Golden Ball

Golden Ball is an experimental underground beat group from Philadelphia and brainchild of singer/songwriter/producer David Chadwick. David spent the last half of the 1990's amassing song and arrangement ideas in his head. In 2000, with the help and encouragement of Noah Wall (Jukeboxer) and Gillian Chadwick (Ex Reverie; Rusalnaia; Woodwose), he began to home-record the backlog. The resulting record, The Luxury of Pause, would not see the light of day until 2005.

David spent the last half of the 1990's amassing song and arrangement ideas in his head. In 2000, with the help and encouragement of Noah Wall (Jukeboxer) and Gillian Chadwick (Ex Reverie; Rusalnaia; Woodwose), he began to home-record the backlog.

The resulting record, The Luxury of Pause, would not see the light of day until 2005. In the meantime, David and Gillian moved to Philadelphia, recruiting Rebecca Halloran, Katy Resch, Norman Fetter (Niagara Falls; Enumclaw) and Eric Carbonara (Soft People) to perform the recordings live. Andrea Fleegle (Umlaut) replaced Resch and Eric Van Osten (Umlaut; Men in Fur) replaced Carbonara in 2003; Amy Swenson (Umlaut) replaced Halloran in 2004.

Golden Ball received The Philadelphia City Paper's 2005 CHOICE Award for "Best Weird Band" on the strength of The Luxury of Pause and a series of acclaimed performances. Philadelphia Weekly's Doug Wallen said "By the time you get through the six-minute opening song of Golden Ball's debut The Luxury of Pause, you've already heard more range than most bands display in a career. Coming off like early Elf Power commandeered by Brians Eno and Wilson, the ambitious Philly troupe spins swirling technicolor fantasias ideal for late-night bong-fueled headphone listening. Foaming guitar distortion mingles with persistent keys, offhanded harmonies, sleepy tambourine, interplanetary samples and effects, inventive percussion and oh-so-airy vocals. You'll hear something new every time, and every time the whole quirky grab-bag will hold together better until, against all odds, it actually starts making sense."

2006 saw Fleegle, Van Osten and Swenson replaced with Sarah Jacoby and Julius Masri. A second set of home recordings from the same backlog were recorded. These were released in 2007 as The Antique Barking Swirls of Dawn. In early 2008 David was commissioned by the Philadelphia Film Festival to compose and perform live an original soundtrack for the 1920 John S. Robertson film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde starring John Barrymore. A recording of this soundtrack, as well as a followup to The Antique Barking Swirls of Dawn, are in progress.