Chris Messer
Chris Messer (aka Chris Envy and "Chris Dalle-Valle") is a Chicago area vocalist and musician mostly known for his performances in several punk / pop punk bands such as Showoff and the earlier AYA. Chris also was briefly in Fall Out Boy when that band was still in formation.
Messer was born in Berwyn, IL on September 22, 1976. He lived in Cicero, IL until he was 12 years old, when his family to Milan, Tennessee. The family later moved back to Illinois to Joliet. During Chris's senior year of school (1994) He formed the band AYA (Andys Yellow Alligator 1994-1996) with fellow musicians Joe Oldaker, Oliver Deighton, Tony Tintari. The band later added Jeff Pacocha to play guitar. After AYA Chris met Daniel Castady and they formed the band Showoff, adding Graham Jordan- Guitar and Dave Hyde-Bass. After a short tour on their own, Showoff played a show with the band Goldfinger, with help from John Feldmann (Singer of Goldfinger) Showoff was signed to Maverick Records (Sub of Warner Bros.) and released their self-titled album in 1999. There was a second record that was produced by Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World/Blink 182) that was never released.
Messer's vocals are similar to other pop punk vocalists and has a similarity to swing/soul voice of The Smoking Popes' Josh Caterer. He has been known to also add rap-like elements to some of his songs. Prior to the Showoff reformation, Chris was active in a group called The Holiday and several other Chicago area side projects.
He has been in bands such as Farewell My Enemy (Rise Records), A short lived version of Showoff in 2006 (Waiting For You EP on Pacific Ridge Records) and is now in the newly reformed version of Showoff with 3 of the four original members.
Sources
- Mentions stint with Fall Out Boy
- MTV Artist
- Centerstage Chicago
- Showoff on Purevolume
- Showoff on Myspace
- Farewell My Enemy Interview at Absolutepunk.net
- Casting For Funerals
- The Get Go on myspace