Red Knife Lottery’s Ashley Chapman Gets a Little too Personal

In 2005, Red Knife Lottery burst out from the beating heart of the art scene housed in Milwaukee, Wis. to get quite a bit of critical acclaim over their debut EP, 'So Much Drama.' Fans were clamoring to hear what the band would produce next, but the band went into a slight hibernation instead -- or at least had their own drama to contend with before writing.

"Everything seems really complicated with this band for some reason," Red Knife Lottery singer Ashley Chapman confessed to Noicecreep. From the release of the EP to the debut full-length, 'Soiled Soul & Rapture,' the band has been through two lineup changes, which according to Chapman was what was needed to get the band moving to make the album. "Now that we have Dan [Yingling] and Ryan [Smith] in the band everything seems pretty whole at this point." Chapman ads, "We have a lot of songs that are have a more steady rhythm, like a verse, chorus, verse, chorus. With the EP, it was like part after part."

On the 'So Much Drama' EP, Chapman came in adding her sassy voice and lyrics to songs that were already recorded instrumentally. "When I joined the band, they basically had everything completely finished. They just needed a singer. And [guitarist Chris Hansen] loved writing titles for some reason, it's one of his weird nerdy things to do, so I just went with it and it ended up working out really well." But with Chapman being present during all the writing 'Soiled Soul & Rapture,' she was able to spend more time writing lyrics -- which ended up so personal she's questioned releasing them, for the sake of her family.

"I had gone through a lot of s--- lately, especially in my job realm. I worked in a really s---y bar for a long time and a lot of stuff happened to me there that sparked the ..." Chapman paused and laughed, "You know the angry drunk songs." One song in particular, 'Raise No Fool' has been a point of stress for her.

"That's a song I hope my parents never hear, Chapman exclaimed with an exhaustion over even the thought of the song. "They're have been little meltdowns over putting that song out there. I'm a preacher's kid, so I grew up under a lot of pressure to be a missionary or a preacher. I have a lot of feelings of guilt for not doing what they wanted me to do, but at the same time I gotta be me."

Even though Ashley's parents didn't want a life of rock 'n' roll and bars for their daughter, she says they remain very supportive. "It freaks me out to have something so personal out in the open." But the song is out there, and as Ashley screams in it, "I want to be who you want/I aim to please/But I have got this giant ego to feed."