EARL is an acronym

My name is Nate Chung. I’m a singer songwriter, management consultant, and adventurer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In the summer of 2018 I was on a walk in Berlin, introspecting about my recent college graduation and how I should lead the life ahead of me. I entertained myself by making up a game in my head: try to match values of mine to the letters of my middle name. A few minutes later, it’s as if I’d won:

E for exploration.
A for art.
R for relationships
L for love, laughter, and learning.

In this meant to be moment I decided I’d start performing under the name Earl, my middle name with a new meaning that I could stand behind as an artist and everyday person.

Then I thought in a matter-of-fact fashion that here I am, Earl, traveling across Europe with dreams of traveling further and more frequently across the earth. I thought about the concepts I’d just linked to the letters of my name and how I’d love to see more of each - exploration, art, relationships, and love - in a world where conflict, tension, and even terror are too often at the forefront.

To me, exploration, art, relationships, and love are universally relatable concepts whose endeavors provoke honesty and emotion, focus and hard work. In this essence, it became my intention to connect with people who share similar values and to share stories rooted in exploration, art, relationships, and love.

Balance.

Usually at this exact point I’d tell myself: Woah, what the heck. Relax on the thinking. This idea is weird, people won’t relate, and it will take a lot of work to see it unfold the way I imagine it, if it ever could. But I figured then was as good a time as any to believe in myself, all I’d learned in my past 22 years of life, and this idea that sprawled out in my mind over the course of ten minutes. Let’s stick with it, try to have fun with it, and simply see where it goes, I proudly committed to myself.

Earl on Earth is a band…

Upon moving to Boston I began playing gigs as a solo singer songwriter, but pretty quickly a band began to form.

For a while we rehearsed in a warehouse in Framingham - acoustic guitar and vocals, bass, electric guitar, and drums. We put together sets for any gig, from the Barking Crab to Somerville Porchfest to the Middle East Club. In this space our unique alternative acoustic rock sound began to take form.

A summer of not so many shows lined up excitingly turned into a summer of scurrying to prepare and rehearse sets for gigs of all sorts: bar gigs at the Barking Crab and The Bebop, showcase shows at The Burren, and headlining nights in the various spaces at the ever so fun Middle East Club in Cambridge’s Central Square. We’re excited to continue to perform live at any opportunity - from open mics to living room shows to headlining gigs.

At some point I felt compelled to begin (or continue, in the case of a few songs) another recording process with Mike Harmon at Wachusett Studio in Princeton, MA. It’s always been my goal to capture in recordings a very similar sound to that which we’re producing live. Perhaps a bit (knowingly) underprepared, we barged in the doors and began to track what will soon be our debut six song EP.

Earl on Earth is an ever evolving band. Our sound will grow bigger and smaller, louder and softer. Our shows will have six performers on stage, but it might just have one. We always aim to tailor our core sound to the occasion, but never leave an audience wishing they got more raw energy and emotion out of us.

It’s been a journey so far, one we’ve met many great people on along the way. Our bandwagon is only gaining momentum!

and art & adventure collective

We’re into the idea of creating a sense of community among all of the artists, adventurers, and audiences we cross paths with along our journey. From the start, I’ve always envisioned my contribution to this platform to be as meaningful as the next inspired person. Our goal is for the majority of the content (aside from the original music) to be driven by you and the stories you want to share with the world.

Through feature articles and personal narratives, we aim to highlight the stories of other artists, musical and visual, and explorers who seek a similar thrill and excitement that we do. We’re interested in learning about the practices and processes undertaken in order for them to experience that feeling or produce that final product they so desire.

We hope to bring out in this platform mutually beneficial relationships across the community, where feature articles increase exposure for other artists and adventurers we’ve connected with and their sharing of these articles increases exposure to our platform.

In a similar sense, we want to tell stories of special relationships and acts of love. In the act of writing I feel comes honesty, and I believe a collection of similar stories can work to promote the concepts of honesty, trust, laughter, connection, and love.

If you have a story to tell, please share it with us so we can share it with the world.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about Earl on Earth, our background and inspiration. Together, let’s explore more.