Colony House Finds a Home Away From Home in Philadelphia

After you go see a show live, a large impression is left. Whether it’s good or bad, you always walk away with a memory.

Driving to the Theatre of Living Arts, I piloted my way through the rain and shuffled some Colony House on my phone. The first track began to play, “Cannot Do This Alone”. It seemed like a great representation of the forthcoming night ahead. I wouldn’t be where I am now without all of the bands that left an impact on me. I truly cannot do it without them. Colony House was playing the TLA in Philadelphia and I was on a one way track towards the show. Once I arrived, I checked out the merchandise table and noticed the band was selling a Cannonballers album themed bag of coffee. It’s always cool to see artists selling unconventional merchandise. There’s nothing I love more than a unique item that’s not a vinyl or a hoodie. The show began to start and I ran to the front to catch the opening band, Little Image. 

Little Image was an excellent warmup, pumping up the crowd for the main act. The band had an exciting sound that rallied up crowd members. Everyone was head banging by the end of their set. Once intermission rolled around, I made my way into the lobby and found a kind gentleman named Erick Frost (Frosty). Erick is more than just a friend to Colony House. He is the band’s photographer on most occasions, but for this tour he had a different role. The band has teamed up with the charity, Food For The Hungry, and Erick was in charge of collecting donations from fans. Erick explained the band’s goal to me. All fans had to do was donate $5 to Food For The Hungry’s Exist For Good, Give Five, and after the show the band would come out and give high fives to them. The five dollars goes to regions of Turkey and Syria that were affected by earthquakes just days before the Cannonballers tour. It was real nice to see the band supporting a great cause. 

After I talked to Erick about the charity and some of his favorite memories with the band, I headed back into the pit to prepare for the show. The band emerged onto the stage and began to play “Landlocked Surf Rock”. The energy in the room began to rise as fans jumped and sang along to the song. Throughout the set Caleb Chapman interacted with the audience. First by clearing the barricade and singing with the crowd during “Silhouettes”, then by bringing up an audience member to play guitar for their song “2:20”. Chapman saw a crowd member raising their hand up and he said “You promise you know how to play this song? Get up here!” The crowd cheered as he introduced the guest guitarist, Dan. Shortly after Chapman called out some of his good Philly friends in the crowd. He began to talk about coming to Philadelphia ten years back, playing house shows. “Our Philly family is here. They let us play in their home because our van broke down. So this is kind of our home away from home. We never thought some Tennessee boys would find refuge in the Northeast, but it’s our home. We feel like that. So we love you more than you know.” 

After the band expressed their love for Philadelphia, Caleb began talking about some more emotional matters. “We started this thing called Exist For Good. We get together and we find a cause that we believe in. Right before this tour came out, the earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria. So as we’re celebrating music, life, and love in these rooms, we want to remember that there are people hurting outside of these walls. We’ve got a little bit of time on this stage, so we figured why not do something good with it.” He exclaimed that the small donation helps supply food, water, and shelter to those in need. The band finished up the show with some of their smash hits and ended strong with “You Know It”. Once the band cleared the stage, crowd members who donated to the charity hung around for the band to come out. 

The boys from Colony House came out to meet everyone and they began to answer crowd questions. Fans asked members of the band what they do to keep in touch with their families. Caleb responded with “FaceTime is awesome. That’s a game changer. My dad did the same thing I do now and we didn’t have FaceTime, so we’re very grateful.” He then went on to explain how he purchased a Toniebox for his child. The box tells recorded stories when you place a figurine on top of it. The figurines can look like Disney characters or even like the children’s parents. “I’ll make up stories while I’m on the road, they put the character on the speaker, and it’s like I’m telling them a story.” Will Chapman talked about his daughter’s love for Starbucks Cake pops in response to being homesick. “When I start to miss my daughter, I go get a cake pop from Starbucks. That’s all she eats pretty much,” Will exclaimed. The group giggled at the thought of Chapman eating cake pops on tour. A few more questions were asked, and after a while the boys said their goodbyes and headed out. 

After the show I was lucky enough to meet the family that housed Colony House all those years ago. They were very sweet, and told me all about their story with the band. I also met a fan named Zach who shared magic tricks with the band and fans after the show. The community surrounding Colony House is quite delightful. After every show I go to, more memories are made. This is one for the books. If you ever get the chance to see Colony House live, I recommend you take it. They have always sounded just like their records live in the best way possible. Check them out now on the Cannonballers Tour. Philadelphia will greatly welcome back Colony House anytime.