I can’t think of a better title for an album than what The Chats decided upon.
Australian punks The Chats announce their new album, GET FUCKED, out August 19th on the band’s own label, Bargain Bin Records, and share a new single/video, “6L GTR.” The announcement arrives in the midst of their North American tour (tickets on sale now). Their debut full-length, High Risk Behaviour, dropped just as the pandemic struck, and The Chats have duly been through the same frustrating two years of broken dreams and shredded itineraries as every other combo. Undeterred and now stocked to overflowing with frustration and fury, they strike back with GET FUCKED, an incendiary, hyper-adrenalized blitz from punk heaven, showcasing a rockin’ new guitarist, and an electrifying all-killer-no-filler 13 tracks which perfectly capture the band’s explosive energy. It is, quite simply, another laugh-out-loud, pogo-through-the-floorboards stroke of motherfucking genius.
The Chats took lockdown as a chance to plan their next move, which is when they enlisted Josh Hardy after the departure of their last guitarist. Sometime in ’21, Eamon Sandwith, Matt Boggis and Hardy decamped to southern Queensland to write at their friend’s place, Vinny’s Dive Bar. Once they’d worked up a rollicking batch of new tunes, they had actually planned to record again near Melbourne, with Billy Gardner, who produced High Risk Behaviour, but due to pandemic border closures, they nailed it instead in six days at Brisbane’s Hunting Ground facility with Cody McWaters, who’d worked on a single for Eamon’s other band, Headlice.
“They weren’t like hardcore working days,” Eamon reveals, “we would start at 11 and finish at 4, and in the middle of that we’d go to the pub for lunch for two hours, and have a few beers. Then we’d go, ‘Oh shit, we better go back and do some recording!’ Our work etiquette wasn’t great.” Consequently, GET FUCKED, while tackling umpteen eminently relatable beefs ranging from surfer-dude racism to the usual dire impecunity, feels like a classic high-velocity punk-rock party album like they just don’t make ’em anymore – think early Ramones, think MDC’s debut, think invite your mates over and rock hard all weekend.
GET FUCKED opens with “6L GTR,” a swingeing takedown of a speed-crazed status-symbol driver – a critique piqued when Eamon spotted the titular licence plate in an airport carpark. “I don’t even know if the car itself was actually a six-liter GTR or anything,” he chuckles. “To be honest with you, I don’t even know what a car like that would look like! I can’t drive! That was the thing, we were just trying to get into this dude’s head.” The video was made by animator and illustrator Marco Imov who spent days creating the band in character form. “They hinted that it would be cool if instead of being directly about the car, it should be about the band wanting the car,” explains Marco. “From there it kind of wrote itself down.”
The more you listen to it, the more you realize that there was only one plausible title for this second Chats album. After all the incarceration and boredom, The Chats are in peak match fitness to deliver the excitement we all crave for the months ahead.
WATCH VIDEO FOR “STRUCK BY LIGHTNING”
GET FUCKED TRACKLIST
1. 6L GTR
2. Struck By Lightning
3. Boggo Road
4. Southport Superman
5. Panic Attack
6. Ticket Inspector
7. The Price of Smokes
8. Dead on Site
9. Paid Late
10. I’ve Been Drunk In Every Pub In Brisbane
11. Out On The Street
12. Emperor of the Beach
13. Getting Better
THE CHATS TOUR DATES
Tue. Apr. 26 – Houston, TX @ The Bronze Peacock at House of Blues
Wed. Apr. 27 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s Austin
Thu. Apr. 28 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues – Cambridge Room
Sat. Apr. 30 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East
Sun. May 1 – Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
Tue. May 3 – Columbia, SC @ The Senate
Wed. May 4 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage
Thu. May 5 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Fri. May 6 – Warrendale, PA @ Jergel’s Rhythm Grille
Sat. May 7 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
Sun. May 8 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry @ The Fillmore – SOLD OUT
Tue. May 10 – Montreal, QC @ Foufounes Électriques
Wed. May 11 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground – SOLD OUT
Thu. May 12 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop – SOLD OUT
Fri. May 13 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
Sat. May 14 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
Sun. May 15 – St. Paul, MN @ Amsterdam Bar & Hall – SOLD OUT
Tue. May 17 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
Wed. May 18 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
Fri. May 20 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre – SOLD OUT
Sun. May 22 – Daytona Beach, FL @ Welcome to Rockville 2022
Wed. May 25 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon – SOLD OUT
Thu. May 26 – Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
Fri. May 27 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre – SOLD OUT
Mon. Jun. 27 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
Tue. Jun. 28 – Brussels, BE @ La Botanique
Fri. Jul. 1 – Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter 2022
Mon. Jul. 4 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
Tue. Jul. 5 – Berlin, DE @ SO36
Wed. Jul. 6 – Hamburg, DE @ Moltow Backyard
Thu. Jul. 7 – Cologne, DE @ Gebäude
Fri. Jul. 22 – Adelaide, AU @ Adelaide Showground
Fri. Jul. 29 – Luxembourg, LU @ Rotondes
Sat. Oct. 8 – Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival
