Wednesday May 15th, 20246PM DOORS / 7PM SHOW
$27 ADV / $30 DOS
ALL AGES
The Chats
Dirty Fences
Paint Fumes
Formed in theirmate’s bong shed in Coolum, Queensland 2016 at age seventeen, The Chatsrepresent everything that’s good about Australia and nothing that’s bad: a rebelspirit, gallows humour and the endless hedonistic pursuit of A Bloody GoodTime. Cold stubbies within close reach, 24-7.
Starting in theirmusic class while at St Theresa’s Catholic College in Noosaville, a suburb ofNoosa, Queensland, two hours north of Brisbane, they began practicing in theshed in nearby Verrierdale (pop: 775) during their final year of education (theschool’s website notes “Whilsttheir music may not be everyone's cup of tea, they have certainly made animpact, and they continue to Dare the Dream.”). Their name meanwhile comes fromthe nearby suburb of Chatswood.
Drawing influencefrom the same fertile Australian pub rock scene that spawned everyone fromAC/DC and The Saints to Cosmic Psychos and The Hard Ons, and sharing a similarsingular self-contained approach to their art as such latter-day Aussie rockheroes as King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, The Chats describe themselvesas “dropkick drongos from the Sunshine Coast of Australia”. It’d be difficultto argue otherwise.
Their dress-downimage of mullets, shorts, sports tops, thongs or a sandals-and-socks combo, andcheap sunnies celebrates this fact. But don’t by mislead: The Chats are sharperthan you think, and they write killer songs that hold their own in any era.Their self-titled debut EP was recorded in their school’s studio in 2016 andfeatured seven joyous sky-punching tracks that combined 60s garage punk and 70snew wave punk (highlights included ‘Mum Stole My Darts’ and the 53 secondsbratty thrash of ‘Yeah Nah’). It was followed in 2017 by Get This In Ya,another thrilling seven song slice of economic, stripped-down, earlyBuzzcocks-styles punk tension, whose lyrics read like a litany of things tohate for youthful malcontents the world over (overdue social security payments,lack of bus fare, Nazis).
But where theirforefathers cut their teeth on the spit-and-sawdust circuit of beer halls DownUnder, The Chats bypassed years driving down dusty Outback roads when the leadsingle ‘Smoko’ became a 24-carat bona fide viral hit on Youtube. The Chatsfound themselves propelled from their Queensland shed to almost overnightrenown in all the right circles.
Celebrating the greatAussie tradition of the cigarette break, an allotted smoking time protected byunion law, and accompanied by a lo-fi video shot for no budget on a buildingsite, ‘Smoko’ was a perfectly put together punk song protesting the drudgery ofdole queue angst, minimum wage life and work-place hierarchies. Were theyserious?wondered listeners / viewers. And, more importantly, who evencares?It didn’t matter: with its pared-down pop hooks, singer Eamon’s adolescentsnarl and an unforgettable chorus, ‘Smoko’ was an instant classic of a youthanthem on a par with ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘My Generation’ or ‘Teenage Kicks’.
At the last count‘Smoko’ has had more than 12 million views. Dave Grohl loved it so much he sentit to Josh Homme, who immediately booked the band to support Queens Of TheStone Age in Australia. Iggy Pop did the same when he played Melbourne, andkeenly quizzed the band on their lyrical content. Idles were heard covering onthe song on their recent Australian tour. At the time, singer Eamon was workingat supermarket chain Coles. Adhering to the mantra ‘Business at the front,party at the back’ he currently maintains his mullet by trimming the fronthimself every couple of weeks, while his mum handles the rest of the tricky business.Drummer Matt, who was expelled from school for joyriding a golf buggy, is aprofessional skater.
In October 2018, TheChats brought their pub-punk (they prefer ‘shed rock’) to the UK, where alltheir shows sold out within a day and were immediately upgraded, including amemorable show at the Electric Ballroom, London, where they were joined onstageby Charlie Steen from Shame. Not bad considering the teenagers had never leftAustralia before. With two hundred gigs under their belts, The Chats began 2019by signing a publishing deal with Universal Records and started their own labelrecords, Bargain Bin Records
More music followed:single ‘Do What I Want’ (“about doing whatever the fuck you want”) and theglorious follow-up ‘Pub Feed’ (a paean to “above average” pub food, including “chicken schnitty”, “parmigiana” and “rump steak –well done”) in 2019, a song that seems destined to takeup residence in punk jukeboxes the world over. The Chats document the simple things in life,with songs that transcends language to tap straight into the youthful energysource. It’s a tricky artform that many attempt but at which few succeed. Stillin their teens, The Chats have mastered it.
Mozart begancomposing at the age of four, but these boys were born singing anthems, andtheir debut album seems destined to be the greatest collection of music evermade, not only in Coolum, Queensland, but the entire universe. Every othermusician should probably give up today.
Event Venue
1911 Poplar Ave Memphis TN 38104, 1911 Poplar Ave, Memphis, TN 38104-2654, United States,Memphis, Tennessee
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