Performing under the band name chomp!, Amari Keller (left) and Kelsey Yappel (right) aim to create a space for all people to feel included and safe through their music and shows. Credit: Courtesy of Alexa Scoby
Unlike other musical groups that may be constantly scrambling to produce music before a certain deadline, members of chomp!, a Columbus-based electronic, instrumental rock band, said their unique sound comes from making music when it feels right instead of forcing it.
Kelsey Yappel, a 2018 Ohio State alumna, and Amari Keller, a former Ohio State student, have been making music together since February 2020 and they released their self-titled EP “chomp!” April 1. They said they aim to create a space for all people to feel included and safe through their music and shows.
“We try to make it fun, we’ll always dress up and stuff,” Yappel said. “It’s just so cool to be different and be more palatable for everyone and not just very specific types of people.”
Keller, the guitarist for the band, said she and Yappel officially met when they became roommates in The Dollhouse, a collective started by Ohio State alumni CJ Fink for queer and BIPOC creatives. The Dollhouse was located in a North High Street apartment, and members of The Dollhouse manage a digital magazine and host house shows, Keller said. Before coming together at The Dollhouse, however, Keller said she remembers seeing Yappel previously at a show for Yappel’s former band, Trying.
“I saw Kelsey play a show with her band,” Keller said. “They were performing as Kesha, the whole band doing Kesha cover songs, and she was playing violin in the band. I was like, ‘That’s so cool because I used to play violin.’”
Yappel, the bassist for chomp!, said she and Keller had the urge to make music, but they spent a lot of time mulling it over. When they finally chose to play together, however, it was because of a snap decision.
“We would talk about it a lot, and we were like, ‘We should make music.’ And then one day, we’re just like, ‘OK, let’s do it,’” Yappel said. “I think what motivated us most was we actually set up a show.”
They said when they booked the show they didn’t even have a name, and Yappel said this unique name, much like their decision to book a show, was also made abruptly.
“Abby texted me, ‘What’s our name?’” Yappel said. “And I was like, ‘What’s on the fridge?’ Yeah, we had magnets with letters on it, and we wrote the word chomp. We’re just like, ‘Just do that one.’”
Keller said when they started to make music together, she and Yappel did not have any specific sound they were trying to emulate or produce, but they found it together naturally.
“That was also something that we didn’t necessarily discuss, as we were making songs and then being like, ‘I really like how this sounds,’” Keller said. “Like our first song that we wrote being ‘idk,’ the one that we always put first, and so it’s completely different than the next one.”
Despite attempts to make their songwriting and producing processes more uniform, Keller and Yappel said their best music is usually spontaneous and working off of one another.
“We’ve tried to be like, ‘OK, we want to make a song about this,’ and sit down and write it that way, but it doesn’t usually work,” Keller said.
