Atlantic Records signs Glen Ellen’s Chandler Ransom Lucy and The Hellp

When Chandler Ransom Lucy got the email from Atlantic Records offering him a deal, he was working at a construction site in Glen Ellen. He signed it while finishing up the front porch, with a tool still in one hand.

His band, The Hellp, was tapped to produce an EP, a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album. He and bandmate Noah Dillon have been busy producing songs in Los Angeles, as well as traveling to play sold-out concerts, including a March performance at Austin’s famed SXSW music and film festival.

The world built by The Hellp falls generally into the electronic music genre, though Lucy doesn’t associate their sound with any specific lane.

“We’re not in the indie music scene, we’re not really anywhere at all,” Lucy said. “We’re kind of in this insular moment.”

According to Lucy, some of their fan base categorize their music as indie-sleaze, a genre defined by its grungy, authentic and ironic style. Well-know bands of that genre include MGMT, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Strokes.

That reputation is something “involuntarily created by being skinny and wearing leather jackets,” Lucy said. “But the real ones know that we’re not indie-sleaze.”

The band’s music doesn’t fit into an established box in part because their process doesn’t follow the norm.

“It’s not a very musical approach to making music,” Lucy said. “I wouldn’t even call myself a musician, I just like sounds.”

The band aims to make simplistic beats and combinations of sounds. But the most important thing for Lucy is that the final product is conducive for jumping up and down on stage.

Growing up in Sonoma Valley, he attended Dunbar Elementary School before heading to Altimira Middle School. At Sonoma Valley High School, he remembers being one of a small group of kids interested in men’s fashion.

Lucy was always a creative kid who was often misunderstood by his teachers. He got in trouble for doodling on his school assignments and being an expressive class clown. Today, those traits that used to garner punishment are now a key part of his artistic persona.

His father, Jamie Lucy, owner of JML construction, exposed Lucy to the punk scene from an early age through skate and surf culture and, of course, music.

That early childhood exposure helped his band get signed to a major record label alongside the likes of Sia, Kelly Clarkson, Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran.

Lucy always remembers being creative — being an artist — but music wasn’t a big part of his life until six years ago.

His first job was behind the meat counter at Sonoma Market. As school was not his thing, he dropped out his senior year, got his GED and headed to Santa Rosa Junior College to study fashion design.

But he soon decided school was not the path he needed nor wanted to take. After exploring the world of modeling and finding work in Los Angeles, he picked up and moved south.

It was on a photo shoot in 2017 that he met Dillon. The two hit it off immediately, having both worked in construction and at grocery stores. They also shared a similar taste in music.

After a few months of friendship, Dillon told Lucy he didn’t want to go through life without ever being in a cool band.

Even though Lucy didn’t know how to play any instruments at the time, the two set out to do just that.

About five years later, that email arrived in Lucy’s inbox from Atlantic Records just before Christmas, when he visits his family in Glen Ellen. He took a red-eye flight to LA to meet with label executives, looking as cool as he thought possible in his signature leather jacket.

“I always loved that 90% of music is being cool — and it is — it’s world building,” Lucy said.

The band developed a sort of “cult-following,” Lucy said, after they released their EP “Enemy” in 2021 while working with the label Terrible Records.

“That was the first time we kind of made our vision a reality,” he said.

On May 16, The Hellp played the first of two sold-out shows at the iconic Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles.

“That was the first step in our career as musicians — I don’t really think of us as musicians — but it felt real,” Lucy said.

It took Lucy two months to learn how to play all of the songs for the live set. He invested $17,000 in recording equipment, including synthesizers, analyzers and other hardware. They make all of their songs using these musical tools, which are mixed together in a computer.

But Lucy grew up loving live music, and felt like it was of the utmost importance that every show sounds different and provides a unique experience for the audience.

“I’m very comfortable when I approach making music in a blue-collar fashion,” Lucy said. He approaches making music as a day job, because that’s how he knows he’ll get the work done.

Since they signed with Atlantic Records, Lucy feels like their music is the best its ever been.

The band’s latest release, “California Dream Girl,” is Lucy’s favorite song to date, because it feels accessible and fun, but still different and authentic.

He attributes his work ethic to his Glen Ellen upbringing, where he helped his dad on construction sites — something he still does when he comes to visit for a few months each winter. Even as he’s making music for Atlantic this year, he plans to return home in November and stay through Christmas.

His construction skills impress a lot for the people he meets in LA, and it’s important to him to maintain those skills. He fears waking up one day in his 40s and having a problem with his house that he can’t fix, so he voyages home every year to ensure he doesn’t forget.

“It’s really about building my skills while I’m home,” Lucy said. “That’s the only thing that really keeps me grounded every year.”

Before his next visit, he’ll spend his time working on the EP, playing shows and hopefully getting an album in the works. The Hellp’s new song “Colorado” is expected to drop in a few weeks.

All of their released material can be found on Spotify and Apple Music.

You can reach Staff Writer Rebecca Wolff at rebecca.wolff@sonomanews.com. On Twitter @bexwolff.