About Chez Stadium
Randall Payton writes, records, and performs as Chez Stadium, both solo and fronting a quartet of seasoned heavy hitters from the Portland music scene (Pete Lampe, Mark Wills, Grant Cumpston). His infectious, lyric-driven songs are challenging to label (pop? rock? alt-folk? skewed Americana?), but satisfy on repeated listenings.
Chez Stadium's repertoire has been compared to artists as diverse as Warren Zevon, Michael Penn, and Elvis Costello, while the band leans into a mix of Crowded House, Squeeze, Guided by Voices, Wilco, and Crazy Horse.
Payton and his previous bands (Joybuzzer, The Boys From Ipanema) have shared the stage with luminary acts like Centro-matic, Clem Snide, Quasi, Hazel, The Long Winters, David Dondero, and actor/director John Cameron Mitchell.
"Songs that range from weathered Westerbergian ballads to dark Dylanic meanderings, from caustic Costellovian canticles to piquant Pollardesque pummelings."
History
After working together in the 1980s (Fallgoboom, Dumbwaiters), Randall Payton recruited bassist Pete Lampe (and drummer Mark Pedersen) to form Chez Stadium.
Payton took up the lap steel to briefly join The Boys From Ipanema in 2002. When that project dissolved, he brought Lampe into the home studio of 44 Long's Brian Berg to begin work on what would become Chez Stadium's full-length debut, Freshman Slump.
After the album's 2003 release, drummer Adam Mack and guitarist Chris Paine joined to play live shows throughout 2004. Payton continued to write, perform, and sporadically record as Chez Stadium, releasing the Further Ado collection in 2015.
In 2017, the trio began casual recording at drummer Mark Wills' studio. Payton recruited George Kaylor and guitarist Grant Cumpston for a run of live shows. Pete Lampe rejoined in 2019 to continue sessions for the Rusty EP, released in October of that year.
In 2020, Payton quietly released a collection of reimagined instrumentals: Lull, Volume One.