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INTERVIEW: !!! (Chk Chk Chk) "'As If' is a record of strength and perseverance, pushing onward."

9 October 2015 | 12:01 pm | Hannah Galvin

On the cusp of releasing their sixth record, As if, Californian dance-punk band, !!! (Chk Chk Chk) kindly took the time to chat with us about the new LP!

Who needs phonetics? !!!. Sorry? Chk Chk Chk. Confused? Probably not, you know, if you've been alive within the past twenty years.

In all seriousness though, Californian band, !!! have been grasping onto the attention of their expansive fanbase for almost two decades now; what with their employment of lively dance, funk hues, carried along by heavy punk undertones.

Forming in 1996, the outfit sprung to life as a result of the collaborative tour between, Black Liquorice and Popesmashers. Wanting to establish more prominent and aggressive funk music, members from both groups knocked heads and roped Out Hud musician, Nic Offer, into the mix.

Experiencing quite a few lineup changes over the years, !!! have released five impressive full-length albums and six EPs; each growing exponentially in maturity and further exploration of technique and sound from its predecessor.

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Now a week away from pushing out their sixth studio record, As If, we were extremely fortunate to catch up with !!! founding member and lead vocalist, Nic Offer, to delve into the new material, talk a little history and cash in on any potential Australian tour dates that may be instore for the coming months.

PS: Throwing back on your history for a moment, Chk Chk Chk came together from members of a variety of groups, yourself included. Was it difficult juggling different projects all at once?

Nick Offer: Yeah, it certainly was at some point. Me, Justin [Racine] and Tyler [Pope] were all in, Out Hud and I think everyone in that band would’ve been happier if we’d just quit Chk Chk Chk and vice versa, so there was always a lot of pressure. Of course, when Tyler brought in LCD [Soundsystem] to the equation, it got pretty tricky. But you know, it kind of all fuelled each other. It was fun.

When the band formed, was Chk Chk Chk treated as a side project or did it receive the utmost importance from all band members?

You know, people always tried to make me choose between the bands; like which was my favourite at the time, but that’s really like a mother trying to choose her favourite child. We never treated any of the groups like it was a side project, they were always treated as what we were giving our full attention to whenever we were present with that group.

So whatever was happening at the time, that’s just what it was?

Yeah, yeah! Each group was still made up of the individuals that were in it, you know? There was never any, “Oh is this a Chk Chk Chk or an Out Hud song?” Each project made sense for what it was, they felt very separate to us, but complimentary. We toured together, and really felt dynamite about it, really proud of each group.

With so many of you in the group, as well as lineup changes over the years, does the songwriting process become really challenging or is it more refreshing having so many brains on board?

It’s remained challenging, but it’s gotten easier in some ways. With this record, we wrote 40 songs, and then recorded 20 of them, and then picked 11 of those. I remember making our second album, which I think had like nine songs on it. That was all we had [laughs]! We couldn’t throw away anything. So we’re now writing 40 songs and I must say, it’s gotten easier.

You’re about to release, As If. How much time was spent crafting this record? Was it much of the past two years since the previous album?

Yeah pretty much. I think we sat around waiting for, Thriller to come out for quite a few months, so we started writing even before Thriller was out. Whenever we’re home, we’re kind of furiously writing.

I’ve read a couple of track descriptions, such as ‘Funk (I Got This)’ sampling the very honest interview of Mister Cee. Would you say that this record is an encyclopedia of stories?

Yeah! Actually there were some jokes we made about things like that. It seemed like at one point we could violate an order of the decade we were interested in you know with say, ‘Every Little Bit Counts’ is like 50s Motown, ‘Freedom! ‘15’ is more a little bit of 70s disco… It could go right on from that up until contemporary dance music. So it’s just one of those exciting games you play as a songwriter, to challenge yourself and put yourself in a tricky position.

Could you please give us insight on the background of your favourite As If track?

Uhhhhh, geez, it’s so hard to say your favourite! Again, they’re like your children, you love them all. I’m trying to think of which one I maybe haven’t talked about as much. Well, with ‘Sick Ass Moon’, Rafael [Cohen] had been listening to a track that had sampled an Aaliyah acapella, so he Google’d “R’n’B acapella” and the first thing that came up was Erykah Badu, so he started cutting that up and put some chords on it. Then he gave it to me.

I’d spent a lot of time during the record listening to Nick Cave and Neil Young, that sort of thing. Kind of playing around with it, I walked outside and the moon was just glimmering, and the whole song fell into place, just from that, looking up at the moon; and so there was, ‘Sick Ass Moon’.

If this record had to convey any sort of message, what would you say to wrap it up?

It’s interesting because you don’t always know the message of the record until you’ve stepped back. And certainly in writing 40 songs, there’s a lot of messages, but I can trace a certain message throughout it. To me it would be a record of strength and perseverance, pushing onward. Even from ‘Sick Ass Moon’ to ‘I Feel So Free’, it’s kind of like that stepping into happiness thing; you’re pushing through it, and you have to be strong throughout it.

I can definitely hear that as well, there’s a variety of different themes I can feel throughout the record. Some are really upbeat, yet there are some downtempo tracks that are led moreso by the lyrics. Would you say that what you’ve just explained has got to do more with the composition itself, rather than a message nestled in the lyrics?

The music supplies the message, with the emotions that it inspires. It’s not just about the BPMs and the key, it’s like once the groove gets kicking, it either opens something up in you or it doesn’t, and these are all the tracks that are instrumentals, opening those things up. That’s always the thing, I’m not often reading the newspaper and then putting it down thinking, “I should write a song about that”, you know? The groove just starts kicking and maybe you remember something that day from the newspaper. That’s more how it works, for me.

Active throughout the entire 2000s, you guys have experienced the evolution of dance music firsthand, and how it has definitely changed, particularly more recently. Would you say that’s impacted upon, Chk Chk Chk?

You know, I think so. It’s hard to say. It’s certainly been interesting to watch, like when we started and we were playing punk shows, “dance music” was a dirty word to punks and indie rockers. So it’s certainly been interesting to watch this evolution within indie rock, and now especially in America where it’s seen on more of a mainstream level. It seems like the bass drop has been the biggest innovation of pop song writing in the past five years, which makes it kind of fascinating. Like a few weekends ago, I was dancing to pop music from the 2010’s [laughs]; I feel like there was a lesson in the bass drum, which is fascinating.

It’s certainly exciting being on the other end of that! Songs like, ‘Sick Ass Moon’, you know, all around when that kick comes in and when it comes out. So yeah, it’s been exciting to watch, I feel lucky to have like a front row seat for the whole thing.

Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of Chk Chk Chk. Will you be doing anything special for this milestone? Perhaps a special release or tour?

I don’t know! It seems like we ought to, you know? It seems like we have fans for each certain album. We’ll be playing to kids today where we play an old one and they don’t know what it is, but then there’s guys in the back who go nuts. So it seems like it would be fun to do more of a wide-ranging thing, because obviously for us, it’s usually fun to play the new ones. Though some of those old ones have sat out for so long that they might be fun to play again. I don’t know, we may. It could be fun.

It’s a maybe for now!

Yeah! Let’s say it’s a definite maybe.

You’ve got a series of dates marked in your touring calendar. Can we expect Chk Chk Chk to visit Australia anytime soon?

I would think that sometime around your Summer, I would hope!

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) will release their sixth record, As If, next Friday, 16th October via Warp Records. Pre-order your digital copy HERE.

Words by Hannah Galvin.

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