"But I got my song and if I dont sing it its going to burn a hole in me." -Martin Sexton
It's rare indeed that any of us find our exact place in this world, but occasionally someone dances close enough to the fire to make it their own. Christopher Lane Hopkins, (Chris to his friends) is one of those rare individuals that found his. Chris was born and raised in Nashville, TN.
Chris began developing his musical prowess starting at age six, playing a plastic guitar in front of the television. After hearing him playing along with songs on Sesame Street and Electric Company, Chris's mother convinced his father (a decorated Marine and ordained Christian Minister with NO musical inclinations) that this was a talent that should be investigated. A better guitar was borrowed and Chris was taken to a local music store, where they approached a guitar teacher named Roland Grisham. Mr. Grisham was a GIANT black man, who played a vintage Gibson L-5 jazz guitar. Mr. Grisham stated that he did not take students under the age of ten due to the short attention span and the size of their hands. Chris's parents convinced Mr. Grisham to at least give Chris one lesson and evaluate his potential with payment up front of course. Mr. Grisham emerged from the thirty minute lesson and stated, "You need to get this boy a guitar!" which they did.
Chris continued to take lessons from Roland until he retired, and then began studying with Bob DePiero, a Grammy-winning songwriter until he reached the age of fourteen. At that point, Bob (who was married to Pam Tillis at the time) informed Chris's parents that they were wasting their money, because the lessons had become nothing more that jam sessions between the two.
Being a native Nashvillian, surrounded by country music and the supporting industry, one might assume that Chris would work in the Home Town Factory. However, it has never been Chris's nature to go with the flow and Chris's musical inclinations leaned toward the rock and roll/metal end of the spectrum. Fiddles and steel guitars were a poor substitute for a Marshall stack and a Strat.
After the obligatory garage bands, Chris began playing with Pop Mechanix, and at age fifteen, played his first live gig at Cantrell's, a punk/hard rock club located in downtown Nashville. The gig was in January, and Cantrell's was not heated, fairly common for seedy music venues. Chris, grounded at the time due to being caught smoking, was chaperoned by his father and stepmother. Dressed in standard 1980's attire with the obligatory parachute pants, Chris and the boys hammered out cover tunes to exactly seven people including his parents and the club staff in the freezing conditions.
Chris continued attending high school, where he was voted Student Council President in both his junior and senior years. Chris won the lead in the school musical two years running and was voted most talented his senior year. Sensing his fathers continuing disapproval with his rock-and-roll lifestyle, Chris moved into his own apartment at age seventeen with his girlfriend while still in high school. Needless to say having your own apartment while still in high school adds to your cool points.
Chris played with several local bands for a few years, while maintaining a lucrative position with Nashville Cartage and Sound. One day at work, Chris got a phone call from Chris Mekow, the drummer for The Royal Court of China, a Nashville-based hard rock band signed to A&M Records. Chris was asked if he wanted to join the band and in approximately one hour, quit his job, broke up with his girlfriend, borrowed a guitar from Rick Drevet, put his belongings in storage, and left to go on tour. The band had one rehearsal and played the next night in Savannah, Georgia. Royal Court embarked on a twenty-six state tour that ended in Los Angeles, California. Exhausted, road-weary, but enthusiastic, the band was informed at that point they were being dropped by A&M. The band's manager offered to let the band stay in LA at her expense while seeking a new deal for the band, but Chris decided, "I'd rather starve around family and friends than stay in Plasticville (LA)!" Chris endured a forty-eight hour bus ride home, and returned Rick's guitar, although it had been spray-painted black, bled on, and set on fire more than once. Surprisingly, Rick and Chris are still friends and are collaborating on Chris's current forthcoming project.
As is often the case, Chris struggled with personal demons and chemical indulgences (check out "White Lie" on the soon to be released album) but still played with several prominent names most notably Bob Langley, a successful Contemporary Christian artist and dear friend. Chris's band "The ISSUES" cranked out several albums worth of melodic power-pop/rock tunes, the last one being produced by Mark Slaughter.
Although Chris's role in most of his musical endeavors has been that of guitar/bass player/singer, his love for creating songs blossomed during his days with The Issues, cranking out hard edged pop rock songs. Many of Chris's songs remain unreleased as they did not fit into the harder-edged projects with which he was associated. These songs tell personal stories of love, lost love, heartache, false accusations, and chemical indulgences; in other words, human experiences such as LIFE! Songs like these are not written by staff songwriters, they are songs that convey true emotion: joy, sorrow, pain, love, lust, etc. These songs not only convey Chris's expertise as a singer/songwriter, but an artist in the truest sense of the word. These songs are a labor of love for Chris, and they are songs that must be sung, or else they're going to burn a hole in him. Planet Ear Candy is proud to release Chris's solo debut, The Continuing Adventures of Skipper Breedlove along with the re-release of his previous material. Sit back and listen to one of Music City's prodigal sons.
