Australian punks The Chats just released Get Fucked, their second album, which is a 28-minute blast of pure young-loud-and-snotty attitude filled with shoutalong choruses and the kind of humor that made "Smoko" a viral hit five years ago. If you haven't given it a spin yet, you can listen below.
We talked to vocalist Eamon Sandwith about some of the influences on Get Fucked, including some iconic punk and hard rock groups, car license plates, pubs, local sights and more. This is an entertaining read and you can check it out below.
The Chats will be on tour with The Bronx this fall, a trek that also features Drug Church and Scowl. The NYC stop is October 22 at Brooklyn Steel and all dates are listed below.
THE CHATS - INFLUENCES BEHIND 'GET FUCKED'
1. A number plate we saw at the airport one time
We'd just gotten off a plane from Darwin to Brisbane when I saw it. It was some sort of car, I forget. But the number plate read "6L GTR". Now I don't know heaps about cars, but I knew enough to know that car wasn't in fact a six-litre GTR. This made the number plate fucking hilarious to us, and we decided to write a song about it.
2. The Yeronga RSL
This was my local pub for a couple years, during the writing and recording of 'Get Fucked'. It's a very quiet, dim-lit, sedated room that has a dining area, a bar, a pool table and a few pokie machines. What more could you want? While we were recording the record we were spending at least two hours a day here. We'd show up relatively early (for us) to the studio (10 AM), get an hour or two of recording done, then pile into our engineer Cody's car and go down to the RSL. We'd gleefully pick up a jug of XXXX Gold or Bitter (depending on our thirst), order some grub and play some pool. When we'd begin to feel guilty about not using this time to do what we were supposed to be doing (making the record) we'd pick up some takeaway beers and head back to the studio.
3. Boggo Road Gaol
The Boggo Road Gaol was the main jail of Queensland from the 1880s to the 1980s. It was notorious for poor conditions, riots and breakouts. The song "Boggo Breakout" is based on an incident in March 1989 where eight prisoners escaped the premises by using the laundry van as a cover. They were all eventually recaptured, and the jail closed by the end of the year. The building is still there though. I'd go past on my bus route day after day. They do tours through the building now, even ghost tours. I think it feels kinda spooky around there, but I dunno if there's any ghosts, although a fair few people were executed there. The jail was host to the legendary Rose Tattoo when they recorded a set there for a DVD fittingly-titled "Live from Boggo Road". Singer Angry Anderson said upon walking onstage, "I always knew we'd end up in here!”
4. Ramones
The Ramones are pretty much my favourite band of all time. Everything I do musically can be traced back to them. Not only were they a big influence on the record sonically, but also visually. Our front cover is kind of a rip off of their self-titled debut. I thought instead of us standing against a brick wall all cool (like the Ramones), we'd stand there all pissed off, flipping the bird. Really smart, intellectual stuff right?
5. The ferry from St. Lucia to Toowong
When I was living in Fairfield during the writing and recording of the record, Josh was (and still is) living in Toowong. It was a bit of a pain to get there by train or bus, but I soon figured out I could ride my bike across the Eleanor Schonell Bridge over to St. Lucia, then catch the ferry from there to his house. This is where we did a lot of songwriting for the record, mostly because Josh had a drum kit there that we could play without any of his neighbours really caring. But those ferry rides were great. The ferry was so much more calm than the train or the bus. No suits desperately trying to get somewhere on time. The Toowong ferry stop is currently closed due to getting ripped apart by the floods earlier this year. I'm hoping they fix it up soon.
6. Streets Beach at Southbank
Southbank's Streets Beach is Australia's only man-made inner-city beach. It smells like chlorine and piss, but in some weird way it's kinda sick. You might be swimming next to an ibis (we call them "bin chickens"), but you're still having an unreal day in the sunshine and the (filtered) water. But whatever you do, don't put your head under. Did I mention Streets Beach is named after the Australian ice-cream brand Streets? Home to the Paddlepop and the Bubble-O-Bill? Have I sold you yet?
7. A smashed up ATM we saw in Southport one time
We were doing some songwriting at our mate Glenn's bar, Vinnies Dive, last year when we walked past an ATM that had the glass screen absolutely beaten in. Josh said something along the lines of "I guess someone's been paid late", and I immediately thought, "that's a song". So we wrote the song "Paid Late" about not receiving your pay on time, and subsequently beating the shit out of an ATM in retaliation.
8. "Powerage" by AC/DC
The best AC/DC (we call them "Acca Dacca") record, "Powerage" has a special place in my heart. It's got their signature hard-rock-meets-the-blues sound, but it feels like the tempo's been turned up a notch. Perhaps they were trying to compete with the punk bands of the time, or maybe they were totally on their own wavelength. Whatever they were doing, it fuckin worked. Acca Dacca were the first band I loved, the first CD I bought with my own money, and (most of) their tunes still hold up to this day for me. The raw, unrefined force of "Poweraage" was a big influence on our record.
9. Translink ticket inspectors
The worst of the worst. The ultimate power trippers. These guys patrol trains and buses, hoping to find some poor bastard who can't afford a ticket, then hand out a fuckin $240 fine if they're lucky enough to find one. Here's what I don't get: These tickets cost like three or four bucks. How the fuck could someone afford a $240 fine if they can't afford a train ticket? In my opinion, these guys are just as bad as cops. The rage I felt seeing one of these cunts harass someone on a train inspired the song "Ticket Inspector."
10. A homemade Gatorade bong
What can I say? This bad boy brought me some good ideas.
THE CHATS TOUR DATES
Tue. Oct. 4, 2022 - San Diego, CA @ Music Box #
Thu. Oct. 6, 2022 - Berkeley, CA @ The UC Theater #
Fri. Oct. 7, 2022 - Los Angeles, CA @ Belasco Theater #
Mon. Oct. 10, 2022 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theater #
Tue. Oct. 11, 2022 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater #
Thu. Oct. 13, 2022 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex #
Fri. Oct. 14, 2022 - Denver, CO @ Summit #
Sat. Oct. 15, 2022 - Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theater #
Sun. Oct. 16, 2022 - Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater #
Tue. Oct. 18, 2022 - Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall #
Wed. Oct. 19, 2022 - Detroit, MI @ El Club #
Thu. Oct. 20, 2022 - Toronto, CA @ The Phoenix #
Fri. Oct. 21, 2022 - Montreal, CA @ Corona Theater #
Sat. Oct. 22, 2022 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel #
Sun. Oct. 23, 2022 - Boston, MA @ Big Night Live #
Wed. Oct. 26, 2022 - Jacksonville, FL @ Underbelly *
Thu. Oct. 27, 2022 - Deland, FL @ Cafe Da Vinci *
Fri. Oct. 28, 2022 - Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre*
Tue. May 16, 2023 - Dublin, IE @ 02 Academy
Wed. May 17, 2023 - Dublin, IE @ 02 Academy
Thu. May 18, 2023 - Belfast, NI @ Limelight
Fri. May 19, 2023 - Manchester, UK @ Academy
Sat. May 20, 2023 - Glasgow, SC @ Barrowlands
Sun. May 21, 2023 - Newcastle, UK @ NX
Mon. May 22, 2023 - Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed
Tue. May 23, 2023 - Bristol, UK @ Bristol 02 Academy
Wed. May 24, 2023 - Birmingham, UK @ Institute
Fri. May 26, 2023 - London, UK @ 02 Academy Brixton
Sun. May 28, 2023 - Antwerp, BE @ AB
Tue. May 30, 2023 - Paris, FR @ Trabendo
Wed. May 31, 2023 - Cologne, FR @ Live Music Hall
Sun. Jun 4, 2023 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue. Jun 6, 2023 - Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
Wed. Jun 7, 2023 - Malmo, SE @ Debaser
Thu. Jun 8, 2023 - Stockholm, SE @ Plan B
Fri. Jun 9, 2023 - Oslo, NO @ John Dee
# co-headline w/The Bronx