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Interview with 206 Collectives, May 3rd 2023: 

Sometimes, we can become so preoccupied with moving on through life that settling down never crosses our minds. However, as the mileage clicks off of your biological odometer, the heavier the laments become. Of course, there’s no tougher regret than wondering what could have been. In the case of Chicago roots rock musician Stuart Chaseman, you do what comes naturally: write a song reflecting back on the one that got away. However, after leading a life ‘like a rolling stone,’ Chaseman finds himself in the spotlight on the Netflix reality dating show, Jewish Matchmaking.

On his new single, “Sins,” the iconic Bob Dylan anthem “Like A Rolling Stone” serves as the jumping-off point for what Chaseman characterizes as a “soul searching” song. “It was an easy way to communicate how I lived my life for many years,” Chaseman said of the nod to Dylan classic. “Everyone who is going to like what I do has heard that song,” he added. “I’m saying, you know that Dylan song, well, that was me.”

Written after losing his father as well as after a break-up, Chaseman described his upcoming record, “Secrets, Lies and Alibis,” as “accepting what you can’t change and being a survivor.” In relation to “Sins,” Chaseman revealed that the four-minute radio edit leaves out the crucial final verse “where the narrator comes to a place of acceptance.” By the end, in the seven-minute album version, they've said their piece and accepted their role in how things went wrong in the first place.

Entering the upside-down world of reality TV did not faze Chaseman in the least. In fact, he “loved every second of it,” adding that he “tried to be very present and absorb every moment” this experience had to offer. To Chaseman, what separated Jewish Matchmaking from the rest of the reality TV dating lot is that it wasn’t a “game show” where prospective dates would be pared down one by one by a suitor. Enter the matchmaker who computes your compatibility sans any staged rose ceremony.

Not everything, including reality show matchmaking, is conducive to the songwriting process. Chaseman finds that artists don’t “get to decide what’s going to influence your art.” For example, he mentioned that he may “intend to write a song about the war in Ukraine," but could write one about his mom, instead. In Chaseman’s experience, “the best songs are the ones that sort of come through you almost as if they’ve already been written.”