If looking to get in contact with Chas directly, please follow links off this website to Facebook page “Chas Guay” or email chasguay@gmail.com.
Chas Guay was born in Montreal, Canada. Influenced as a child by the British Invasion and the sixties folk rock scene, Chas began playing the bass guitar at age 15. The allure of music and performing drew him into various garage bands during his high school years.
In the early 70’s, Chas relocated to Prince Edward Island where he formed the band “Touch and Gone”. The band realized their rattle and hum had morphed into more of a shake and growl and “Touch and Gone” evolved into “The Dogs” – a mainstay of the local music scene, performing as the house band for well-known Charlottetown pubs. Their strong reputation prompted recording studio session invitations and backing roles for both local and international touring acts. As an established first-call bassist, Chas performed with Mick Taylor of Rolling Stones fame, Doug Riley, Gene MacLellan, Dr. Hook, Nathan Wiley, Lennie Gallant, Mae Moore, Don Ross/Brooke Miller and countless others.
In 1991, Chas opened his own record store which he operated for 15 years. At the advent of the CD market and indie music, Back Alley Discs became a landmark resource for the music community in Charlottetown and across the Maritimes. It was profiled in Billboard Magazine under Chas’ ownership and it remains the only independent music store operating east of Montreal today.
While owning and operating Back Alley Discs, Chas maintained an active musical career. He played bass in numerous musical theatre productions at The Charlottetown Festival and continues to co-write/co-produce music for a series of culinary television productions, Chef at Home and Chef at Large, hosted by internationally renowned Chef Michael Smith.
As the millennium dawned, Chas initiated two new projects – one being a songwriting/recording partnership with fellow “Dogs” members, Chris Corrigan and Mike Mooney. The recordings were produced by Glen Meisner for the CBC Radio series, Atlantic Airwaves, and later released on CD under the band name “Birdhouse.” In 2005, a separate songwriting partnership with local singer/songwriter, Christina Forgeron, generated its own self-titled CD, ‘Chas and Christina’.
Since 2007, Chas has been writing on his own, performing material recorded on his first solo recording ‘Little City‘, released in 2009. The album garnered multiple Music PEI nominations and Chas walked away with Male Vocalist of the Year award in 2010.
In 2011, Chas received the East Coast Music Association’s “Musician of the Year Award”, an honour bestowed by the Board of Directors during East Coast Music Week in Charlottetown. That same year, Chas returned to the Confederation Centre of the Arts’ Charlottetown Festival, contributing his musical talents and his own composition, Little City, to the hugely popular musical and comedy revue, “Come All Ye“. The show played to sold out houses throughout the summer seasons of 2011 and 2012.
In November 2012, Chas’ highly anticipated album “Promises” was released. The soulful, slow burn has influences of rock, folk and jazz – blended in Chas’ own original style. Recorded at Reggie’s Recording Palace in rural PEI, this new album collects the talent of some of the best musicians on the east coast (Catherine MacLellan, Remi Arsenault, Reggie Ballagh, Chris Corrigan, Barry Sorenson, and more..) and evokes a body of work that may well be timeless.
Chas has also worked as a part-time resident care worker at a provincial psychiatric hospital. He considers it a privilege to support those who are unable to care for themselves…and the residents occasionally get the pleasure of his musical talents, too!
He relocated to Ottawa in November 2016 and has begun introducing himself to the network of musicians and venues located there. He has been developing and refining new songs since that time and has begun playing them to listening audiences in the Ottawa region, both solo and with musical partner, Nick Gauthier.
