Words By Dimitri Kalagas
Over the last few years we have been witness to some interesting shifts in the musical landscape. From the mid 90s to the early noughties there was a general consensus that you either listened to rock music or electronic music and never the twain shall meet. It was during this time many members of both camps began to realise that the sounds they had largely defined themselves by had become dissatisfying and stagnant, leaving each faction peering into one another’s worlds with a quiet curiosity. While all this was going on, eight musicians based in the Sacramento punk scene decided that while they still identified with the punk philosophy, they really wanted to make people dance, and so set about creating a new form of music that took punk’s raw sensibility and blended it with an infectiously danceable rhythm. As a result punk funksters Chk Chk Chk, AKA !!!, were born, heralding a movement that will be instrumental in helping to musically define the first decade of the new millennium. Now based in Brooklyn after a solid stint of touring to back up the release of their critically acclaimed Louden Up Now, and a short residence in Nashville to finish recording their stunning forthcoming LP, Myth Takes, Lifelounge caught up with vocalist Nic Offer to discuss the trials and tribulations of writing music with eight people, and how white men can find the funk.
DK: Myth Takes sounds like there has been a real emphasis placed on the crafting of the songs, maybe more so than Louden Up Now, was this something that you guys consciously set out to do?
NO: You know, you can blame it on a lot of things. There are more of us working separately on songs on this record. We divvied up the songs and let people work on the things that were their babies. Also we were just working harder and responded to a lot of the critical heat we took on the last record, we didn’t want to get beat again so we were more focused. There was a lot more communication and definitely a stronger focus on the songs.
DK: So did you feel like you copped a lot of critical heat on the last record, as far as I knew it was pretty well respected?
NO: Yeah, I guess that as artists there is a tendency to take any of the heat a little more personally. So I think we were affected by any little bit of criticism we got. This time I think we made a better record, so I’ll be interested to see what kind of heat we get for this and how we respond to it. Maybe we’ll make an even better record next time and maybe if we don’t get any heat we’ll make a worse record!
DK: And how do you feel the band has progressed since Louden Up Now?
NO: I actually keep trying to put my finger on it, but I can’t really. I think we’re just a little further down the line, we’re older and it’s definitely a more mature record. If anything, the biggest way in which we have changed is how communication was so important in making this record. We tried to look each other in the eye and say hard things about how a song was working, and try and take it. Being able to handle criticism from each other was really important. That is the sign of a much more mature band.
DK: You have mentioned that when you were doing the cover of the Magnetic Fields’, ‘Take ecstasy with me’, you became exposed to the potential for simplicity in great song writing. Is this an attitude you carried through when writing Myth Takes?
NO: Oh definitely! There was very much a thing, especially when we were working on the Magnetic Fields song where we’d do the verse and then be like, ‘Oh wait we can already do the chorus?!’ We were blown away by just how easy it was. The chorus was just an anchor, you know, a little hook and that’s all. So instead of doing these songs where you had like twelve million parts, we concentrated on the absolute best hook that was happening and made it the focus. Working on those songs and the simplicity of them focused us as well. There’s a lot of trimming the fat you know, although having said that it’s still a really dense record. It’s eight separate ideas, so there was a lot of fat to be trimmed!
DK: Do you feel that simplification of the music has come naturally, or do you really have to force yourselves to simplify everything?
NO: I think you do have to force yourself to simplify, just because it is hard to know what works and what doesn’t. A lot of it is your own ego, you’re like, ‘Wait, I just want it to do this one little thing!’ So yeah, with eight people, you do have to force the simplicity. But I think we’ve always known that when we started playing this sort of music, lack of simplicity was where white guys got the funk wrong. They’d always try to write this funk bass with really complex lines, when the hardest grooves were always like three notes, or more often just one. So when we started we were like, ‘Fuck the whole three chords thing, lets do three notes’. So it’s always been important for us, but then again I guess it’s eight guys doing three notes so it can get pretty complicated.
DK: In your bio you’ve stated that the songs are tested and rewritten according to audience response when you’re touring. What do you look for in an audience reaction to know that you’re hitting the mark?
NO: You can just really sense it. That’s one of the things I really like about dance music, it’s not like pop where maybe somebody got paid off, and it’s not an artistic statement where critically this is supposed to be great. Dance music either makes you want to dance or it doesn’t. It’s either working on the floor or it’s not. If the record isn’t good it’s going to clear the floor. We just see how people respond and what does or doesn’t make them dance. We’re very conscious of the crowd and how they’re responding.
DK: The music you make has been labelled with a multitude of genres, and you mentioned that it is dance music, is that how you would essentially describe the music you create?
NO: I think this album is a more of a complete record. You definitely can’t play every song on this record on the dance floor. Rather than thinking of it in terms of any genre, we just think of it as us. We were really excited by the whole idea of it being OUR music, so WE can say what it is. It was really exciting to do some of the things on the record that we did, and say ‘Well, this is us, maybe it’s dance music and maybe it’s not, but it’s the record that we want to make’. Ultimately though, what we’re trying to do live is make people dance.
DK: Where do you source your inspiration or influences?
NO: From everything really. We like to party and we like to dance so a little bit from the clubs. I’ve been staying in and reading more too, so I guess from books as well. But really you just take it from wherever you can get it. I was actually reading a totally, totally trashy novel and I got hit with the melody for one of the songs on the record, and we swung with it. I’m always trying to fill myself up with healthy knowledge and be really stimulated, but I got one of my best ideas while I was reading trash, so it can come from wherever.
DK: How does the song writing process work for Chk Chk Chk? Do you jam with all eight members, or is there a principal songwriter among the eight whom you all work off?
NO: Our original way of writing was to jam, record it, listen back and then pick the best parts and put it together. That’s our base method. But with this record there was a lot more of someone bringing a groove, us jamming on it, and then someone taking it home and forming a song around it. So there was a much bigger emphasis on different people trying their hands at writing. There were also other methods where we’d jam, and someone would take the jam and write a song on top of it. We tried to write in as many different ways as we could.
DK: So how would you then translate a record like Myth Takes into a live show? Are the shows purely refined jam sessions on stage?
NO: They’re generally a bit more structured than that. We used to start every show with a live jam, but there is definitely more structure, with a bit of freedom within that.
DK: I’m sure you’ve been asked this thousands of times but I need to know, what the concept behind the name !!! is?
NO: The main concept was that it was something that completely separated us from other bands. We were very artsy minded, and we thought we wanted to create a new form of music, so we wanted something that was going to set us apart from all other bands. The only other artist that the name !!! put us in league with was Prince, so we gave up at that. We were like, ‘Well, we can’t stand completely alone, so I guess we’ll have to stand with Prince’.
DK: Prince is pretty good company.
NO: Yeah it’s totally fine with me!
DK: I read somewhere that the exclamation marks came from subtitles in the movie The Gods must be Crazy, is that true?
NO: Yeah, it’s from the bush language where they make that clicking sound. It’s spelt as the exclamation marks.
DK: What are your backgrounds musically? How did you all get together?
NO: We were all involved in the DIY punk scene, so we were very much in the mind set of forming a band and playing in basements, and listening to that style of music. But it just began to feel a bit narrow. We were still excited by the ethics, but not really the actual music. Some of the guys were playing in reggae bands and were playing basements, not bullshit clubs. The idea of playing the type of music that we want to play was what appealed to us.
DK: So do you feel that you have pulled some of that punk ethos through to what you do now?
NO: Oh absolutely, anyone who knows punk and sees us play will recognise that it’s still deep in there. It’s undeniably there.
DK: Punk Funk or Dance Punk has been a massively popular musical trend in the last few years, what do you think has brought about the popularity for this fusion of genres?
NO: As far as the way the tides move, it’s just about time. I was involved in a bit of a punk explosion in the early 90s, and everyone was into the early punk records, and then we started noticing that the Wire and Gang of Four records were more exciting, so it seems like it’s only a matter of time before anything that goes out of fashion musically will re-emerge. And you know, there are just so many reasons, rock and roll got boring, electronic music got boring, so it seemed like the two finding each other would rejuvenate both genres.
DK: Did you feel any extra pressure when you were creating Myth Takes after the success of Louden Up Now?
NO: Well I think we felt more pressure to do better, I don’t think Louden Up Now was good enough and we really wanted to top it. We were all stunned, because a lot of people think that we’ve never topped ‘Giuliani’ and none of us were particularly happy with that song, so there was definitely a ‘shall improve aspect’ to what we were doing.
DK: Are you excited about touring again?
NO: Yeah I am, definitely. We’re really excited to get out behind this record. We’ve never been to Australia, I’ve actually only been in the airport on a botched press trip, so I didn’t actually get to go into the city. So I’m really excited to go.
DK: So is touring your favourite part of being in a band?
NO: Yeah it is. I always say that my two favourite parts are right when we’re first at jamming, and it’s a blank slate when we’re writing, and then when the songs are finished and we’re playing them live. Those are the most fun parts. I love touring.
Chk Chk Chk’s new album Myth Takes is out now through Inertia.
Thanks to Inertia we have 5 copies of Myth Takes to give away. To win, email comps@lifelounge.com with the name of Chk Chk Chk's frontman. Lifelounge members only, so become a member.
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