The Local 913: Chalk Dinosaur

Music doesn’t have to be blunt to make a point. Sometimes the meaning of art is in the eye – or ears – of the beholder. John O'Hallaron from Pittsburgh band Chalk Dinosaur says, "I used to write every song with words. It was based on lyrics and words, but at a certain point, I started to be drawn to instrumental music because the lack of words allows you to create your own mental dialogue and thoughts."

John, along with his brother Nick and their friend Andrew Belcastro, grew up together in the North Hills playing music since they were kids. A couple years ago they met another guitarist - Jon Henderson – and the band’s current lineup took shape. Though the majority of the songs on their new album “Sprout” are instrumental, “Synchronicity” features O’Hallaron’s gently soaring vocals. He says, "The lyrics came to me when I was in California, in Joshua Tree. I was climbing stuff and I noticed that a lot of the things are easier to climb up than they are to climb down so you can easily get stuck somewhere. You climb up something and it’s much harder and more dangerous to come down. That kind of seemed like a good metaphor for certain circumstances in life where you charge ahead toward something and then you have to get back down somehow."

What were those certain circumstances, you ask? According to O'Hallaron it was, "A budding relationship that was very impractical and was going to be very hard, so I wasn’t quite sure how that was going to go. I was just charging ahead with it and not exactly sure how it was going to work." Did it work, you ask? "Yeah, but no. Not in the way I thought it was, but still good."

Sounds about right, to be honest.