The much-anticipated trip over the bridge to watch The Chats at the Bristol O2 had finally come, after being postponed a number of times due to COVID the place was finally packed full of mullets and Aussie brilliance.
The First support band Dennis Cometti (named after a retired sports commentator) started the carnage as a people crowd surfed their way to the front to ‘on the sauce’ (which is still on repeat in my head) A perfect setup for the evening to come.
After a stop at the bar, Londoners ‘Chubby & The Gang’ send the O2 mental with their souped-up UK HC. It seemed to go by in a flash of strobe lighting, dry ice and dimly lit red lights. With a mix of songs from both albums, Chubby led his band through a pulverising set that fitted in rather well with tonights up for it crowd. Chubby seemed really pumped and up for it feeding off the pit and onto the O2’s large stage, rather than some grubby little club where this style usually lives and thrives. Tonight Chubby & The Gang brought it on to Bristol and went down a treat.
Before placing ourselves out of the bear pit that is the front stalls and go for the safer option and prime spot on the balcony the lights dimmed and out they flew. In an absolute blur of limbs, The Chats hit the stage hard and the only thing moving faster than the songs was the lighting – strobing like crazy sending the pit wilder than a dozen boxing kangaroos. Everything was played at double, nah triple, nah quadruple speed, It seemed like a Chats classics masterclass. Favourites ‘nambored’, ‘temperature’ and ‘mum stole my darts’ sent the Kungfu kicking kids at the front absolutely mental.
With barely time to take a breathe Mr. Sandwith took a trip on some of the multiple liquids flung towards the stage and lay in the pool of beer that had gathered, in excitement he returned to his feet and smashed out a breakneck ‘smoko’ and their newest song, ‘struck by lightning’ and then it seemed to come to a crashing halt. Equipment was broken and chaos was all around which seems like the best way for a Chats show to go.
What felt like a prime frat house punk rock party Australian style – the set length was perfect it was all over and leaving the salivating mob with ‘Pub feed’ was about right. The crowd was duly told to fuck off and the band legged it. Soaked in beers and a cheerio-o their work tonight was done, Bristol was left to come down from The Chats tornado that just tore the O2 a new one. Until next time from a very, very sweaty O2 g’day and goodnight you bonza bunch of noisy swines.
First up today is the brand new video from Birmingham Garage rockers Black Bombers with their most excellent new single ‘Last Bite’. Released on April fools day through Easy Action Records there isn’t anything remotely funny about this slice of proto-punk, primitive Garage rock that goes straight for the jugular. Don’t delay kids because this one is backed by a most excellent version of the Damned classic ‘You Take My Money’.
This release comes as ‘UN-SCENE!’, Black Bombers’ drummer Dave Twist’s compilation album of Birmingham Post Punk, is receiving real acclaim and is already in short supply…
The band have dates around the country in the coming weeks and play the DIE DAS DER benefit show for Ukraine on March 27th at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath Birmingham.
To celebrate the Chats UK tour dates it seems fair to run with the video for their brand new single ‘Struck By Lightning’ Tour dates, tickets and merch available Here
Finally how about this banger to set your week up nicely. A track off her new EP out next week on pirates press Suzi Moon will release her second EP April 1st then the debut album this summer via pirates press. Check it out and pre order Here
Well, these are strange times and Rock and Roll won’t be clamped down even if we are. Thanks to the magic of this here interweb we can still get our mitts on new music (gloved up of course) first up on this playlist is a right banger from Noo Yawk Citys Wyldlife . It’s recently been reviewed on RPM and I happen to agree with Ben when he claimed it could be a contender for record of the year. We have added ‘Sacre Bleu’ to our banging playlist.
Next up is a band from Sweden called Dictator Ship and Fraser covered this one and ‘Your Favourite’ is a great slice of scandiRock with ‘Eat The Poor’ making the cut in our Playlist.
Australia is quickly becoming the epicentre of Global Garage Rock and you sure can add The Chats to that list of fine Australian bands and with their recent record ‘High Risk Behaviour’ hitting the shelves we’ve included ‘ The Kids Need Guns’ to our playlist with its classic DC early days rawness and their snotty lyrics The Chats rightly are causing a stir around this globe all of their own.
It’s not all snotty records this month we did have some offerings from the Classic Rock and Grunge crossover of Buffalo Summer so included the excellent ‘Hit The Ground Running’ taken off their recently released album ‘Desolation Blue’ with some fine cool slide on the otherwise beefy riffs it’s a real tour de force from Soth Wales on this new album.
It might have been a lifetime ago that The Psychedelic Furs last released a new album but the wait is over and Made Of Rain is almost upon us. We’ve included the first single taken from the record ‘You’ll Be Mine’.
Naked Six have a new album out and the lead track off that album is ’21st Century Brawl’ and that makes our playlist with its jarring poke before the album kicks off with some great tunes. Well worth investigating so let this opener suck you in but don’t forget to buckle up.
Ben found his stereo working overtime as The City Kids released ‘Things That Never Were’ so we’ve added ‘You Get Nothing’ To our playlist.
I know a girl, a girl called Party, Party Girl. Bono sang that but the Dahlmanns sing ‘Party Girl’ which was released as part of a split with Tommy & The Rockets on Beluga Records a classic castanets clacking slice of power pop with saxophone and New Wave approved piano.
Then Comes Silence who we include ‘Devils’ from their most excellent ‘Machines’ album that was recently reviewed with some dark Goth undertones this has been on heavy rotation around some RPM circles as the corpse paint went on and certain writers were only venturing out after dark with this on their playlists. Get on it kids.
If a bit of Goth isn’t your thang then why not grow out those sidies and some facial hair and get on down with Rookie. We’ve got ourselves a ‘One Way Ticket’ to listen to this great playlist and ride out this Global pandemic.
As well as some awesome reviews April sees us bring some news that bands push out so why not include some of the movers and shakers who are busy this month either re arranging tours or putting the final touches on new releases. How about some Rock with American Jetset? ‘Gold & Nines’ is classic cock rock n roll so it makes the cut. Our old friend Jizzy Pearl also announced that he has signed a new deal with Golden Robot Records so expect some new music and live shows soon. We head back to when he did the album ‘Just A Boy’ and include the cracker ‘Do You Wanna Get High’.
With everybody with a guitar and camera phone shooting home shows we have a few suggestions of who you could check out starting with Rich Ragany & The Digressions who bring ‘Later Than It Is’ to our playlist off the excellent debut album and rumour has it that recording has begun for the follow up which commenced before this lockdown but be sure we’ll bring you the news as and when. 
Another artist smashing the numbers watching his home broadcast is Mike Peters with his ‘Big Night In’ I’ve not tuned in yet but rest assured I will. Heres one from his recent output ’13 Dead Raindeers’. Another live streamer is Jesse Malin 
who we also interviewed recently and who has a brand new single out sadly it’s not on this service yet so make do with a cut off his last album ‘Chemical Heart’.
There’s fifteen reasons to stay in and have RPM Playlist be your companion and while away the hours playing some quality rock and roll . Go on a journey of discovery and see where it takes you as you avoid the rocks on the choppy water of Rock and Roll 2020.
The Bobby Lees‘ new record Skin Suit was produced by underground punk legend Jon Spencer of the Blues Explosion and will be released on Alive Naturalsound Records on May 8th.
The Bobby Lees are a young bone-shaking Garage Rock band out of Woodstock, NY. In the past year they’ve played with The Chats, Future Islands, Boss Hog, Daddy Long Legs, Shannon & The Clams and Murphy’s Law. They will be on tour in the US and Europe throughout 2020. Their sound mixes classic garage-punk hits with raw and emotive storytelling.
Audiotox UK states “Their raw and unapologetic energy promises to make you feel alive.” Listen to them and see for yourself.
So The Chats have the cops to thank for the title of their debut album, ‘High Risk Behaviour’ and to be fair it sounds like their flying by the seat of their pants at times – making it up as they go along and getting away with the biggest heist in punk rock history with a bunch of songs hanging on by a thread through more luck than judgement.
It was the youtube smash of ‘Smoko’ that brought these three oddballs to the wider worlds notice with a DIY sound of three yobs goofing off and managing to brush off a little bit of magic at the same time. If you think their the Aussie Barron nights for the new punk rock generation or the real deal it matters not there is no denying they have the tunes and once they crawl in your head good luck shaking them out. Like Amyl and her sniffers before them, these cats are the new big cheeses of Oz punk so get used to it and move over Cosmic Psychos and shuffle up Grindhouse because The Chats are taking over.
‘Stinker’ is very much like Pete Shelly had too much sun down on Bondi Beach and ran into the Saints who happened to rope him into penning a few tunes. Its sharp and boundless energy and the lyrics were deffo penned at the back of the class on the inside of a pack of rizlas. Hold on to your board shorts kids because ‘Drunk And Disorderly’ is full of Four X on a wife beater bender. Get it down you and the next round is on you.
Don’t worry if your attention span is short because the songs are as well shorter than Paul Daniels and Ronnie Corbett put together and twice as entertaining. Less than half an hour of wonderful sharp – on the money punk rock n roll. It’s not rocket science nor is it clever. The lyrics tell tales of pubs, Wanking, legging it from restaurants, Their mates, boredom and everything you’d expect from three bums or so they’d have you believe but I recon behind it all is three focussed lads who know exactly what they’ve happened upon. It’s a good fucking time, No, It’s the best of times. Noisy, funny, energetic, comfortable, uncomplicated punk rock and roll and I fuckin’ love it. Oh, and if Iggy pop is on board then that’s good enough for me. Pick this up and fight the Virus with punk rock play it loud and open the windows everyone can enjoy it then even if they don’t want to.
Now ‘Pub Feed’ makes me hungry and crave a party seven and the riff on ‘Ross River’ is sharp as fuck, its a simple process but why do hardly any bands make albums this simple sound this good? Maybe its not so easy otherwise there would be hundred doing it but there isn’t. So on that basis all hail Eamon, Matt and Josh you fuckin’ beauts. How can you not fall in love with this? Just get it and play it and throw yourself around when its on. Don’t be a miserable cunt (to be fair that’s impossible when it’s playing) buy it and fall in love with punk rock n roll again, simple really, Everyones happy now’days and when they gang up on the mic for the final track you know its sung/shouted with a wink of the eye because they’re spot on it is better than you.
Buy ‘High Risk Behaviour’ – Here
First Up and out of the traps this morning is The Interrupters with their slide trombone and the highly contagious cover of Billie Eilish’s ‘Bad Guy’. Like a little ray of sunshine any day of the week.
Thee MVPs New album ‘Science Fiction’ is due out 29th May via EEASY RECORDS and the lead track is ‘Ship Episode/Planet Episode’ and is first up this morning. They’re also touring the UK:
May 7 – Glasgow – Flying Duck
May 8 – Manchester – Meltchester Fest
May 21 – Newcastle – Cluny
May 22 – Bristol – The Lanes
May 23 – Cardiff – Psych and Noise Fest
May 26 – Hull – Polar Bear – Sesh
May 28 – Birmingham – Dead Wax Social
May 29 – London – The Lexington
Follow Thee MVPs: FACEBOOK / TWITTER / BANDCAMP
Finally, get a load of the mullets on The Chats with ‘Dine n Dash’ nuff said, Taken from The Chats ‘HIGH RISK BEHAVIOUR’ out March 27 Tra kids.
‘HIGH RISK BEHAVIOUR’
OUT MARCH 27 VIA BARGAIN BIN RECORDS/COOKING VINYL AUSTRALIA
To mark this momentous occasion the band have released an eye-watering new video for their new single ‘The Clap’, take it in below on an empty stomach.
This is the closest you’ll ever hear The Chats get to write a love song (that is unless you are talking about their love of beer). A cautionary tale about a root gone wrong (direct quote), and an STI that just wouldn’t leave. The Clap features guitarist Pricey on vocal duties and is taken from the forthcoming album.
The Chats have the cops to thank for the title of their debut album, ‘High Risk Behaviour’.
If they didn’t keep hassling drummer Matt Boggis about skating in places he shouldn’t – and giving him tickets listing that as the offence – who knows what idiotic title the self-proclaimed “dropkick drongos from the Sunshine Coast of Australia” would have come up with.
And yet it’s the perfect name for an album that does not fuck around. An album that sounds like Aussie greats the Cosmic Psychos downing beers with The Saints before doing shots with the Buzzcocks and then spewing it all up behind the kebab van. An album that’s over in 28 blistering, funny, sweaty, unforgettable minutes, with half of its 14 songs failing to reach the two-minute mark. Some might call the Queensland trio lazy. Singer-bassist Eamon Sandwith sees it differently.
“I don’t want to make the songs boring, so I just keep them short and sweet,” shrugs the man whose mullet became an international talking point following the success of 2017 viral hit “Smoko”. “We try not to think about it or complicate it too much. You don’t want to force it or the song’s going to turn out crap.”
Since forming in their mate’s bong shed in 2016 while still at high school, that attitude has taken The Chats – completed by guitarist Josh Price, who once wrote a song called How Many Do You Do? in which he boasted of doing 52 “dingers” in a night – from the sleepy coastal village of Coolum (located roughly two hours north of Brisbane) to venues around the world. Their fanbase includes Dave Grohl, who loved the video for Smoko so much he showed it to Josh Homme, who then asked the trio to support Queens of the Stone Age on their 2018 Australian tour. Iggy Pop is also a card-carrying member of The Chats’ fan club, requesting that they support him in Australia in early 2019 and peppering them with questions like, “What’s a smoko?” and “What’s a dart?”
The rest of 2019 was spent taking the world by storm armed with nothing more than guitars, drums, shorts, shirts and thongs (or, if it was a formal occasion, sandals and socks). Shows across Australia and the UK were sold out, and they performed their first gigs in America (the LA show was attended by Homme, Grohl and Arctic Monkeys’ frontman Alex Turner). The band capped off the year with a return visit to Britain, selling out venues such as London’s 2,300-capacity 02 Forum.
Suffice it to say, life has changed a fair bit for The Chats over the past two years.
“Well, I don’t have to work at the supermarket anymore,” says Sandwith.
That he does not. In fact, Sandwith and his mates have been too busy touring, writing songs and, when their gigs took them to Victoria, dropping into engineer Billy Gardner’s studio in the coastal city of Geelong for a day of recording. That they chose this piecemeal approach explains why the album took 18 months to finish – a luxury considering 2017 EP Get This In Ya took four hours to record one hungover afternoon.
“If we’d just done a week and slogged it out we could have had an album before now but we just kept going in there and making newer and better songs so it’s hard to put a stop on it,” says Sandwith.
The sessions were fast. “Some of the songs were first-take and we were like, ‘That’s good, whatever’,” says Sandwith. “We’re really not perfectionists.”
Remarkably, they still found time to experiment with exotic instruments such as… a tambourine.
The end product is an album that buzzes like an out-of-control chainsaw, propelled by Sandwith’s spoken-spit-sung vocals, their three-chords-is-one-too-many approach, and an exacting combination of youth, vigour and drunkenness. But don’t mistake simple for stupid – if it was easy to make songs this short, this catchy and this downright brilliant, everyone would be doing it.
“I think they’re good songs,” says Sandwith. “And at the end of the day, if I like it then fuck it, who cares if other people do?”
Despite being the subject of a record label bidding war, The Chats are releasing High Risk Behaviour on their own label, Bargain Bin Records. It’s indicative of a band that have embraced DIY culture since day one, to the point where Sandwith used to spend his days at the post office sending out merch orders.
“We thought, if we just do it ourselves we don’t have to worry about getting swindled,” says Sandwith. “We’ve always done it our way.”
Their determination to do things “our way” extends to their music, which is why ‘High Risk Behaviour’ delivers everything you’ve come to love from The Chats – only more of it – and confirms their status as Queensland’s greatest ever export (apart from Bundy Rum).
“I just want people to have a good time,” says Sandwith of the album. “I want them to dance around and have a beer and enjoy it. We don’t make songs for people to look at in a fucking emotional or intellectual way. We just make songs for people to jump around and have fun too.”
Follow The Chats:
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | WEB
Follow Bargain Bin Records:
INSTAGRAM | WEB
Pre-order High Risk Behaviour HERE:
Catch The Chats at the following dates in October:
October 2020
Fri 16 Southampton, 1865
Sat 17 Nottingham, Rock City
Sun 18 Bristol, 02 Academy
Mon 19 Ireland, Dublin, Olympia
Tue 20 Belfast, Limelight
Thu 22 Glasgow, Galvanizers
Fri 23 Leeds, Stylus
Sat 24 Newcastle, Boiler Shop
Sun 25 Manchester, 02 Academy
Mon 26 Brighton, Dome
Wed 28 London, Electric Brixton
Thu 29 London, Electric Brixton
Tickets available HERE (on sale 24th January 10am)
We got in touch with Mick from Grindhouse when we saw they were going to go on an overseas excursion and we wanted to get up to speed with what they had planned and for the uninitiated, it was a chance for Mick to set out the Grindhouse stall so to speak. Here with the chatter that matters about all things down under and Grindhouse is Mick ‘Two Fingers’ Simpson.
Its always been a hotbed of Punk Rock and Roll down under – sure it might have taken a while for us snobs in the Northern Hemisphere to cotton on to some of the bands but the UK can’t get enough of Australian bands at the moment and the trail blazed by the likes of Radio Birdman, The Saints, Cosmic Psycos and Rose Tattoo has recently been reignited by the likes of Amyl & The Sniffers, Grindhouse, The Chats (to name just a few – I Could go on) all making a dent in the scene halfway around the world. We wanted to get a hold of Grindhouse and see what’s up so we contacted Mick to get the inside track on all things Grindhouse.
G’day Mick. You say you were listening to bootleg albums of your rock and roll heroes hoping one day to imitate them. who and what albums were Grindhouse listening to in the back of that XD?
Ah I see you have done your homework, yeah I grew up on a lot of Australian independent rock kind of by accident. Not that I’m an old fucker but we didn’t have the internet back then so it was a case of finding bands by word of mouth or stumbling across them on peoples stereos at parties or riding around in cars looking for cheap booze and good times. That’s where I discovered Radio Birdman( Radios appear), The Saints, Tumbleweed( Galactaphonic) and Aasteriod B6182. Then wed go out on a Saturday night with a fake ID and watching these bands in the flesh. Ok now I feel a little older ha, ha
Tell us a brief history of the band where did you guys meet?
We all grew up in a seaside city called Wollongong but ended up in Melbourne, our drummer had unprotected sex and had to leave the band. We all warned him but he didn’t listen.
The nucleus of the band came from another garage band called the Wardens but I wanted an avenue to really play punk rock, sing about dirty shit and not give a fuck, that’s how Grindhouse came about.
You say you’re interested in vintage porn and Mosrite guitars. when you say vintage porn what are we talking here? John Holmes? and the guitars why the Mosrites?
Fuck me I probably wrote that when I first started the band and totally forgot to be honest. Pony plays a 64 Mosrite Ventures that sounds nasty as cat shit but very cool and I used to have a great vintage 70,s porn mag collection in the 90,s so maybe its art imitating life.
What does Melbourne make of Grindhouse? will you be welcomed back after your European excursion like prodigal sons or will they close the borders and pretend they’re out so you cant get back in?
We have a loyal bunch of misfits, part-time alcoholics, fare evaders, bum sniffers, serial masturbaters, Lube lovers, weed smokers, vintage porn collectors, speed creeps, and sex freaks we lovingly call Grindhouse fans and that’s just the members of the band.
Hopefully we just clear customs without a strip search( happy for a pat-down), other than that anything else is a bonus.
I’ve always loved me some Australian rock and roll but at the moment there seems to be a real demand for it over here in the UK. We recently had the Chats over as well as Cosmic Psycos and Amyl And The Sniffers and Radio Birdman always manage to play London or at least for the past few years. You guys are coming so what can or should we expect?
Its definitely taken off in the UK lately which is great, I think mainland Europe has always been the main staple of o/s touring for Australian bands so its great for bands to have the UK as another option. Historically the UK has always had a strong connection with Australian music from The Saints to The Birthday Party so its no real surprise. As for the mentioned bands, Birdman will always be Birdman but the next generation of younger bands coming through is great even for us as it creates interest in Aussie Independent bands. Amyl and the sniffers are a great live show, the Psychos seem to just find another gear and get better with age and The Chats just supported Iggy Pop in Melbourne so am I jealous? You better fucking believe it.
Any other recommendations you could tip us off with. Who would Grindhouse like to drag around Australia with them?
I love a band from Melbourne called Stiff Richards who id call the best garage band in Australia at the moment other than Grindhouse, there,s also a great Ramones inspired garage doo-wop band from Adelaide called Jullitte seizure and the tremor dolls who we love too.
Its been a year since ‘Can I Drive Your Commodore?’ came out. Are we near a follow-up? Tell us about any new music?
We have a plan to record a new album later this year with a working title of “ Sex, Punk, Power” and well be testing some of the new songs on the road which will be cool.
The titles on the record made me instantly smile and from those titles, I was buzzin’ to hear the songs and I knew exactly how they were going to sound. What’s the best title you’ve come up with so far? and why don’t more bands sing about Cheese and their love for friends like Gary? Isn’t shit cocaine dangerous? and is the Australian Car industry really dead?
I’ve always loved ‘Wild sex and machine guns” on our first album as its about a woman I worked with who loved those two things which cracked me up. Our titles are inspired by growing up in the suburbs of 80,s Australia so a lot of people connect to the songs. We don’t make cars in Australia anymore and we also have a lot of shit cocaine in this country so I’ve been told.
As for Peter Russel Clarkle, every band should have a song about a celebrity chef who loves tasty cheese.
Are you guys in shape now ready for a hot and sweaty tour of Europe? Can we have a bunch of shows in the UK, please
I don’t know if were hot but were sweaty and ready, id love to do the Uk so fingers crossed we can get there sooner than later. We have a band we love from Nottingham called The Hip Priests who wed love to do it with plus the beer in the UK is always ice cold.(it’s actually fucken very tasty).
Mick did say that they were looking to coming to Shit Island sometime next year hopefully with a brand new album under the hood so its our (and your) duty to demand it and make it happen by showing bands like Grindhouse that the UK loves them and wants to bring them here for some live dates.
Buy Grindhouse Here
Well, it’s that time of the week again so why not take ten minutes our of your day say fuck it work can wait and enjoy these three songs we highly recommend starting with everyone’s favourite Australians who’ve been over here in the UK this past week. a country so big its its own continent is really kicking out the jams lately with some superb bands so here’s our pick starting with Amyl & The Sniffers with easily the best mullets in music bar no one
Next up is the slackers and hipsters anthem of choice but we just know its quality punk rock ladies and gentlemen the second best mullets in rock n roll, I wanted to show the new video for Pub Feed but felt it was a step too far to show the gratuitous footage of uncalled for sandals and socks combo Oi! Chats, sort it out. –
Finally ‘ave some tractor rock with the Cosmic Psycos and a song about all our towns –
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