Why Australian punk rockers The Chats bring extra undies on tour

Arguably Australia’s best export since Hugh Jackman, The Chats’ music punches the listener in the face while tickling their funny bone. Fans of big, charming punk rock music played with Ramones-esque precision will dig these dudes. If you’re not on board the Chats bandwagon, it’s time to hop on, friend.

You'll have a chance when they perform at The Nile Theatre in Mesa on Monday. You won’t be disappointed.

The Chats are one of the most powerful three-piece bands going right now. Bassist/lead vocalist Eamon Sandwith leads the way, but guitarist Josh Hardy and drummer Matt Boggis are forces to be reckoned with as well. The trio, who are named for Australian slang that means "disgusting" or "bad" as in, “that’s chat,” had humble beginnings before a viral video introduced them to the world.

“We formed as a four-piece in high school. (We) kind of just played parties for a year or so and worked on our music. It was all just for fun, and we never really wanted to be a proper band. We just wanted to get wasted and have fun. After school [was out], we made the ‘Smoko’ video in 2017 and it went viral. We started getting noticed after that,” Sandwith says.

“Smoko” is from The Chats’ 2017 EP, "Get This in Ya," and the song is instantly infectious. Most listeners can identify with Sandwith’s plaintive request for a little time and space while on a short smoke break, or, in Australian, his “smoko,” and the riff itself is something of a punk rock earworm. It’s pretty easy to chant along with the chorus: “I’m on smoko, so leave me alone / I’m on smoko, so leave me alone!”

It’s possible, though, that “Smoko” isn’t even the best song on "Get This in Ya." “Bus Money” is a fun little romp, for example, about scrounging for a little extra money after making some questionable choices, and “How Many Do You Do” is another slice of punk rock prowess with hints of Dead Kennedys influence wafting in the mix. It's clear when listening to the seven-song affair (which clocks in around 15 minutes total) that The Chats are not fucking around.

The band has been touring incessantly for the past few years and the lessons of the road are not lost on Sandwith.

“It’s very important, even if you think you’ve got enough pairs of undies, to pack two or three more than you think you need. You never know. It’s really just a day-to-day thing. There’s times on the road when you when you don’t want to be there, you’d rather be at home, and you start taking out your grievances on people, but we’re figuring it out. We were a little clueless, at first, but I feel like we’ve clued onto it a bit more to kind of get it down,” he says.

The bass-playing singer went on to talk about how the members of Australian punk legends, Cosmic Psychos, who they will share the stage with at The Nile, have really been a great support and inspiration for them.

“They took us on our first tour of Australia. They were kind of guiding us through the hangovers and giving us gentle reminders here and there. Things like, ‘You need to get on stage at the time we told you’ and shit like that, but in a really considerate manner, not like a fucking rock star. I kind of see them as like father figures, you know, since I have known them since I was 18,” Sandwith says.

Sandwith is hopeful the band can record a follow-up to 2022’s "Get Fucked" when they take a break from the road in 2024. The road chops the band have developed with all the touring are top-notch, and The Chats are one of the most fun and rockin’ live bands around right now, but they do need to pump out another great record. The challenge is finding time to write new music.

“We’ve made a commitment to really knuckle down next year and record another record. Whether or not it will come out next year is up to the rock gods, I suppose. COVID was great for us, and I know that sounds fucking stupid to say, but we kind of looked at it as a glass-is-half-full kind of thing. It allowed us to record. We’ve been so busy since that we haven’t been able to get back in a room and jam, but next year we will slow down a bit with the shows,” he says.

Luckily, they aren’t slowing down just yet and if the current selection of Chats recordings tells us anything, the songs aren’t going to get any slower any time soon, either.

The Chats. With Cosmic Psychos, The Schizophonics and Gymshorts. Doors at 6 p.m., show at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 30. The Nile Theater is located at 105 W. Main St., Mesa. Tickets are $25 plus fees and are available here.