Meet Freebased Propane | Lyricist/Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Freebased Propane and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Freebased, why did you pursue a creative career?
For my entire life I’ve been big on poetry, creative writing, and especially music.
I wouldn’t even call it a career (you’re supposed to get paid for those, right?) so much as it is the only thing I’ve ever really LIKED to do, and the only thing I’ve ever found myself able to stick with.
I had lavish fantasies of being something like a “rock star” when I was growing up, but I’m not built for marketing. It could be a deficiency, or it could be that I’m scared to make writing songs feel too much like work.
As I get older I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that I’m writing less to garner the attention of other people and more to get a grip on what I’m scared of. Songwriting is the best insight I have.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Life has had a lot of ups and downs for me, and I’ve worked hard to write everything out in my music. I wrote thirteen albums of very whiny (very low quality) songs as Chelsea Hates Me over the course of 7-8 years. Due to constant tribulation and poor money habits I never had a chance to get any of it properly recorded, so it was primarily done with whatever I had laying around. I didn’t (and don’t) care to make it anywhere, so long as I was viciously honest about everything that I went through.

I quit music for about a year and a half when I realized that I had been writing in a way that was detrimental to my mental health. The only thing that led to the creation of “Freebased Propane” was a dear friend losing their life and a sea of other problems that formed in the fallout of that loss. Surrounded by clutter, sweating because there was no AC, and mad with grief I wrote and recorded “Slug Bones & the Snake Oil Wagon” in the closet at my old house.

I met Matt Carrano, my friend and the producer of “the Evasive Sentiment of Optimism,” and together (with the help of Freebased Propane’s mascot, Ronnie Dawg) we busted out the album with three days of work. He worked some magic on it and until we work on the next album together those nine songs are the highest in quality of anything else that I’ve ever made.
I owe a large majority of my life, music, and self to Matt and the people whose names are in my fancy leather book.

I’m blessed to have my friends and family, and grateful for their belief in me.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’d take them to Uncle Fester’s for some Sunday Funday from 3pm-6pm, Mind Gravy on Wednesdays at 7pm, or I’d try (probably unsuccessfully) to convince them to go exploring in the under-city tunnels.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutouts to:
Keswana Coaxum, who I owe quite a bit to for reasons I couldn’t even begin to cover here.
Maxx Variant, who’s without a doubt the dankest of photographers that the east coast has to offer.
Rebecca Shannon (my ma,) whose patience I’ve surely worn thin. I’d be buried, homeless, or in a cult if it weren’t for her.
Beth Novotny, my school choir teacher who forced me to compete with a solo (“Scarborough Fair”) as punishment for acting out in her study hall. I didn’t even think I could sing before she made me.
Matt Carrano, I hope that I’m still someone that you can be proud of.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING ESPECIALLY, FOR BELIEVING IN ME:
Kelsey Baker
Ryan Baker
Joey Gregory
Kathryn Harrell
Vernon Harrell
Mike Duett
Trina Christian
Matt Feurich
Ronnie Dawg Paxton

Website: https://freebasedpropane.bandcamp.com/releases

Instagram: chrisdoesntlike_howlifeworks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreebasedPropaneMusic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrwdUL8bjlu4twFZqnmx0RA

Image Credits
Maxx Variant