Chris Hawkes

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Chris Hawkes
Chris Hawkes
Chris Hawkes
Background information
Birth name Christopher Thomas Hawkes
Born January 18, 1982 (1982-01-18) (age 26)
Flag of the United States Dallas, Texas, USA
Origin Flag of the United States Austin, Texas, USA
Genre(s) Pop rock
Rock
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Guitarist
Record Producer
Recording Engineer
Instrument(s) Vocals
Guitar
Years active 1998 – present
Label(s) unsigned
Associated acts Redtag,Five Times August,The Color Gray
Website Chris Hawkes

Chris Hawkes, born Christopher Thomas Hawkes in Dallas, TX January 18th, 1982 is a songwriter, singer, guitarist, recording engineer and producer.

He attended the University of North Texas in Denton Texas studying Art before deciding to pursue music and sound recording full time.

Contents

[edit] Music Performance

As a musician Chris Hawkes was first recorded and released on a 1998 compilation Garage Nights at Laser Trax released on Cannon Riggle Records.

In late 1999 Hawkes formed a band with fellow high school students, Daniel Loflin, Ben Drake and Aaron Cauble called Redtag. During his years in Denton at the University of North Texas Chris reformed Redtag several times.[1]

He departed from the usual role of frontman/songwriter to produce and play lead guitar for Five Times August with singer songwriter Brad Skistimas and Redtag drummer Cason Clifton. Skistimas had previously released solo recordings under the name Five Times August. The first album featuring Hawkes and Clifton was 2004's EP "Something Clever". [2] In addition to performing lead guitar, bass, percussion, background vocals Chris also produced, engineered and mixed the album.[3] The single "Better With You" was featured on MTV series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County season one. Following the success of the release, the other member of Redtag, Jake Baxter, joined Five Times August.[4] A full length 2005 follow up album "Fry Street", featuring performances and production by Hawkes,[5][6] received numerous plays on season two of Laguna Beach. Another track from the Fry Street Album, "The Way You Do", was featured in the One Tree Hill episode entitled "Things I Forgot at Birth". In 2007 tracks from "Something Clever" and "Fry Street" were compiled and released as "The Independent" breaking ground as an independent release available at Wal-mart.

In 2005 after disbanding from the singer the remaining members of Five Times August and Redtag formed The Color Gray. Chris Hawkes wrote, engineered and produced 2005's self titled EP and the 2006 "Control" LP.[7] The release of The Color Gray's full-length album "Control" was preceded with significant attention for the first album single entitled "Nothing To Lose". It received spins on numerous radio stations including KTBZ The Buzz in Houston KLAQ "The Q" in El Paso KNCN "C101" in Corpus Christi KEYJ Rock 108 Abilene and an official playlist add in their own major market home area on KDGE The Edge Dallas. The Color Gray disbanded in late 2006.

In 2007 Chris Hawkes released his first solo album "Guitar and Voice"[8] MTV showed interest in Chris's work again featuring "Falling Into Doubt" on the popular series The Hills Episode 305[9]

[edit] Discography

  • 1998: "Garage Nights at Laser Trax" (Cannon & Riggle)
  • 2004: Something Clever
  • 2005: Fry Street
  • 2005: The Color Gray
  • 2006: Control(Nico)
  • 2007: The Independent
  • 2007: Guitar and Voice

[edit] Record Producer/ Recording Engineer

Chris Hawkes graduated with a special training degree from the Dallas Sound Lab in Los Colinas, Texas in 2000.

Following an internship with Grammy Award Winning Producer Eric Delegard, Hawkes became lead engineer for the University of North Texas School of Music.

In 2003 Chris Hawkes started his independent recording efforts with One Road Studio by recording his own bands and other regionals acts.

One of the early projects, Five Times August, received play on MTV popular show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County during seasons one and two and later play on One Tree Hill. Efforts from The Color Gray were added to major market radio station playlists including KDGE in Dallas and KEYJ in Abilene. Hawkes's self produced solo record was featured on MTV popular show The Hills

In 2006 Hawkes partnered with Disclive, a Dallas based recording company, as head engineer to record live performances. Bands to date include: 30 Seconds to Mars, Flyleaf, The Toadies, Cooder Graw, Spoonfed Tribe, Edgewater

2007 Hawkes collaborated with several acts co-writing producing and performing on albums for Killing Caroline, Lisa Apple and Faktion

[edit] List of albums produced/engineered

[edit] References

  1. ^ Local band faces changes, still rocks - ARTS
  2. ^ Five Times August | Music Artist | Videos, News, Photos & Ringtones | MTV
  3. ^ Something Clever (e.p.) [EP] by Five Times August on MSN Music
  4. ^ Denton act scores MTV reality show - Undefined Section
  5. ^ Five Times August : The Independent - Listen, Review and Buy at ARTISTdirect
  6. ^ Fry Street by Five Times August on MSN Music
  7. ^ Control by The Color Gray on MSN Music
  8. ^ Amazon.com: Guitar And Voice: MP3 Downloads: Chris Hawkes
  9. ^ The Hills (Season 3) | Episode 5 | Songs from the Show | MTV

[edit] External links