I had the pleasure to do an Artist Spotlight on Chris Margolin, the front man for Chris Margolin & The Contraband. Chris is one of the first people I reached out to when I had the idea to start this spotlight thing. After getting his answers back, I told him I’m not going to touch a single thing because I love the way he answered every question. I feel like it would’ve been a disservice to y’all to edit this down. Some artists I do a spotlight on, you’ll see me doing a lot of talking because their answers are shorter, but that’s okay. I want each artist to answer this their own way, and I know Chris did just that with his answers.

So… who is Chris Margolin?

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1. What’s your band’s name?

An easy question. My name is Chris Margolin. My band name is Chris Margolin & the Contraband.

2. When did you first start playing music, and what drew you to it?

The easy answer to how I got started playing music was because my dad always had music on was always talking about. Music was always showing me. Whatever he thought was really cool. That all started as young as I can possibly remember. My parents always tell me that the first time I really got excited about music was listening to a live beach boys album. so I think playing music was always just in my blood and in my genetics. My dad was a drummer when he was a kid so I knew that I wanted to play music guitar made sense to me. I really think I got into music though because I’ve started writing whatever poetry or lyrics was at that time and I needed some way too I guess to sing them.

I don’t really remember a time when I wasn’t playing music. I really started getting into it when I was about nine. I picked up a viola for the first time and everything just sort of made sense. Music came really naturally to me. My parents paid a lot of money to send me to a lot of music lessons, but really my ear was good enough that I just kind of repeated back to my teacher or whatever I was hearing so I didn’t actually ever really get into the learning side of things. So when I was 10, I was accepted into the Portland Philharmonic with my Viola partner Sam. The greatest thing about Sam was that before every rehearsal or performance he would play me my part and I would memorize it and play it back just the way he had played it for me. Unfortunately, that came to a quick end when he wasn’t able to come to a rehearsal one day, and it was very obvious that I had absolutely no idea how to play my part. So when I was 12, Kurt Cobain died much like a lot of other kids at the time I convinced my parents to buy me a guitar. When I was 13, my friends Kevin and Henry and I started the very first version of what would become Jealous Rage.

3. How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard your music?

Someone once wrote that my music was whiskey soaked Americana. So for the last 15 to 20 years, I have been saying that my music sounds like whiskey soap Americano. I don’t actually know what that means. I think to me my music sounds like the music I grew up on or or released that I was listening to when I really started playing. Matchbox Twenty, Hootie & the Blowfish, Counting Crows, those were the bands that really got me started and interested in writing songs. So I think well I’ve developed as a writer and I listen to a lot of different music. I don’t think that the songs that I write have really shifted all that far from the music I was always in love with. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to play different kinds of music over the years and while I love, screaming, and singing for hard rock bands I don’t think I’ve ever found something for me that fits as well as just writing a really, really good kind of Americana pop rock song.

4. Who or what inspired you to start making music?

I think that my parents’ support became the best inspiration for playing when I was younger. In high school, when Jealous Rage was signed. I had to practice four nights a week, sometimes five hours a night after school. My parents never really hesitated to allow that to happen. They never missed a show that was in town until you know much later in their lives and even now they still come when they’re able to. I’ve been really lucky to have such a wonderful support system when it comes to the music I play. As I get older now, I truly understand how important it is to have a family that supports my crazy world of music. It takes a lot of time away from home and I’ve really had to adjust my thinking of what music means to me versus what family means to me. Family is obviously going to win out every time so I’ve had to kind of settle down and go from 100 shows a year to 50 shows a year and now down to maybe 10 shows a year but it feels right.

5. Who are some artists (past or present) that have influenced you the most?

our Lady Peace, counting crows, dog’s eye view, Pearl Jam, Jason Isbell, Finger 11, Ryan Adams, Matthew Mayfield, David Ramirez

6. What’s been your favorite show or venue to play so far?

I’ve had 30 years of awesome show experiences. Somehow, along the way in the early arts I got lucky enough to kind of become a go to opener for mid major venues in Portland. It’s been an absolute dream to be able to open for some of my favorite artists over the years. I’ve also played some pretty crazy shows like when I played three acoustic songs opening up for Night Ranger. I think my favorite shows are just a really small local shows though. The 90s and the early arts hold a really special place in my heart because the local shows were just filled with friends and other band members and people who are just coming out to support everybody. They felt like really just big parties and everybody was having the best time. I tend to get lost in the really big shows when I’m opening them. My anxiety is pretty bad so while I absolutely love the people I’m opening for and sometimes I’m comfortable enough to talk with them. It can be really tricky before I get on stage to convince myself to get on stage. If I have to pinpoint a couple shows that I think were the absolute best I would have to say that opening up for the wallflowers at the Aladdin theater in Portland was a monumental experience because they were such a foundational band for me so to be able to open for them and to have an audience that accepted me as much as they did was pretty unreal. But I think the absolute greatest show I’ve ever played was with my previous solar project Chris Margolin, and the dead bird collection we opened for the record company at Mississippi Studios in Portland. They had just had their first major single. It was a sold out show and we were really really excited to open. We played probably the best set I have ever played and we played well enough that the audience started chanting for us to come out and do an encore. So we did. And well, I don’t know if the record company was as excited about it as we were. It was a moment that I will never forget. The idea that you know 700 people wanted us to come back on stage even though they weren’t even there for us feels better than the best ice cream you could ever eat.

7. What’s your dream venue to play at?

Luckily, I’ve been able to play the majority of my dream venues when it comes to places in Portland. I really think that for me playing at pretty venues or really great listening rooms is far more important than playing at the larger scale rooms and I’ve done both of them. The only venue that I truly still want to play in Portland is the crystal ballroom. It’s just one of those places where I’ve spent so much time and seen so many bands, but I’ve just never had the opportunity to open for anyone there.

8. Have there been any major turning points in your career so far?

The biggest training point in my career was in 2006 when a radio DJ from Kink Fm in Portland, Dean Kattari, happened to listen to a demo of a song I had written called reckless. The band Chris Margolin and the drags had recorded a version of it, but we weren’t really looking to do anything with it yet. It was just more of a reference track for us. He liked it so much that he started playing it almost daily on the radio station and included it on a radio compilation. That led to some of the bigger shows that I played in my 20s and through my 40s now. Given that I really got started playing shows and recording music in my early teens. They were a lot of fun turning points back then but a lot of those were in major. Thanks to my DRUMMER at the time Jason Lusk. His tenacity and ability to get in the door for bigger shows in the mid 90s in Portland was amazing. It led to so many opportunities to open for so many people who opened the door for us and so many other people. Had it not been for Jason joining Jealous Rage in 96, I don’t know that I would have had the opportunity to be where I am today in the music world. I mean, I’m not like some major national success but I’ve done pretty well on a local level and I’ve somehow been able to sustain as an opening act for the last 30 years so I guess I’m doing it right

9. What’s something about you or your band that people might not expect?

I honestly don’t know if there’s something that people wouldn’t expect when they come to a show of mine. I’m really the same person on and off stage so I think the people who have followed me for all these years kind of have come to just know that I’m a good time on stage. I like to tell stories and I like to sing songs. The people who are new to me I don’t know if there’s something that they would hear that they wouldn’t necessarily think would come from me. I mean, I’m covered in tattoos and look like an old school punk rocker and whatever but I like playing soft sad kind of country songs.

10. What do you hope people feel when they hear your music?

I just hope that someone gets something from one line that I sing that allows them to think about anything in their life differently. And if not differently, I just hope that I can capture their story for them as well as I feel like I’ve captured my story for myself.

11. What does success look like for you in music?

I consider myself to have been a very successful musician over the last 30 years. Success to me has been opening up for some of my favorite bands, meeting the best of people in different venues along the way, and just knowing that anyone in this entire world would want to spend a moment listening to my music. I mean, what else makes you successful if not, for the fact that someone has not hit stop on a song.

12. How do you balance music with the rest of your life?

Not very well. This took me a really long time to understand that music was a choice. I had a manager early on who asked me the question, “do you wanna be a rockstar or do you want to be realistic”. And the answer was always realistic. So when things in my family life started to get too hectic or too busy it was a neon sign to slow down a lot and I did. I think that I’ve written some of my best songs in the time when I’ve been less active performing. Being more focused and settled at home allows me to be more comfortable and vulnerable when I’m writing. My family is my greatest support. My kid absolutely listens to very different music than I play but every once in a while, I’ll catch them listening to an older harder, song of mine and I’ll definitely smile at my wife, Courtney is everything I could ask for a partner. She is insanely blunt when it comes to whatever I’m writing. She has no problem telling me if it’s absolute shit. But she will also tell me when something is really good and really sits well with her. Those are the moments in the songs that I know others will connect to

13. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone just starting out in music?

Just play music. Play everywhere. Play for anyone who will listen. But most of all play for yourself. Not everyone brings a crowd to a show but if there’s one person there who likes what you’re doing, they’re going to tell someone else about you so just keep playing and more people will come.

14. Do you have any upcoming releases or projects you’re excited about?

David St. has arrived! I have been waiting to write these songs for a really long time now. This is the most collaborative batch of songs I’ve ever been a part of writing. It feels so refreshing to be part of a group where everyone just wants to be in the room playing music together coming up with the best ideas for songs. I’m so excited for everyone to hear these five songs!

15. Where can people find your music and follow your journey?

I am all over the place Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Threads, TikTok, and email.