Chuck by Pete Mella L2SB had a chat and a pint with garage rock maniacs Chuck.   In the last week or two, obviously on a very boring afternoon, boffins at Ordinance Survey calculated the precise patch of the British Isles that was furthest from the sea. It was a piece of land at the back of a farmhouse in Derbyshire.    This farmhouse is only a short car journey from Sheffield, a place that despite being as landlocked as a city can be, seems to have a small explosion of bands who have a distinctly surf sound to them. Chuck are one of those bands.    “I wouldn’t necessarily say we were surf,” says singer and guitarist Darren, “It’s really good music, it’s not music I could sit and listen to forever, cos after about half an hour all the songs sound the same. There are surf elements to what we do, but it’s not the only thing we do.”    “It’s cos I only know one beat and that’s surf!” says drummer Mitch.    Chuck formed in 2000, when Darren financed a home recording bonanza with a bonus from work. The fruits of this were burnt to CD and his mates, Mitch, guitarist and vocalist Rob and bassist Peter, wanted a piece of the action.    “We heard what you did and said ‘wow that’s cool’”, says Mitch, “’We need to do it! You need a band!’”    “One of the things about that very original thing Darren did, was the variety of styles on it,” says Rob, “it wasn’t just one thing.”    “It’s funny cos it’s kind of changed when the band came involved,” says Darren, “I was doing kinda dance music, I really liked Fatboy Slim at the time, so I was nicking loads of ideas like that. And then cos we got into garagey stuff and rock ‘n’ roll and stuff, our songs became more rock ‘n’ roll, and that’s how we started off.”    Darren, Peter and Mitch were previously in a band together called Sauna Suite who only played one gig, and by Darren’s admission wanted to be the new Jesus and Mary Chain. Rob had been in several “bedroom bands” with Darren, and had had been a member of Velodrome 2000.    Mitch is also a very busy drummer, he’s been in a long list of Sheffield bands (including Chicken Legs Weaver), and today also shares his stick duties with the Motherf*ckers and Texas Pete.    “They’re three different bands as far as I’m concerned,” says Mitch, “though I’d hate to do a gig with Chuck, The Mofos and Texas Pete… I’d be knackered at the end of it!”    Chuck’s signature tune, ‘No Not Ah’, will be released on blue 7” vinyl in September through the Mofo’s label Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation. It’s a tune that’s spawned a cult of spontaneous arm-waving at gigs, something that no band member can remember exactly how it started.    “’No Not Ah’ sounds great on record cos we got loads of mates in to do the arms,” says Darren.    “You can’t do the ahs without the arms,” says Mitch.    As well as this, the label’s also releasing a compilation featuring Chuck, Beachbuggy, The Mofos, Texas Pete, Special Agents, GG Action and other bands from South Yorkshires surfy garage rock scene.    “The thinking behind that was that there are a number of bands which are similarish, so put them together and present it as a whole,” says Rob.    Although surf-tinged (and Darren, Pete and Rob are actually genuine surfers in their spare time), there is a very eclectic mix of influences mixed in to the Chuck melting pot – in the course of our conversation, The Fall, Elastica, Beachbuggy, The Sonics, Sergio Leone and even Girls Aloud all get respect.     “We just jam ideas out,” says Darren, “inspiration can come out of anywhere really. Once Mitch rang me up drunk and shouted ‘Russian folk music!’ and we wrote a song in that style.    “I’ve been listening to a bit of folk music and writing stuff that’s more Eastern European or a bit Spanish. Thing is they all end up sounding the same really…”    “Like surf garage,” laughs Rob.    “Yeah,” says Darren, “Russian surf folk…”    Don’t expect the usual lyrical content from a Chuck song either…    “We like to write songs about the things we do,” says Rob, “we’ve got a bowling song, a song about playing cards…”    “I didn’t know what to write about,” says Darren, “everybody writes about relationships but I got a bit bored of all that. And I asked Peter and he said just write about what you do – like playing cards and going surfing! One of my favourite films at the time was Starship Troopers, so I wrote a song about that too.”    “Starship Troopers was a political song though, wasn’t it?,” says Peter.    “You watch what’s going on in Iraq,” explains Mitch, gravely, “it’s the same thing, except they’re bugs…”    So are Chuck likely to become a more political band?    “I think that’ll come out more as we go along,” says Darren. “One of the bands I really like is Half Man Half Biscuit, and they’re kind of more like cantankerous old men who don’t like anything… I think I can see us being like that!”    But in the meantime we can enjoy some fun-lovin’, surf-tinged, eclectic arm-waving garage mayhem.     [link] July 29, 2003 6:15pm