If you follow the local scene here in the Valley, chance are that you've ran into Chase Stain at some point. If not, chances are that he has been involved in a show you attended or a band you've seen perform, or an album you've purchased. Stain works very hard, and has performed in several bands, and last month he released a solo CD featuring 22 tracks.

"The First Quarter" has a variety of music, although Stain primarily plays a variety of punk rock. It was nice to see a musician move out of there comfort zone a bit, and Stain even manages to pull it off the majority of the time. "Pussy on Tap" is an alternative funk rock track that reminds me of Red Hot Chili Peppers. "Romantic Comedy" has an 80's style retro new wave sounding keyboards and vocals that are similar to The Smiths.

Considering that Stain primarily writes and performs punk rock songs, I must admit that I was very impressed with the songwriting and the overall execution. Sure, some of the recordings are a little rough.....or sometimes really rough....but I can tell what Stain was going for, and he nailed it. I was especially impressed with his lyrics. Whether he's singing a cute little song about his daughter (who's name is Nova) with lyrics like: "Hello there Nova, your hair looks like a drunk Nick Nolte, and you climb on my leg like a monkey" in his track "March", or he's singing about heartbreak, like in his song "Miss Lead", that has darker lines like: "Watch her as she plays me, drew a bad hand, hustled by her once again, consoled her in my arms while lying in bed, now he chose his arms to hold her instead", Stain manages to pull it off.

Most of the songs on the album are super catchy, so I had several songs stuck in my head for hours. There aren't a whole lot of solo artists that I know of in Arizona. Well....there is Nikki Kwik, Brodie Hubbard, Jason DeVore, and a few others....but there are far more bands than solo projects (I'm not including rap in this category). I have to hand it to Chase Stain. This album is great, and I feel confident when I say that I think Chase Stain is easily one of the top ten solo artists in Arizona (although like I said, there may not even be ten solo artists in Arizona). In any case, I highly recommend picking up a copy of "The First Quarter" to add to your collection. Ohhh, and the album is available to purchase online at www.InterPunk.com or at any Zia Records location.