The ballad of Chad Tepper might be music’s most interesting. He grew up in poverty, spending much of his childhood homeless. As an adult, Tepper moved to Los Angeles, testing different avenues to success.
Tepper skateboarded. He acted. He tried stand-up comedy. But after making significant inroads in traditional entertainment, he found a home on the internet. His vlogs and comedy bits went viral as his audience began to build.
But after befriending musicians, his music ability began to bear fruit. No longer just noodling on the keyboard or guitar, Tepper was working with major names in the alternative scene. Members of Bad Omens and Simple Plan helped him refine his craft. Stars like Mod Sun and Travie McCoy began to offer advice. Massive names like Lit, Bowling For Soup, and Matisyahu joined Tepper on tracks.
With his listenership building and social media following growing, Tepper began banking songs for his debut album, Never Stood A Chance. It released on August 11. Tepper talked with us about the journey to get to this moment.
How do you feel now that Never Stood A Chance is out?
A lot of different feelings. You know, for me, as a new artist, I’ve been around for a long time making music, but really recently, I have been getting recognized for my art. I love it. But I’m not at the point I want to be at. So I put out an album, and in my mind I’m like, “It’s going to be so good; it’s going to be this; it’s going to be that.” But sometimes you have to take a step back and be realistic so you don’t get hurt by the outcome of the album because, truth be told, this is my debut album. This is my first one. And there are a lot of people that don’t know who I am and there is still much work to be done.
You have the ability to dress a song up in so many ways: rock, indie, pop-punk, hip-hop, you incorporate island vibes. How do you decide a song’s direction?
That’s the thing. I’ve literally been told to my face from record executives,“You need to pick a sound, and you need to go by that and that only.” Even for me, when I signed with Epitaph (Records) I was making pop-punk music… and as I started to transition to making more and more different types of music, I started to hate the vibe of some pop-punk artists. They aren’t aware of the culture and didn’t grow up listening to these iconic bands I would listen to.
I’ll go into a session, and I won’t name names, with someone who normally makes pop-punk and ask them what they listen to and they will say, “Oh, you know I listen to One Direction.” You have people trying to portray culture and they are culture vultures. And they have no idea about it… When I got signed, I told my label I was going to start making more alternative music, and I said I want to start making pop music. They were like “What? What? What? No vision.”
But I know where I’m going and know where I want to go. I kind of proved it getting number 31 on alternative radio charts. As a new artist, I’ll tell you right now, these radio stations don’t give a shit about you unless you are a legacy act… We need somebody like me to break through this shit ’cause there aren’t artists breaking through like they used to. There are so many amazing artists at that level that should be on the radio and getting played more. How can I compete with The Killers? How can I compete with anyone who is massive? It’s just a thing where nobody believes in you until everyone believes in you… I work my fucking ass off. I am literally throwing everything at the wall trying to get something to stick. One day, that motherfucker is going to stick on that wall. And everything is going to be great.
You’ve accomplished so much after starting with so little.
So I was homeless with my mom and dad and two brothers for close to seven years and we lived in tents on the side of the road and homeless shelters. Anywhere we can stay…. That affects you. Going through that. I wish I didn’t. I have the worst PTSD… I lock all the doors in my house and the windows. I put an extra lock on my bedroom door. I have trauma. I am scared someone will come in kill me. Or someone is going to come and rob me.
Because my whole life being homeless, you are always on the alert. That someone will come and take you away from your parents. Or someone will murder you or molest you. You have PTSD from that. Your anxiety is so high. It affects my life nowadays. My biggest thing is, I don’t want to go back to that. My mom still lives in a trailer at this point. And my biggest goal is, I want to get her out of a trailer. I need to be able to take care of her and help her.
How does your background impact your music?
It’s wild to me because I am very appreciative of what I have. There is no one on earth who appreciates their life like I do because I shouldn’t be here right now. There are multiple times I almost died. There are a lot of stories, a lot of bad things. And for me, I want to translate that into my music because music changed my whole life. When I was homeless, it brought me out of being homeless. When I was depressed, it brought me out of being depressed.
I’m also very thankful that I wake up every day and am alive. I thank God I have food, a car… Everything I’ve had in my life, I have had to crawl and beg and borrow and steal, and everything, man. And it is so hard when you see other people given opportunities and given this and given that, and they just don’t care. Coming from nothing to having a successful career and being able to make money off my art. My life is great. I can’t complain.
You can hear all this play out in Never Stood A Chance. It’s so personal.
For me, I never really used writers before. Because I want this to be my story. I know where I’m going in my life. I know one day I am going to win Grammy’s. I know one day I am going to run the fucking world. I know this. When that time comes when I put out a song, and it’s the biggest song in the world, I want it representing me. So any time I put out a song, it’s about real shit going on in my life.
This whole album is real as fuck… every lyric, every song is real. From me being depressed, me doing drugs. The album is called Never Stood A Chance because I never stood a chance my whole life. Even now-a-days all the bullshit I go through in the industry, I never stood a chance. I’ll tell you this, if I took five steps back and didn’t work hard, I wouldn’t stand a chance. So this album is about my life and career. Because even to this day, I still don’t stand a chance to make it in this industry. But I’m going to.
You showcase a lot of humility, maybe even self-depreciation, in some of these songs. Tracks like “I wish I Was Better Looking” or “Way Out Of My League.”
Look, I don’t care if you are super model or a really good liking guy or girl or anybody. We all have insecurities. We are in this world where everyone wants to put you down to make themselves feel better. And I don’t fucking stand for that shit anymore. We are all equal. We are all the same, and we need to start treating people with love. So I was looking in the mirror one day, and I said to my fiancé, “god, I wish I was better looking. My life would be so much easier if I was better looking.” You know? I wouldn’t have to deal with all this shit.
t’s so weird now. I’m tattooed, and my fiancé is gorgeous. And all these girls hit on me and stuff. It makes no sense to me because I am literally that poor, homeless kid who lived in a trailer park in high school and had one outfit all week. Never had any friends. Never had any girlfriends. I was that quiet, loser kid… So many people have massive egos, and I try to write music that is really real. A lot of people wish they were better looking. A lot of people are dating girls who are completely out of their league, And they don’t know it. And for me, I want my songs to be real. I want my songs to make you feel good. Make you dance. Make you cry. And when you listen to it and hear those lyrics, You know they are authentic.
One of your more listened to songs includes Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan. How else did he impact this album?
That’s so much of a crazy thing. Because I grew up listening to them and love them. And for him to come in and help me with this album is crazy. When I first started working with him, he said, “I have this song for you” and I’d say, “I don’t do that. I am going to say what I want to say. And if you want to come in and church it up, totally cool.”
But he was cool with that and let you do your thing? Because you sometimes have a creation process that’s very much like a rap artist or someone like, say, Post Malone?
So we have this relationship where I get on the microphone freestyle all of my thoughts and record five versions of a song. (Pierre) hits play on the mic, and I started talking shit… and he goes in and says ,“I like this part; oh, I like this part.” He says when you get on the microphone and let your soul out, you shine. It comes from the heart and the sole. I close my eyes. I hear the music, and the words just flow out.
I felt like tracks like “Summer Went Too Fast” with lyrics like “my hell is a lot different than yours” and “At Least I’m Not Alone” were so personal. Can you tell me about them?
So “At Least I’m Not Alone,” I wrote that song about falling in love with my fiancé. Before I met her, I was in this really horrific, toxic relationship for almost 10 years. There was no love or compassion. There was a lot of toxicity. I was empty. We’d break up a bunch. I was at the high point of my career… but I was highly addicted to a lot of drugs. I was turning to a really dark place where I was ready to end myself. I was ready to leave this earth. I couldn’t take the pain anymore.
I had a best friend who passed away. My dad passed away. My girlfriend at the time was being a horrible person. I just couldn’t take it anymore…. So I split up with my ex. I met this girl. But before I met this girl, I had this plan. I am going to give it more time. But every day was a struggle. But then I meet this girl and she is angel from heaven to save me. My life was just better and happier. That’s why I wrote the song. And if you hear the bridge part where the guitar comes in, that part makes me ball my eyes out. It’s one of my favorite songs… That song is so magical and special for me.
Your one million Instagram followers are incredibly impressive. How did you collect so many?
I used to be professional skateboarder. I used to standup comedy. I wanted to do skits. And be an actor. When I first moved to LA, I wanted to be an actor and musician. It was so difficult. Then YouTube came out. Then Vine and Instagram. And all this social media, I have always been the guy who doesn’t wait for people. I was like, you know what, I can do this myself. I don’t need anybody.
The mentality helped me out because I have an interesting life. I hang out with important people and do crazy shit. And one day someone came up to me and said, you should start filming your life. It’s fucking crazy. And I was like, I don’t know. ‘Cause I wanted my art to be loved. I didn’t want to be a clown or sell out. At the end of the day, I don’t want to be famous. The things that come with it, people listening to my music, money. That shit is cool. But the other shit that comes with being a celebrity, I want nothing to do with it.
So I just started making funny videos online, cool videos online. Stuff I thought was funny. And it started to go viral. After that, I always wrote music and stayed in music and did little melodies and jingles and played guitar and keyboard… I’ve always had a love for music. But if you’re joe schmo in the middle of nowhere how do you start making music? I didn’t have $1000 to rent out a studio for a couple hours.
How’d you get started, then, making music?
So there was this guy, Diego Farias, he started Volumes back in the day… He started that band and produced that band. One time I was playing guitar and singing; he was there for my other friend, and he came up to me and said, “Bro, have you ever thought about making music? You have a cool voice.” So every day for, like, two years I would literally go and make music with him every single day and night. It was awful music ’cause I sucked. But he would let me experiment and get better and try and try and try. And the worst thing ever was right before I was able to have success in my music, he fucking died, man. And it was just like so difficult. Cause he gave me the last years of his life… He gave me his time. And that hurt me so fucking bad. Because I was like, man, I wish he could see what I was doing.
It’s an incredible origin story. And your album is an excellent debut. So what’s next?
This is the very beginning, my friend. My problem in life, Travie McCoy from Gym Class Heroes is close friend of mine… but he told me Chad, you are going to take over the world one day. But I need to tell you this; enjoy the small victories…The thing is, I know where I am going. I know what I am doing. I am working my fucking ass off… Music is my life 24 hours a day. When you are obsessed with something, you are going to do it.
You can listen to Never Stood a Chance here. Follow Chad Tepper on Instagram for future updates.
Photo Courtesy Of Chad Tepper
