The Chats

Hands down the world’s greatest post-millennial punk-rock group, The Chats have skipped past the unimaginable banana skin of COVID-19 to emerge tougher, faster, funnier, more riotous – even better for 2022! The trio, originally formed in Australia’s self-explanatory resort Sunshine Coast, are a once-in-a-generation band who reconnect popular music with its roots in ultra-raw rock ‘n’ roll, inject their own fresh perspective, and have duly made an instantaneous connection with their youthful peers right across the globe. Most people know them for their 2017 breakthrough banger, ‘Smoko’, but that has proved to be just the party-starter, merely the entrée to a high-volume, full-throttle world where intoxication, excitement and laughter rule supreme – the kind of kinetic thrills which have all but drained out of contemporary pop/rock. As the 2020’s dawned, The Chats were building enviable momentum right across Europe, North America and their homeland, ready for the arrival of their full-length debut, ‘High Risk Behaviour’. Replete with further rowdy classics including ‘Pub Feed’ and ‘Identity Theft’, the album 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 a second long-player called ‘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.

ROSS KNIGHT – BASS AND VOCALS

DEAN MULLER – DRUMS

JOHN MCKEERING – GUITAR

“Here’s three ugly looking blokes, touring the world, playing at all these wonderful cities, dining at all these wonderful restaurants, meeting all these famous people. In the back of ya head I’m thinking to myself ‘Im a fuckin’ farmer!’” – Ross Knight “Even thou the Cosmic Psychos never had the commercial impact or success that Nirvana and Pearl Jam had, they were still a major influence on them, and I think a lot of it had to do with the spirit and the sound of their music.” – Butch Vig, Record Producer. The Cosmic Psychos are (almost) an Australian punk rock institution who formed in Spring Plains, Victoria in 1982, spearheaded by founding member and bass player Ross Knight. To date, the band have released 10 studio albums since their self-titled debut (1987) and their influence has been global, with UK band The Prodigy sampling their music on 1997’s ‘The Fat of the Land’ LP and Nirvana producer Butch Vig proclaiming them an influence on both Nirvana and the Seattle grunge scene of the 1990’s. In 2009, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam spoke candidly of the effect the band had on him growing up in Seattle. The band’s repetitive lyrics, fuzzed out guitar and wahwah bass sound has remained unchanged over their 30 plus year career and continues to win over new audiences. A documentary by film maker Matt Weston, released in 2013, titled ‘Blokes You Can Trust’ featured a whose who of global indie tastemakers and music makers espousing the Cosmic Psycho’s legacy in Australian musical history. The documentary has given the band new life and they currently find themselves fielding touring and interview requests as far flung as Spain, Germany and Costa Rica. It’s been a wild ride for the Psycho’s mainstay Ross Knight who originally formed the band in 1982 for ‘shits and giggles’. He’s been trying to balance the demands of fronting one of Australia’s defining punk bands and managing his vast thirdgeneration farm ever since; which includes running cattle, tending a vineyard and volunteering his time and tractor to the local fire service. Rounding out the Psycho’s line-up since 2005 is Melbourne born Dean Muller on drums and John ‘Mad Macka’ McKeering on guitar. Macka (formerly of Brisbane stalwarts The Onyas), has spent time as a lawyer, pizza delivery driver, carpet factory worker, bartender and swim coach. These days, when not hanging with the Psycho’s he teaches punk rock chords to guitar students and regales beginners with stories about the time he once beat Olympian swimmer Kieran Perkins in a medley race. The Cosmic Psycho’s have survived the passing decades, musical trends and fashions with ease. Most fans will tell you they’re simple blokes (you can trust), just making straight-ahead, good-fun, Australian influenced punk rock. In 2019, the Cosmic Psychos celebrate 30 years since the release of their second album ‘Go the Hack’ – which perfectly sums up the career trajectory of one of Australia’s most loved bands. “They’re our ambassadors, have a listen to their lyrics, they sing about dead kangaroos.” Ray Ahn – HardOns

Over the last few years, THE SCHIZOPHONICS have built up a formidable reputation around the world as an explosive live act. Tapping into the same unstoppable combination of rock 'n' roll energy and showmanship that fueled THE MC5 in the heyday of the Grande Ballroom, their wild live show is heavily influenced by artists like JAMES BROWN, IGGY POP, JIMI HENDRIX, LITTLE RICHARD, and THE SONICS. Singer/guitarist Pat Beers and drummer Lety Beers formed the band in San Diego in 2009 and have worked tirelessly since then, playing hundreds of shows around the globe. In 2013 they were recruited as the backing/opening band for EL VEZ, which helped the band make a name for itself in Europe. Since then, they've played in numerous countries, and supported tours by like-minded acts like ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT, LITTLE BARRIE, THE WOGGLES and have opened for the DAMNED, DEVO, HIVES and CAGE THE ELEPHANT. Shindig magazine described their live show "Like watching some insane hybrid of WAYNE KRAMER, JAMES BROWN, and the Tazmanian Devil".

The band is more than just a live act, they're also committed to writing great memorable songs. Their new album in due in the fall of 2022 along with extensive tour dates. The Schizophonics- hailed by Spotify as the "wildest live band in America" - wouldn't want it any other way.

GYMSHORTS is from Rhode Island and like the band’s home state frontwoman Sarah Greenwell is a petite powerhouse that marches to the beat of her own drum. Endearingly rebellious, fiercely independent, and hellbent on causing a commotion, Greenwell embodies the kind of rambunctious unpredictability that has personified some of pop culture’s most legendary troublemakers; a little bit Bart Simpson, a hint of Kevin McCallister, and a dash of Dennis The Menace form the inspirational foundation of GYMSHORTS’ particular brand of punk n roll, smoked to perfection in the back of Jeff Spicoli’s van.

GYMSHORTS are a sarcastic grin and a pair of bloodshot eyes behind pitch-black Wayfarers in the back row of class, a best friend and a bad influence all rolled into one.

GYMSHORTS takes musical cues from a deep well of sources, with touchpoints that range from trailblazing new wave punks The Nerves to sassy turn of the millennium bad girls The Donnas tossed into a creative woodchipper with midcentury surf guitar and wooly, flannel wrapped grunge. The resulting sound is ragged and raw and immediately magnetic, rough and tumble with the kind of lived-in authenticity of a scuffed-up pair of skate shoes. A sturdy platform for the band’s unabashedly unique identity that is equal parts bratty and wise, tightly wound and poised to launch in nearly any direction at a moment’s notice.

Blistering speed and high-octane thrills characterize a GYMSHORTS’ live set, like a juiced-up NASCAR laying a righteous burnout in the winner’s circle, a springy mosh of unbridled exuberance that has earned the band coveted spots supporting Death Valley Girls, Tacocat, La Luz and many others on tours stretching across the globe from Texas to Thailand. As buoyant ambassadors of plucky stick-it-to the-man attitude, GYMSHORTS never fail to leave crowds sweaty and satisfied in the aftermath of a ferocious blitzkrieg bop, decimating eardrums in a whirlwind of maximum volume sonic debauchery with an enthusiastic heart of gold. GYMSHORTS’ catalog is available on Bandcamp and your favorite streaming platforms. Pick up their LPs and 7”s at your local record store and don’t miss an opportunity to party hard with GYMSHORTS when the band comes to your city.