By Anthony Carew
Almost three years ago the Chats released the video for their song Smoko. They were a trio of teenagers from the Sunshine Coast, with a sound and spirit reminiscent of Melbourne pub rockers Cosmic Psychos.
Nothing about Smoko, that time-honoured work-break tradition, suggested imminent fame. And yet, the video went viral, found famous fans in Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and Iggy Pop and turned a band who’d never played a show into an international-touring concern. The Smoko video has been viewed nearly 10 million times.
The Chats from Queensland's Sunshine Coast went viral with their song Smoko.Credit:
“Nothing can prepare you for something like that. It’s just weird, man. I still can’t wrap my head around it,” says the Chats bass player and vocalist Eamon Sandwith, 20. “We had no managers or agents or anything and we’d get emails saying, ‘Hey, do you want to come play here in America?’ And I’d just reply saying, ‘No’. Because I thought it was just impossible. I’d just say, ‘Nah, sorry, can’t do it.’ Because I was 18. I had no idea how to even book a f--king international flight.”
The Chats came together for a school assignment with a plan to write an original song. Their composition, from guitarist Josh Price, was their original version of How Many Do You Do?
“We were the only dudes in the class doing what we were doing. Everyone else was more into soft acoustic indie stuff. I think [the teacher] was just stoked that someone was doing something different. She was, like, ‘Maybe don’t show that to any other teachers’, but otherwise was real cool about it.”
"I might have to go back and work at Coles.
Eamon Sandwith
The Chats soon went on to play house parties in exchange for beer. “My mum didn’t really like our band,” Sandwith says. “It’s not really her thing, she’s more into Coldplay or whatever. Then when the band started to do well, she got really stoked about it. Now she acts like she was a fan from the start.”
Following Smoko’s viral success, things changed quickly. Until then, Price had never been on an airplane, but before long the Chats went from playing in Brisbane to playing around the world. The biggest adjustment, Sandwith says, was learning to pace themselves, and not get drunk at the start of the night. “It was so different to suddenly have all these eyes on you when you were used to playing in a backyard for five people,” he says.
Touring overseas, they’d often find themselves explaining their lyrics to bewildered foreign listeners. “People would come up after gigs and be like, ‘What does this mean? And what does this word mean?’” Sandwith says. “It’s the slang that they just can’t google. The smoko thing is probably the biggest thing. Even when Europeans get it, they don’t really get it.”
Their debut album High Risk Behaviour has a different kind of in-joke for a title, taking its name from the fines drummer Matt Boggis would receive for skating in public places. The goal for the album was to fill it with songs that were “short and sweet, not too ‘wankery’ and straight to the point”.
High Risk Behaviour’s release was set to come before the Chats played their biggest shows, at Coachella. However, like everyone else in the music world, the band’s touring plans are on permanent hold. Faced with an uncertain future, Sandwith is wondering if he’ll need to return to a job he worked for five years, that’s suddenly in-demand, stacking supermarket shelves. “Who knows,” he says, “I might have to go back and work at Coles.”
High Risk Behaviour is out now. For touring updates, go to thechatslovebeer.com.