The Chambers – Rock band

Jordan Farho
Age: 17
School: Senior, Baton Rouge Magnet High School
Extracurriculars: Bike riding, producing music
Dream job: An architect and part-time musician
Inspiration: Death Grips drummer Zach Hill

Alex Abel
Age: 16
School: Home-schooled
Extracurriculars: “Just more music.”
Dream job: Full-time, professional musician
Inspiration: Surf rock guitarist Dick Dale and Black Sabbath guitarist Tommy Iommi

Watching The Chambers perform is like watching confidence. Guitarist and vocalist Alex Abel and drummer Jordan Farho work so well together as they rip through gritty, psychedelia-tinged surf rock originals and Black Keys and Dick Dale covers that it’s a shock to learn they are in high school.

The two met while in The Blues Project band at Baton Rouge Music Studios. Two summers ago, the pair got together to jam, wanting to “experiment with the two-piece thing, just the basics,” Abel says.

“We just clicked as musicians,” Farho adds. “I don’t want to say it would inhibit us to add a bassist, but we didn’t want to muddy up what we had between the guitar and drums.”

Their sound thrives off fast-paced surf rock, heavily distorted garage rock, while pieces of stoner metal and punk rock will occasionally float through. “We like to add a heavy something in there to hit people harder,” Abel says.

The duo will start out with the familiar James Bond theme and by the end of the set warp it into a heavy, 1970s-inspired metal jam. The band performs at multiple venues throughout the city, those more often associated with veteran acts, and has caught the eye of critically acclaimed musician Tess Brunet, co-owner of Lagniappe Records.

“Most high school bands aren’t that great because they have a ways to go, they’re supposed to suck when they’re that young, you know,” Brunet says. “Some people you can hear their influences, and it’s obvious they’re just trying to emulate that sound. [The Chambers] aren’t trying to do that. What they’re doing is taking all the favorite parts of the stuff they love and putting it together—and really owning it.” facebook.com/thechambers90