Chad Lewis

Chad Lewis Everything  

Active: 1994 - present
Location: Kokomo, Indiana

Notes: Born in to a middle-class Kokomo family of seven, raised as an Episcopalian and set adrift to figure out the world on my own, I quickly adopted the counter culture of punk rock. I was terribly shy but had the luxury of a very gregarious friend (Derek Dechert) who wanted to start a punk band. I was a budding poet and had a peculiar taste in music, so it sounded too good to be true. Along came John Buetow, who taught me about the art of hearing music in space and time. The lessons learned in the basement of the Buetow house will last a lifetime.

I had no musical talent or singing ability at all, but I knew how to make a spectacle of myself and had a booming voice when I wanted one. I had a way of writing that caught people’s attention and thought I had a creative knack for lyricism, so we decided to form a band. We needed a drummer, and friends of ours recommended Brad Wallace (my hero). Brad could play the drums like I had never heard and had a passion for the same things we did. We talked him into sitting in with us, and when I showed up, there was this other guy there tuning his guitar. Matt Sommers, whom I had seen around, was a little introverted but had a creative fire smoldering in him like he was mother fucking Mount Saint Helens. He was a self-taught guitarist and started out cherry picking accents, but eventually became the driving force of African Sleeping Sickness. Time passed and we all became bored with what we were doing. John went off to college. Derek, Matt, and Brad went on to create a lasting musical legacy, not only in Kokomo but around Indiana, and, in Matt and Brad’s cases, nationally. I went back into seclusion, learning how to play guitar, piano and bass and writing heavily, knowing that my next band was about to break out. It did not.

In 1998, after 10 years of developing a career, I was suddenly reintroduced to all of my old friends. I cried for having forsaken them, I cried for all of their good fortune, I smiled as I watched them do whatever they did. They all turned out alright. During the next 7 years I took the moniker of Neurotic Prophet and recorded about 40 songs, which I consider to be my biography. I wrote, played, recorded and mixed everything. Occasionally to my own detriment it seems. But they are my story and, thanks to my lifelong brother Matt Sommers, they are now available for you to listen to, consume and/or vomit as you see fit.

To all the members of A - you are my brothers, I am proud of you, and I love you and yours until I breathe my last.