BIOGRAPHY
After years of performing solo in coffee houses and bars in the midwest, over two years fronting the accomplished independent band The Brand Plastic, and a lifetime of playing various instruments, Chris has become one of the few solo/acoustic Indianapolis songsmiths to captivate audiences without the use of a backing band. With love-gone-wrong and internal conflict as his favored muse, Chris focuses on strong melodies, full guitar chords, and personal experience to convey his message. Originally a percussionist, Haskett inherently hammers out the rhythm with his six-string while howling and crooning to the crowd with a unique sincerity and depth of emotion, in-part learned from his operatic mother. Though his former band was compared to everyone from Radiohead, Coldplay, The Beatles, Weezer, and My Bloody Valentine, Chris’s solo material is more akin to Elliot Smith, Ben Harper, or the Red House Painters' ballads
Chris Haskett's new project is called My Special Purpose.
Chris has been asked to open for national acts such as New Model Army, Superdrag, Phantom Planet, Convoy, Mary Prankster, Mike Errico, Matthew, Bare Junior, Jen Chapin, and Paul Thorn. His music has been featured on X103 WRZX, 92.3 WTTS, Z99.5, WKLU 101.9, and WKWH 94.3 among others. He has been apart of the following music festivals: Midwest Music Summit (Indianapolis) 2001-2004, Benchmark’s Battle of the Bands (Indianapolis) 2001-2003, Midpoint Music Festival 2003 (Cincinnati), and Jammin’ on Jersey 2003(Indianapolis) (featuring Ben Folds, John Prine, Ween, Gomez, among others).
PRAISE FOR CHRIS HASKETT
“Haskett is a towering mass of talent with a voice and skill for writing great tunes.” --Danica Johnson Nuvo Newsweekly
“Haskett is no beauty queen delivering the standard “world peace” platform, but the longing in his voice professes his sincerity… Someone, please get [Noel in Israel] some national distribution so Haskett can live comfortably off the royalty checks.” --Kristen Leep Indianapolismusic.net
“Chris Haskett is known as an idea man within the local music community” --David Lindquist The Indianapolis Star
“…Haskett launches an intense lyrical plea with Reign Over Me.” --David Lindquist The Indianapolis Star
".some of Indiana’s best indie-rock. Brilliant balladeer. [Chris Haskett] sailed on the notes of his original material." -- Matt Arant Nuvo Newsweekly
“Strength is my best way to summarize his performance. He makes the acoustic guitar bleed, while lyrically he has some of the most defining messages of hard-taught and learned-well life experiences. Life experiences that were unexpected to an unsuspecting man who howls to the crowd his story by the fireside. The stage the comfortable rug, and his voice and guitar the poker that stir the sparks.” --Indypromo.net
