Gonna make a quick explanation to be clear on something, just to make sure no one gets confused with this new solo music project I’ve started on the side under my actual name, Chad Sugg.

Here’s the deal. Yes, Backseat Goodbye always has been and always will be solo. Just me. No questions asked.

So, you may wonder, why start a new “solo” project under my own name? Well, in all honesty, in my head at least, I know when I’ve written a Backseat Goodbye song. I’ve known for years. There’s something different about a BG song that clicks and I just know “Okay, this is definitely a BG song.”

Now, on the other side of things, I’m a songwriter. Over the years I’ve written a LOT of songs that absolutely do not fit what I consider to be the Backseat Goodbye style.

This is where my new solo project comes in. See, where BG has grown into the acoustic yet full-band-ish indie rock/pop (in my head it’s started heading toward the Arcade Fire, Steel Train, Fun style)… There’s another side to my writing that I’ve had for a while that I’ve wanted to set free into the world.

So, as of now with the new songs I’ve written under my new solo project, they’re really either full-on John Mayer-ish acoustic pop songs, or straight stripped-down Bob Dylan-ish acoustic songs.

(On a side note, one way to look at this is almost exactly how Conor Oberst was originally solo under the name Bright Eyes, then he started doing more solo stuff under his own name, Conor Oberst. Maybe that makes things a bit clearer?)

I’ll wrap this post up by saying yet again, to make 100% sure everyone knows, Backseat Goodbye is still something I’m working on just as much. I’ll still be releasing two BG albums later this year as planned, and my new “Chad Sugg” solo project will not get in the way of the future of BG at all :)

Yours,
Chad