They didn’t necessarily seem like a band with a broad international appeal, but that all changed a little over two years ago when they filmed and uploaded a video for the song Smoko, a paean to the great Aussie labour tradition of the cigarette break. The hilarious homemade clip cost them just $4 – the cost of the sausage roll that Josh eats in the video – but it went viral overnight, racking up a million views by the time they checked back in on it the next morning.
This led to Australian tours with Queens Of The Stone Age and Iggy Pop, followed by their first forays overseas. This included one particularly memorable aftershow in LA when they toured the U.S. for the first time.
“We texted Josh [Homme] and said, ‘Hey, we’re playing in LA if you want to come down to the show,’” Josh says. “He said, ‘Put me down for plus four’ and we thought he might have been bringing his family. I walked out of the green room and there was Josh with Dave Grohl and the guys from the Arctic Monkeys. Dave called me by my nickname, ‘Pricey’, and I gave him a hug. It was pretty surreal!”
Since then the trio have also battered the UK, playing“stupidly big and mad” sets at Reading and Leeds, and more recently, a lengthy sold-out tour that ended at London’s O2 Forum a couple of weeks ago.
So what’s the appeal and why are people across the globe latching on to The Chats’ decidedly Aussie fare?
“I think it’s because we’re so blatantly Australian,” he reckons. “We’re not trying to be anything else. We’re just being ourselves and I think that’s what people like about us. There are some cultural similarities, especially in places like the UK and we’re singing about everyday things. Even if the slang’s different, it’s the stuff that no-one talks about, but everybody does. And I think a lot of people can relate to that.”
The Chats' debut album High Risk Behaviour will be released on March 27 via Bargain Bin Records/Cooking Vinyl Australia.