Chester French

Chester French
Chester French performing on Treasure Island in California in September 2008.
Background information
Origin	Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Genres	Indie pop, synthpop, neo-psychedelia, futurepop, alternative hip hop
Years active	2003–2013
Labels	Star Trak, Interscope, K-LP Karmaloop
Associated acts	The Neptunes, Supa Dups, Travis Barker
Website	www.chesterfrench.com
Past members	Maxwell Drummey David-Andrew 'D.A.' Wallach Damien Chazelle Justin Hurwitz

Chester French was an American indie pop band consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter David-Andrew 'D.A.' Wallach and multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Maxwell Drummey. They met as college students at Harvard University, naming their band after sculptor Daniel Chester French, who designed the statue at the Lincoln Memorial, the John Harvard statue, as well as the Minuteman statue at the Lexington/Concord battlegrounds in Massachusetts.Milwaukee-raised Wallach and Boston native Drummey quickly found a lot of shared ground in musical tastes and philosophies and before long formed a band with three other classmates, playing various campus functions, eventually moving in a direction heavily influenced by classic British Northern Soul. Over the summer both stayed in Cambridge, working hard at songwriting. But when school resumed, they realized that the material went way beyond the basic guitar-bass-drums-piano format of the band, and the duo continued the work themselves, Wallach handling most of the vocals, Drummey performing much of the music on multiple instruments, supplemented with the occasional special guest – and both taking production and engineering duties for recordings.

Chester French was originally a five-piece band that formed in 2003 in their freshman year in Harvard University. In addition to lead vocalist David-Andrew 'D.A.' Wallach and multi-instrumentalist Maxwell Drummey, the band's lineup also included pianist and percussionist Justin Hurwitz, bassist Michael William Judge and drummer Damien Sayre Chazelle. Wallach originally auditioned as the group's drummer, but decided to become the lead vocalist due to his rapping ability. The band released their first extended play (EP), First Love, in 2004. The band described their music as "Gentlemen Rock", which combined elements of jazz and classical music.