Australian punks The Chats unleash “Struck By Lightning,” their first new tune and video of 2022. It follows their 2020 debut album, High Risk Behaviour, “an album you can blast on the highway while going 90 or one that you can watch live and get drunk and crowd-surf to” (Consequence). “Struck By Lightning” is a fast, furious, 100-second blitz from punk heaven. It shows the Queensland trio revitalized post-pandemic and toting a ripping new guitarist, Josh Hardy. Following a Chats jam session, singer/bassist Eamon Sandwith went home and wrote a song about getting struck by lightning, like how you would feel, and what would happen. “People can’t grow their hair back and shit,” he says. “It’s weird – especially the whole no-eyebrows thing. That would be really scary! I’m really hoping that this doesn’t happen to me, now I’ve written a song about it.”
Eamon got a taste of the storm gods’ revenge in the accompanying video, directed by NAME.. It shows the band, including drummer Matt Boggis, playing in a shed, before being hit by unexpected bolts of lightning. “It’s a silly video, and I reckon I did like seven or eight takes of this stunt, where I was hoisted in the air at a fast speed, straight off my feet,” says Eamon. “That night, we were doing a show, and I had this headache. I guess the stunt work had fucked with my head, and I started throwing up while I was playing. The thing is, the crowd loved it, and they went off about me throwing up even more than they did for any song we played.”
WATCH THE CHATS’ VIDEO FOR “STRUCK BY LIGHTNING”
The Chats took lockdown as a chance to plan their next move, which is when they enlisted Hardy after the departure of their last guitarist. “He’s been a good friend of ours for years. After our old guitarist Pricey left, me and Matt had a conversation, like, ‘If we can’t get Josh, we might just not carry on.’ Luckily, he was willing to join, and we got right into it, writing songs and stuff. We were like, this is unreal – so good!” The freshly-minted line-up broke in their new recruit via a bunch of shows in Oz between lockdowns, and duly cut “Struck By Lightning.”
Next week, The Chats will kick off their UK tour. Following, they’ll bring their live show across North America, where they will play some cities for the first time ever. Then, they’ll continue their tour in Europe. A full list of dates can be found below.
THE CHATS TOUR DATES
Mon. Apr. 25 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace
Tue. Apr. 26 – Houston, TX @ The Bronze Peacock at House of Blues
Wed. Apr. 27 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s Austin
Thu. Apr. 28 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues – Cambridge Room
Sat. Apr. 30 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East
Sun. May 1 – Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
Tue. May 3 – Columbia, SC @ The Senate
Wed. May 4 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage
Thu. May 5 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Fri. May 6 – Warrendale, PA @ Jergel’s Rhythm Grille
Sat. May 7 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
Sun. May 8 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry @ The Fillmore – SOLD OUT
Tue. May 10 – Montreal, QC @ Foufounes Électriques
Wed. May 11 – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground – SOLD OUT
Thu. May 12 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop – SOLD OUT
Fri. May 13 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
Sat. May 14 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
Sun. May 15 – St. Paul, MN @ Amsterdam Bar & Hall – SOLD OUT
Tue. May 17 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
Wed. May 18 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
Fri. May 20 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre – SOLD OUT
Sun. May 22 – Daytona Beach, FL @ Welcome to Rockville 2022
Wed. May 25 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon – SOLD OUT
Thu. May 26 – Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
Fri. May 27 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre – SOLD OUT
Mon. Jun. 27 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
Tue. Jun. 28 – Brussels, BE @ La Botanique
Fri. Jul. 1 – Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter 2022
Mon. Jul. 4 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
Tue. Jul. 5 – Berlin, DE @ SO36
Wed. Jul. 6 – Hamburg, DE @ Moltow Backyard
Thu. Jul. 7 – Cologne, DE @ Gebäude
Fri. Jul. 22 – Adelaide, AU @ Adelaide Showground
Fri. Jul. 29 – Luxembourg, LU @ Rotondes
Sat. Oct. 8 – Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]