Chubby and the Gang | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | London, England |
Genres | |
Years active | 2019–present |
Labels | Partisan, Static Shock |
Spinoff of | |
Members |
|
Past members |
|
Website | www |
Chubby and the Gang are an English rock band formed in West London in 2019. Consisting of vocalist Charlie "Chubby Charles" Manning-Walker, guitarists Ethan Stahl and Tom "Razor" Hardwick, bassist Maegan Brooks Mills and drummer Joe McMahon, the band was formed out of a number of UK hardcore punk bands, including Arms Race, Vile Spirit and Gutter Knife.
Charlie "Chubby" Manning-Walker first became involved in bands in the British hardcore punk scene in 2004, when he was 15 years old. [1] [2] By the 2010s, he was primarily involved in New Wave of British Hardcore bands, as a member of Violent Reaction and Arms Race. It was here that he met the members of Brighton bands Vile Spirit and Gutter Knife, with whom he would eventually form Chubby and the Gang. [2]
In 2019, they entered the studio to record their debut album Speed Kills, with producer Jonah Falco of Fucked Up. [2] In January 2020, the band toured the United States twice supporting the Royal Hounds, followed by Hank Wood and the Hammerheads, [3] during which Speed Kills was released through Static Shock Records, although it was intended to be released prior to the tours. [4] In March 2020, it was announced that they would play the 2021 2000trees. [5] Later that year, Austin was replaced by Maegan Brooks. [6] Soon after, they entered the studio again to record their upcoming follow-up album. The band's recorded process this time around was more thought-out, spending ten days in the studio. [2] On 8 October 2020, they premiered their track "Union Dues" as a single, [7] [8] and released a music video for the Speed Kills track "All Along the Uxbridge Road". [9] [10] On 10 October, they announced their debut headline performance would be at Bush Hall, London, on 15 May 2021. [11] On 19 November, it was announced that they would play the 2021 Great Escape Festival. [12] [13] On 20 November, Speed Kills was re-released through Partisan Records. [14] On 14 April 2021, they released the single "Lightning Don't Strike Twice", [15] which was followed by "Life's Lemons" on May 28. [16] On 15 June, it was announced that both tracks would be included on the band's second album the Mutt's Nuts, which was released in 21 August 2021, [17] and released the single "Coming Up Tough". [18] Between 29 February and 5 March 2022, the band opened for Turnstile on their UK headline tour. [19] On 14 February 2022, they released the three track EP Labour of Love. [20]
On 14 December 2022, the band released the double single Chubby and the Gang Presents: A Christmas Extravaganza, which featured the songs "Red Rag to a Bull" and "Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)". This coincided with the announcement of Manning-Walker being accompanied by an entirely new group of musicians: bassist Geoff Wilcox, guitarist Will Goodey, guitarist Charlie Wyatt and drummer Lee Munday. [21]
The band has been described as punk rock, [22] [23] [24] rock and roll [14] [25] [26] and pub rock. [27] [28] [29] Their music incorporates elements of surf rock, classic pop, [4] hardcore punk, [24] doo wop, blues, [6] oi!, power pop, street punk and glam rock. [30] Their songs generally include high tempos and the use of hooks. [31] A number of the band's songs express the members' leftist political views, including trade unionism, police brutality [1] and working-class pride. [32]
In an article for Rolling Stone, their debut album Speed Kills was described as "all buzzsaw riffs and drums that barrel forward like an 18-wheeler twisting around a cliff-edge switchback at top speed. But the tension between mayhem and heart, fury and fun, is always there". [33] Vice writer Jak Hutchcraft described it as having "the punk rock earworms of Rudi, the footy terrace chants of Blitz, the garage spirit of Royal Headache and the honest pub rock of Coloured Balls." [1] The Guardian writer described it as taking "the evolution of punk – a pinch of pub rock, its anarchic 1977 heyday, a dose of 100mph hardcore – and fuses it all together to create something a bit like what the immortal Ramones might have sounded like if they’d hung out on west London’s Uxbridge Road and not CBGB in New York City". [24] Clash magazine described their style as "built on a world-class rhythm section that’s forever moments from collapse." [34] Stereogum cited their debut album's title track as "a sloppy drunk goof, an intensely fast stumbling ripper that has fun with itself as it rocks out." [35]
They have cited influences including the Ramones, Dr. Feelgood, [24] Coloured Balls and Iron Virgin. [2] In reference to the band's choice of sound, Manning-Walker stated "I wanted to put in an organ, a handclap, a harmonica, a tambourine and the quick element of it comes from me only experiencing hardcore for 15 years. Because of where I come from it all ended up being 200mph." [1] Their music also often makes use of vocal samples from television series and movies such as the Jimmie Rodgers Show. [29]
Title | Year | Director(s) |
---|---|---|
"All Along the Uxbridge Road" | 2020 | Lluis Fuzzhound [30] |
Hardcore punk is a punk rock subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk scenes in San Francisco and Southern California which arose as a reaction against the still predominant hippie cultural climate of the time. It was also inspired by Washington, D.C., and New York punk rock and early proto-punk. Hardcore punk generally disavows commercialism, the established music industry and "anything similar to the characteristics of mainstream rock" and often addresses social and political topics with "confrontational, politically charged lyrics".
Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo. The songs usually use fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead guitar work.
Bad Brains are an American rock band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1976. They are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of other genres like funk, heavy metal, hip hop, and soul. Rolling Stone magazine called them "the mother of all black hard-rock bands", and they have been cited as a seminal influence to numerous other subgenres in addition to hardcore punk, including various subgenres of heavy metal, such as thrash/speed metal, alternative metal, and funk metal. Bad Brains are followers of the Rastafari movement.
AFI is an American rock band from Ukiah, California, formed in 1991. Since 1998, it consists of lead vocalist Davey Havok, drummer and backing vocalist Adam Carson, bassist, backing vocalist and keyboardist Hunter Burgan, and guitarist, backing vocalist and keyboardist Jade Puget. Havok and Carson are the sole remaining original members. Originally a hardcore punk band, they have since delved into many genres, starting with horror punk and following through post-hardcore and emo into alternative rock and gothic rock.
Skate punk is a skater subculture and punk rock subgenre that developed in the 1980s. Originally a form of hardcore punk that had been closely associated with skate culture, skate punk evolved into a more melodic genre of punk rock in the 1990s similar to pop punk. Since then, it has predominately featured fast tempos, lead guitar playing, fast drumming, and singing. Occasionally, skate punk also combines the fast tempos of hardcore punk and melodic hardcore with the catchy hooks of pop-punk.
Hüsker Dü was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continuous members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notability as a hardcore punk band, and later crossed over into alternative rock. Mould and Hart were the band's principal songwriters, with Hart's higher-pitched vocals and Mould's baritone taking the lead in alternating songs.
U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. One of the first hardcore punk bands, elements of rhythm and blues music - including harmonica - also remained an occasional element of their work.
Crossover thrash is a fusion genre of thrash metal and hardcore punk. The genre emerged in the mid–1980s, when hardcore punk bands, such as Suicidal Tendencies, Cryptic Slaughter, Corrosion of Conformity and Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, began to incorporate the influence of thrash metal. At this time, the genre was particularly prominent in the New York hardcore scene, where groups including Agnostic Front, Leeway, Cro-Mags and Stormtroopers of Death were widely influential.
Nintendocore is a broadly defined style of music that most commonly fuses chiptune with various hardcore punk and/or heavy metal subgenres, most often metalcore and post-hardcore. The genre is sometimes considered a direct subgenre of post-hardcore and a fusion genre between metalcore and chiptune. The genre originated in the early 2000s and peaked around the late 2000s with bands like Horse the Band, Karate High School and Sky Eats Airplane pioneering the genre.
Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2007. Since 2010, the band has consisted of vocalist Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Babin. To date, the band have released six studio albums: ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse in 2009, Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me in 2011, Is Survived By in 2013, Stage Four in 2016, Lament in 2020, and Spiral in a Straight Line in 2024.
Ice Nine Kills is an American heavy metal band from Boston, Massachusetts, who are signed to Fearless Records. Best known for its horror-inspired lyrics, Ice Nine Kills formed in its earliest incarnation in 2000 by high school friends Spencer Charnas and Jeremy Schwartz. Charnas is currently the only remaining founding member.
Code Orange is an American metalcore band that formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2008, while the members of the band were still in high school.
PUP is a Canadian punk rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario in 2010, originally under the name Topanga. PUP's debut album PUP was released on October 8, 2013, on Royal Mountain Records. In December 2013, PUP signed with SideOneDummy Records and re-released their debut album in the United States on April 8, 2014. The group was in the studio in late 2015 recording their second album The Dream Is Over which was released on May 27, 2016, through SideOneDummy. The band's third album, titled Morbid Stuff, was released on April 5, 2019. This Place Sucks Ass, a six-track EP, was released on October 27, 2020. Their fourth album, The Unraveling of PUPTheBand, was released on April 1, 2022.
Turnstile is an American hardcore punk band from Baltimore, Maryland, formed in 2010. They have released five EPs and three studio albums. The band's third album Glow On was released in 2021 to critical and commercial success; the songs "Holiday" and "Blackout" earned the band three nominations at the 65th Grammy Awards.
Idles are a British rock band formed in Bristol in 2009. The band consists of Adam Devonshire (bass), Joe Talbot (vocals), Mark Bowen (guitar), Lee Kiernan (guitar), and Jon Beavis (drums).
Arms Race were an English hardcore punk band formed in London in 2012. They were a part of the New Wave of British Hardcore.
Hardcore punk in the United Kingdom began in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the second wave of punk rock in the country. The scene produced many successful and influential hardcore punk bands throughout the 1980s such as Discharge, GBH and the Exploited and led to the pioneering of genres such as grindcore, street punk, crust punk and D-beat.
Speed are an Australian hardcore punk band from Sydney. Formed in 2019, the band consists of lead vocalist Jem Siow, guitarists Joshua Clayton and Dennis Vichidvongsa, bassist Aaron Siow, and drummer Kane Vardon.
The Chisel are an English punk rock band formed in London in 2020. Founded by former Arms Race members Nicholas Sarnella and Charlie "Chubby Charles" Manning-Walker, as well as Cal Graham, the band has released two studio albums and four EPs. Maximum Rocknroll writer Eric Anderson named them one of the leaders of "the new wave of Oi!".