Swallowed by the Sun by Peter Chester

This month Event Santa Cruz is running a music video extravaganza called New Music January. The event features 26 new music videos created by a diverse range of local bands and artists. Today we’d like to feature one of the musicians who is also a regular at Santa Cruz Works events.

Peter Chester, a long-time Santa Cruz tech entrepreneur, spent the last couple decades building his company, Modern Tribe. He and his business partners, Shane Pearlman and Reid Peifer, started the company with the idea that they would organize the business around a life of family and adventure. The week started by scheduling surf sessions based on the tide and the swell, and only THEN would they book customer meetings.

In 2019, shortly before the pandemic, Peter and his daughter Olivia recorded a song titled “Swallowed by the Sun”. In Peter’s own words, “I was thinking about my dad and how he often amused himself by asking people ‘what is worth doing with our precious time?’. My dad made the case that eventually everything we’ve ever built on earth will fall apart and ultimately the earth itself will be consumed by the sun. So what shall we do with our limited existence?”

Starting from this nihilist vantage point, it’s easy to feel hopeless and see everything as pointless. Yet, here we are. What are Peter and Olivia’s answers to this challenge: Love. As their song goes,

How should we spend our time?

Cherish these meaningless moments of life

I can’t imagine a better way

to spend my day

than being with you

The song was shelved in 2019 as the pandemic resulted in Peter stepping away from music for a while. Over the last year, Peter has reentered the music scene and is excited to have mixed, mastered, and released this song as part of New Music January. He also took inspiration from Colin McAndrews’ (@downsquarez) recent presentation on how to think about crafting a song in the monthly Santa Cruz Producers meetup. Give it a listen and share it with your friends and family. It’ll be worth a little of your precious time.

Tell us, what is worth doing with your time?

You can hear more of Peter’s music by looking up “Peter Chester” on your favorite streaming service or going to https://peterchester.com.

This event is put on by Event Santa Cruz and is made possible with the support the Arts Council Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz Vibes Magazine