Lizzy Donker, Editor-in-Chief
Arts Fishing Club, a Nashville-based indie rock band with a unique sound, has been touring around the United States and performing their blend of folk, indie and rock to share their unique sound. Now, they have come to Sewanee; they performed at Shenanigans on Feb. 19, 2025. The Sewanee Purple had the opportunity to sit down with lead singer Christopher Kessenich before the show to talk about his music, inspiration, and crazy stories from being on the road.
Other band members include Jody Lee Oliver on drums, Chris Dunkley on guitar and Matthew Chancey on bass.
This article has been edited lightly for clarity.
How did y’all come up with the name Arts Fishing Club?
“Both of my grandfathers are actually named Art. So it’s a play on words, kind of as an homage to them, but then also to approach music like fishing. So it’s, you know, when you go out fishing, if you’re, like, so focused on catching a big fish during the day, you’re not gonna have a ton of fun. Because it’s not easy, you know, and that’s very much how playing music is. Like, if you’re so focused on, ‘Oh, this next song has to be a hit,’ you’re not gonna enjoy just being in the boat for people that you love. So it’s a little bit of a play on words, and also just kind of a mission statement as well.”
How’d you guys get started?
“Nashville is kind of like LA for actors. People that want to do music professionally in their lives, they move from all over small towns, kind of to come meet there, because it’s a melting pot of other musicians. And, yeah, we just met through being around town in Nashville and playing different gigs. And slowly but surely, you just meet different people, and connections form, and you book different shows. And then, ‘Hey, let’s grab these guys,’ and then it clicks with a certain group over time. So that’s kind of how we met, one by one.”
How long have you guys been playing for?
“The first time I ever put music out was 2015, I think, or 2016. But with this group, it’s been about three years.”
Is this your first time playing at Sewanee?
“It is, yes. We just got here today.”
Do you guys have plans to stay a little longer?
“I wish. We have a show tomorrow night in Athens, Georgia. So we’re playing in Georgia tomorrow, and we’ve got a bunch more shows coming. So, yes, all of Sewanee that we’ve seen so far is Shenanigans. It seems to be the right spot.”
So you guys are on tour right now. Is that right?
“We’re kind of just starting it. We’re doing the whole country, and I think we’re probably on show eight of, like, 33 I think, right now. So, yeah, just kind of just getting started.”
Favorite place that you’ve played so far? Or the coolest place you’ve played?
“It changes. I always love playing in Chicago, just that city in general. We played Bonnaroo last year. That was probably the highlight. That was a big dream, so yeah, that’s a big one.”
Any plans to play at Bonnaroo again in the future?
“Definitely plan to play again eventually. I think it’ll be a little bit more time. We’re not playing this summer, but hopefully the summer after, I feel like there’s probably a good chance we’ll go back.”
Do y’all have a favorite song to play? Or just a favorite song? Do you have a least favorite song?
“I don’t think we do. It changes so much. We love them all. I have some songs that tire me out. There’s one called ‘Some Kind of Dangerous’ that can be really tough on my voice.”
Are you playing that tonight?
“We probably are. We haven’t played it yet on tour, but we’re playing a little bit of a longer show tonight, so that one we will probably throw in. So if I shred my voice on a song, then, yeah, we know why.”
How do you decide the setlist for each of your shows?
“On this tour, we’re keeping it more consistent. On other tours and stuff, we’ve just made it up, like the day of the tour. We’re trying to just be a little bit tighter with our transitions and other things, to kind of put more of a show on. And so we have a fairly consistent set list with a little bit of flexibility. Tonight we’ll be doing some covers. Typically, we don’t. We might toss in one, but tonight we’ll toss in a couple extra.”
Do you have any new music coming out?
“Yes, that song, ‘Some Kind of Dangerous,’ is coming out in about a month. We just released a song last week called ‘Supernatural Groove.’ So that one’s been out one week, and we have a whole album and EP that are kind of going to be coming out month by month right now.”
Anything special y’all do to prepare for a show?
“So we do our ‘Hoyne’ circle. So we all get into a circle and we scream, “Hoyne.” We breathe in deeply, and it’s kind of like a meditative and also fun moment for us.”
Are there any artists you guys take inspiration from? Or any other bands?
“Bon Iver, I would say that’s a big, big one for everyone in the band. So that’s a big one for us. Love Gregory Alan Isakov though. These are more kind of current ones to some degree. Yeah, those are two good ones for now.”
Do you have any crazy fan stories? Or has anything crazy ever happened at a show?
“I mean, there’s definitely been some weird things with people before, but nothing like that’s jumping out as crazy, crazy. Noteworthy, one time we almost got car jacked. These two guys hopped in our car and like they were… I think they thought that we were gonna be kind of an easy target, because they just hopped in our car. And then I think once they realized it was four dudes that are relatively, you know, tall and, like… Yeah, it was just a lot of people. They were outnumbered. And, yeah, it was weird. We ended up calling the cops who came and took them. It was from one show to another.
“And this car broke down in the middle of the median, and it had spun out. And so we stopped to check to see if these guys were okay. And then they kind of sprinted and just got into our car. It was weird. It’s weird. It was a weird vibe. And then as they left, towards the end, they kind of switched their demeanor once they found out we were musicians. And the one guy was like, ‘Oh, I do music too. Look me up on Instagram.’ So then we looked him up on Instagram, and like six months earlier he had been in prison for like two years for carjacking. We were like, ‘We had red flags the entire time.’”
Anything else you wanna say?
“Thanks for having us, Sewanee!”
You can check out Arts Fishing Club’s music on Spotify.