2.0 and I’m still learning and trying to find that freedom I’ve always been searching for. For this project my husband Johnny plays drums with me and it’s been a big growing experience having him by my side. He’s helped me become a better musician and I’m so thankful for that. We’ve had talented local musicians that I’ve been lucky enough to work with and I’m just having a lot of fun with it.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think putting myself out there is really where I struggle the most. The songs I’ve been writing put me in a real vulnerable spot and showing it to other people makes me have all kinds of feelings. I think I don’t really have an end goal with Synthetic Chew except for me to feel the most comfortable in my own skin musically. It’s really a project for myself and this journey has been real nourishing for me. I think success can only be measured by the heart and right now my heart is full. Excited to see what version 3.0 will be like.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Synthetic Chew is kind of hard to explain, but we’re a ナーンちゃって (nanchatte) jazz band which means “joke/not really” jazz band in japanese. When it comes down to it I’m a singer songwriter. Stylistically we play something like jazzy pop music, but I’m not great with identifying different genres so I won’t start splitting hairs. I’m most proud of “Hahaue” an EP we released in 2024 dedicated to my mother. That one was a real heavy one for me and I’m happy that it exists.
What were you like growing up?
There weren’t a lot of Asian kids at my school growing up and English was my second language so I kind of stood out. This made me a target to bullies and just overall unpleasantness. After I started playing music it helped me find a different identity, one that I could control, and that was a saving grace. I really did love music and I made it my whole personality. I made all of my friends through band and orchestra. Played in church. I didn’t really do anything else.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/synthetic.chew/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1JCJA0E2452xAV1o8uVVDi?si=ZDpD_5JfTrijzAoR8muinw
