Rising Stars: Meet Graham Czach of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Graham Czach.

Hi Graham, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Originally from the Windy City of Chicago and now based out of Los Angeles, I’m a full-time professional recording and touring musician/artist for a living, and I also run multiple music businesses, having released music for over a decade under various guises that have gone on to win awards and establish myself as an artist, activist, and entrepreneur capable of anything and everything.

I was born in Chicago in the Summer of 1979. My music loving parents named me after the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Graham Nash of CSNY, and I was raised on the classic rock of the 60’s/70’s, which still happen to be some of my main creative influences. I picked up the upright and electric bass at the age of 8 to play with my brother on guitar. I soon fell in love with all types of music and joined the orchestra and jazz band in school, going on to form a popular ska/rock band in the 90’s with drummer Kris Myers of Umphrey’s McGee called the Skalawags, selling out shows and getting offered a major label record deal with EMI. After the band rejected the offer, I continued my music studies with a scholarship to attend Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington/Normal, IL where I graduated with a BM in Music Performance (major in Upright Bass, minor in Voice) and Music Composition.

Returning to Chicago in 2002, I delved head first into the music scene making several albums, winning multiple Chicago Music Awards, and doing extensive tours with the Chicago Afrobeat Project. During this time, my experience and talent grew by performing with some of the best in music including GRAMMY winners Paul Wertico and Howard Levy, as well as forming a progressive jazz fusion trio with now acclaimed jazz artists Makaya McCraven and Greg Spero called GMG (Greg, Makaya, Graham) releasing our self-titled debut album in 2009 with subsequent touring.

I released my 2010 debut album Lucid featuring Chris Siebold (Howard Levy, Garrison Keillor) on guitar and Kris Myers (Umphrey’s McGee) on drums plus brilliant artwork by album artist Jeff Jordan (The Mars Volta). Proceeds from the album release show were donated to Planned Parenthood of Illinois, who I partnered with for the event. Featured on WGN TV Morning News, the Chicago Tribune, and Chicago’s premiere LGBTQ+ newspaper, the Windy City Times noted, “Lucid contains the timeless “Keep You” and the sing-along-worthy “Gather Round.” The album fused modern and progressive rock sensibilities with pop-like hooks, genre-bending arrangements and lush orchestrations. According to the Chicago Tribune, “Graham Czach is already a music lifer… The album swings between polar extremes from guitar-heavy, prog-rock jams into more tender fare like “True Love”, a Paul McCartney-esque ballad bathed in lush strings.”

From being featured on the Matt Nelson Trio album Nostalgiamaniac (2010) receiving 4-Stars in Downbeat Magazine, to recording double bass on GRAMMY winner Lupe Fiasco’s album Lasers (2011), over the next few years I performed and recorded with indie pop band Hey Champ, singer-songwriters Andrew Ripp and Jeff Goldford, and performed in an acoustic blues band with Big Head Todd and Chicago blues legend Ronnie Baker Brooks, which was featured on WGN TV News. I shared stages with notable artists Les Claypool, Seun Kuti, the Wailers, and more, as well as recording upright bass on the debut album by Saint Asonia (2015) while working with GRAMMY nominated producer Johnny K. A standout moment for me was when I was invited by Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins to perform at his tea shop in Highland Park, IL, which Billy personally attended and then connected me with his producer/engineer. A “full circle” experience, drawing a lot of influence from Billy and the Smashing Pumpkins.

My 2015 sophomore release Star By Star EP has songs co-produced by the late producer/engineer Bjorn Thorsrud (Smashing Pumpkins), Manny Sanchez (Fall Out Boy), and GRAMMY winner Greg Magers (J. Ivy). It also features Dylan McGee Jones (Gallant, Booker T) on guitar and Jonathan Marks (Dessa) on drums. Power Popaholic pronounced, “Like a modern Howard Jones meets David Bowie… Czach is a musical artist of the first order, and has both a solid voice and melodic gift, blending modern and progressive styles with pop hooks…” The EP was featured in LA Weekly, AXS/Examiner, Buzzbands LA, The Deli, PureVolume, and more. BVS Reviews stated that Star by Star, “…captured the essence of psychedelic 60’s music while wrapping it up in a modern rock package.”

In addition to my solo albums, after moving to Los Angeles, I formed Rebel Rampage in 2017, a protest rock power trio and released the debut full-length album Divided We Fall in late 2018 featuring Angelo Moore (Fishbone) and Emily Armstrong (Linkin Park, Dead Sara). The album was recorded at the famed Rancho De La Luna studio in Joshua Tree, CA with owner Dave Catching (Eagles of Death Metal, Queens of the Stone Age) and mixed by 4-time GRAMMY winner Adam Kasper (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden).

“Armed with words and music to resist oppression by the government and inspire change for equality and justice.”, is the band mission statement and to elaborate in interviews with LATV and All Access I said, “It’s our reaction to the outrageous corruption and darkness that has fallen over this country and is dividing it, hence the name of the album. I hope that people get charged up and inspired to make a difference and take action from listening to these songs in order to make this world and country a better, kinder, and fairer place to live. If we can change just one person’s life with this music and make a positive impact, then our mission is a success. One person at a time.” The band toured the U.S. in 2019 and partnered with the ACLU of Southern California, which led to opening for Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) at the ACLU 100 Year Anniversary Celebration in Downtown Los Angeles.

Releasing my latest full-length concept album Originalien on Ropeadope Records in 2023, the collection of 11 songs is not bound by any traditional convention. Started at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, the album tells a sincere heartfelt story with larger-than-life musical arrangements featuring a host of all-star guests and collaborators, including GRAMMY nominated artist Rachel Eckroth, Angelo Moore of Fishbone, the Budapest Scoring Symphony Orchestra, drummer and artist Makaya McCraven, and many more.

Originalien is a culmination of my long and diverse career in music. In a magnum opus of grand design with an accompanying concept story in and around the lyrics, the album challenges controversial issues like science, religion, war, racism, and more through philosophical and abstract ideas with universal messages told via large scale, ornate, and deeply emotional arrangements and songs. The concept is about a man that is born remembering his past lives and knowing that the human being, soul, or consciousness is extra-terrestrial, inhabiting our organic bodies to survive on Earth. He goes through life trying to help humanity learn from history with important messages about our beings that he carries with him from across the universe in order to make the world a better place, before it’s too late and humanity meets its fate.

I’m currently working on another new solo album hopefully due out next year in 2026, while continuing to run my live music businesses, the Chicago Diamond Trio and the LA Diamond Trio, and touring with the World Premier CCR Tribute Band ‘Creedence Revived’, as well as doing a ton of studio work and film scoring with the most recent project being the Netflix Comedy Special “Demetri Deconstructed” by Demetri Martin where I arranged/produced the music and performed/recorded upright bass. Many more exciting things to come…

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
At times, it has been an easy path when I stay focused and let the universe guide me, not trying to force anything. With the growing modern technology in music and the ease of use for anyone and everyone to make music from home on their laptop, the music industry and market has become way oversaturated with a lot of formulaic packaged garbage featuring musicians who really aren’t musicians, but just have a social media following and popularity. The quality and level of musicianship overall has degraded to pretty embarrassing levels in today’s musical landscape.

A huge challenge to overcome is being seen and heard without constantly producing “content” and being visible on social media. I’m fortunate to have a good business sense building my businesses and my career from the ground up, relying on myself and always having equity in all my projects and ventures. It is very important to be able to have ownership and multiple revenue streams in the music world if you want to be successful and live comfortably. I still struggle with social media and the rapid changing music industry, because I’m more old school as a Gen X/Xennial where I’m more about organic in-person real life interactions and live music, than creating “content” online that seems so vapid and short lived with rampant narcissism everywhere. I loved the days when you worked on an album in secret for a couple years and then released it organically in record stores.

While it makes it easier for anyone to put out music with streaming platforms, it also hurts real artists income and chances of being heard and appreciated like they should. It’s hard to stay positive all the time when you have to wear 15 different hats as a professional musician and artist. It becomes very taxing to your psyche getting rejection after rejection sometimes or dealing with the intense competitive nature in the music industry. It’s really about staying strong and balancing yourself by not getting caught up in every detail. Look at the bigger picture. It’s always a process to find that equilibrium. I think that’s a challenge everyone faces.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
From the musical melting pot of Chicago to the Californian coast, my musical body of work is a kaleidoscope of influences ranging from the jazz of Miles Davis to classical masterpieces by the likes of Debussy and Tchaikovsky to the classic rock of Led Zeppelin and the Beatles to the sounds of Fela Kuti’s afrobeat, James Brown funk, brooding singer-songwriters like Jeff Buckley, and beyond. For work, I run some live music entertainment businesses in Chicago and LA, and am mainly a hired studio session and live upright/electric bassist for gigs locally, nationally and some international touring. I’ve been doing a lot more film/TV scoring and music arrangement/production work lately, which I absolutely love and feel like my career is headed more in that direction.

In the early 2010’s, I started the Chicago Diamond Trio, live music entertainment company that provides customized live music groups for corporate events, weddings, and special events. When DJs started taking over the event scene, I created this niche where we could pair with DJs on events and clients could get the best of both worlds by having a live music group, typically a jazz trio, for cocktail hour and dinner then have the DJ for dancing and beyond. This business model grew and became very successful leading to a Chicago Music Award “Best Jazz Entertainer” in 2013 and numerous Best of Chicago Business Awards multiple years running while doing 100+ gigs a year. When I moved to LA in 2017, I started the LA Diamond Trio business that has also taken off in LA doing events for everyone from A-List celebrity clients to major motion picture studios like Disney and Sony, as well as performing at a lot of weddings and other special events. Both the Chicago Diamond Trio and LA Diamond Trio are still going strong today.

I’ve always been about breaking down barriers that separate people from each other and our true potential of coming together as a united global community, whether that be standing up for human rights or bringing people together of all kinds through the universal language of music. I view my work as an extension of my inspiration and passion for helping people. Any music, regardless of genre, that makes you feel something deeply and can change your life by inspiring you, healing you, or helping you take a step outside yourself and see things in a different way, including gaining a compassionate and respectful perspective, is the music that moves me the most and what I strive to create.

When the pandemic stopped many musicians and artists in their tracks, I was inspired to dig deep and create something that would realize my passion to tell a story and make a difference through music once again. I started an ambitious project with the first song I wrote for the new concept album Originalien called “Come Home Again” which features 33 professional musicians and friends benefiting the COVID Musicians Relief Fund to help musicians out of work and in need. With the success of this endeavor, a flood gate of ideas and creativity opened up, taking me on a journey for the next ten months of writing, arranging, and organizing the “One Human” Project featuring a world orchestra and 123 Artists from 110 Countries benefiting UNICEF, which went on to break a world record for “Most Nationalities Contributing Vocals to a Musical Recording (Single Song)”.

“One Human” is a prime example of my purpose, which is to tell a collective story through music that no matter what our differences are, we must seek empathy and understanding for each other through the shared bond of co-existence and experiencing the human condition. “We are stronger together, and few things exemplify this message more than Graham Czach’s ONE HUMAN project – bringing together artists from all over the world to support UNICEF’s lifesaving work.”, says UNICEF.

The song and accompanying music video for “One Human” is an epic magical timeless song that tugs at the heart strings and erases all borders literally and figuratively. It features performances by Senegalese legend Cheikh Lô, GRAMMY award winner Dobet Gnahoré, Juno award winner Alpha Yaya Diallo, Kris Myers (Umphrey’s McGee), Miss Bolivia Claudia Arce Lemaitre, Greek superstar George Perris, Japanese Taiko drumming group Yamato, and many more. Ethereal, euphoric and deeply spiritual, it is an example of world music at its finest. Written at a time when the very fabric of humanity’s existence was under threat, it is something that brought comfort at a moment when we needed it most. This song and video tell the story of all of us, and creates something special and unique in showing how we are so much stronger and better as a whole. By coming together as one, through compassion and the universal language of music, we can unite in a higher consciousness, as one people, to help solve our many crises in the world.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
This one is tough, so many! A total standout to me was when I had one of my first electric bass lessons, probably when I was 8 years old, and went with my brother because I had a bass lesson first with the same guitar teacher he had, then he had a guitar lesson while I waited in the car. I remember being inspired after my lesson and pulling out my bass guitar in the car waiting for my brother in the parking lot. I started playing and just jamming and came up with this cool blues rock riff that I built around with a more traditional blues-ish progression, just following my ear. My brother came out 30 min later and I was so excited raving to him and showing him the riff I just wrote. I was so proud and pumped that I basically wrote my first song. We went home and jammed it out, turning it into a full song, I believe we called “Stax O’ Wax”, not entirely sure why but it was cool and rocking! Such a fun carefree, creative and inspiring memory to look back on that lead to a whole ton of original songs and music throughout my life. Loved those simple childhood days of nothing but fun, games, and music! I was very fortunate to have such a great loving and supportive family and childhood.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.grahamczach.com | https://www.ladiamondtrio.com | https://chicagodiamondtrio.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/grahamczach
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grahamczachmusic
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/grahamczach
• Soundcloud: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2qcDl2OvVQB6wAAa8fNP2n
• Other: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/graham-czach/321718531