We recently connected with Chad Land and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Chad with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I have to say my childhood wasn’t like any of my other friends when I was growing up. My father was a well known scrap iron dealer, welder, mechanic, and race car driver at a little dirt track “Santa Maria Speedway” in California
When I was only ten years old the old track champ became a single dad, and things around our house got kinda sideways for a few years. I don’t think he was ready to learn how to cook among many other things.
For financial reasons he would take me to work with him whenever I didn’t have school.
So most of my weekends and summers I could be found by his side working.
By the time I was in Jr high I was already 6′ tall. and started putting in a lot of hours doing very heavy manual labor for my dad.
You could see us riding around town in a 1952 ford flat bed with our logo on the side of the doors like we were in an old Sanford and Son tv show. A show that we also loved and would quote from often.
During this time there was no internet, so in order to find jobs and clients my father would run adds in local newspapers that advertised “Land Brother’s Hauling & Salvage”. We also would sometimes just drive way out on backroads and if we would see piles of junk we would approach the owners or leave a business card in the mailbox.
Back then as the land along the central coast of California became more desirable to own, there then began a great need to clear it, in order to sell it for top dollar. So thats where we came in.
We would cut up old farm equipment, haul away old trucks, cars, boats, motorcycle’s and just about anything you could think of that was made of metal. We would haul off the iron to which ever scrap yard was paying top dollar back then.
I was driving a truck and trailer fully loaded with scrap iron by 16 years old.
I remember when we would get to the scrap yard It was really crazy watching these giant electric magnets come down from a crane and empty out the back of our ford f-800 and scrap iron trailers. Sometimes I would spend an entire week loading the iron with power wenches and booms, tearing stuff apart and compacting everything tightly into the trucks and trailers. The over load springs would be hitting on the vehicle as it was full to the top. In minutes after getting to the scrap yard this giant magnet would lift out everything I had cut and loaded. I can still see that in my mind today. All that steel flying into the air, like gravity was all the sudden back words.
My father and I worked at the California Mens Colony state prison in the scrap yards there. Even with some of the inmates. I used an acetylene torch to cut and load up old boiler tanks. I shattered old toilets with sledge hammers to get the lead rings out of em. I also shattered cast iron bath tubs with sledge hammers and stuff like that all day long.
We also did scrap iron jobs for the big college there, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
I also worked at the water treatment plant in Morro Bay and all over the county there.
We would even haul loads of car parts down to swap meets as far away as Los Angeles to sell engine heads, manifolds, carburetor’s and all kinds of miscellaneous old stuff. To some people it was junk but it was amazing to see just how valuable some of these items we pulled out of old barns, garages, fields and even a few creeks could be worth.
All the sudden it was treasure to the right person.
It was also during this time that I learned how to sell and bargain with folks at swap meets. My father would leave me alone for periods of time to work our booth. I look back at these times as being very critical to my work ethic.
Growing up, on the other side of the fence my mother was a well known country singer in our area.
She taught me a lot as well. When I started to play music and take it seriously in my home town some folks started calling me the hardest working man in SlO business and I really felt honored when I started hearing that.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
“Distance” a song I wrote is now available on all streaming platforms under my name, Chad Land. This is my first solo singer songwriter tune I’ve put out there.
I’ve always sang for Hard Rock bands in the past and have never released much under my own name.
Going out there and performing my songs as Chad Land is a whole new adventure for me. It’s been a very long journey to get to this point. I have a bunch of new music coming out soon that I can’t wait for people to hear. Currently, I’m in the studio working on a song called “Storm Chaser”. I recorded it with some amazing, professional old school Nashville players.
It’s got a great outlaw country music feel going for it. I’m very proud of this song and I think it’s my best work yet. “Storm Chaser” will be my first official single. I still don’t have an official date set for it but it should be out sometime in the month of May. At some point this year I’ll be back to performing live again and those dates will be posted on my website as they come in.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Communication Being able to talk to people. Spark conversation by finding some kind of common ground to relate with. Moving forward with talking about goals and how to get there.
2. Faith
Believe in what I’m doing. If I don’t believe in myself how are others supposed to. Knowing that this is the path that the good lord has chosen for me to walk down.
3. Reliability
I always had it ground into me how important it is to be on time. Show up ready to work.
Leave all my emotional baggage at the door and come in with a good vibe and even if I’m not feeling my best to be my best.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I’m tracking all my vocals this month and after this album worth of material gets a final mix and master I’ll need to find a manager or company to work with. I would really like a label or someone to help do things right this time around. I really want to tour again. I’m very excited about going out there as Chad Land, telling my stories and playing my songs.
After playing bars, clubs, festivals and events for over twenty years my voice has become very seasoned.
Vocally, I feel I’m in the best shape of my life for singer songwriter, country music.
I want to capture that as much as possible while I’m here in Nashville. This was the place I always wanted to end up at, as there was really no true country musicians left to track with in my home town. When the cattle ranches along the the central coast of California disappeared and turned into wineries, mansions, track houses and the cost of living sky rocketed, the cowboys and their music disappeared as well.
I’m here in Nashville to focus on my writing, record albums with great musicians and perform them live with all my heart.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chadland.com
- Instagram: @landchad
- Facebook: chadlandmusic
- Youtube: chadlandmusic
Image Credits
@itschazzmazzota
