Hi there!
We have swallowed the lump, taken the jump!
This is Dom, Nash, Dicko, Tobias, Moz and Hils - The Chinchilla Collective . We are a group of friends who met nearly ten years ago in and around Hyde Park/LS6, Leeds. For the last eight years we have been FUN-ctioning as a DIY gig promoter, an independent record label, and an old-school 'at-gigs-only' distribution of other approximately like-minded labels and bands. We have also been known to help arrange a few tours here and there, and have some backline available to hire for tours. We are also musicians; artists of various proficiency and skill-base (fonts, drawing, sewing, screen printing, website design, gif animation, etc); a touring machine; sound engineer; professional plasterer; drum teacher; and Doctor of Bio-Mechanical Science. Above and beyond all that, we are motivated by having fun whilst operating outside corporate society in a fair, honest, creative manner not dictated by finance, fashion or faux-pas.
Download a pile of chinchilla-related songs, including all of our first two chinchillafest compilations from our LASTFM page: www.lastfm.com/label/CHINCHILLA-TONE
*** *** FORTHCOMING CHINCHILLA GIGS! *** ***We (ahem, sometimes) try to keep the listings here up to date with details of gigs involving all the Chinchilla related bands, but that's proving to be not overly efficient. Therefore we reccommend visiting the individual band pages for the accurate gig informations. Ta.
COWTOWN are currently on tour with INDICA RITUAL from Liverpool. Both bands are right on hot to trot. You should go see them and shake yr rumps.
CHOPS and TWO MINUTE NOODLES are about to embark on a brief euro tour from 20-27th September, including an appearance at ZXZW Independent Culture festival (with the likes of Sun Ra's Arkestra, Pelican, Gay Against You, Talibam!, and bucket loads more - see zxzw.nl for more details).
*** *** NEWS! *** ***a.P.A.t.T. on TV! 'Massive' is a brand new comedy series on BBC Three, starting Sunday 14 September. a.P.A.t.T. play a hapless band who sure can play but are just too odd for mass consumption...Ring any bells!? ... Ralf Little's character describes the band as "Shit". Massive is stars Ralf Little (Two Pints Of Lager, The Royle Family), Carl Rice (Scallywagga) and Johnny Vegas (Ideal, Benidorm).
Danny (Ralf Little) and Seamus (Carl Rice) bonded over Oasis in '94 and have been best mates ever since. Both Manchester born-and-bred, both mid-twenties and both temping in dead-end jobs, they're united by one all-consuming passion: music. Inspired by the city's local heroes – Tony Wilson, Joy Division, The Happy Mondays – the lads wile away the dreary office hours dreaming of their own record label. Shay wants Marple six-piece, The Lamps (played by a.P.A.t.T.), to be Shady Music's first signing. Danny has other ideas; the band perform in masks and write songs about Jeremy Paxman – they're never going to sell any records. When Danny refuses to audition the band, Shay threatens to quit the label. He won't work with someone who cares more about money than art. Danny relents and The Lamps enter into a fierce Battle of the Bands with HearKittyKitty.
COWTOWN have just been added to the Julie Tippex Booking roster! Joe from Gay Against You will be booking their gigs from now on, so please contact him if you would like Cowtown to play in your town:
[email protected] .... The Julie Tippex Roster includes the likes of Agaskodo Teliverek, Blurt, Bush Tetras, James Chance & Les Contortions, The Chap, Faust, Gay Against You, Felix Kubin, Old Time Relijun, Pram, So So Modern, Young Marble Giants and Zombie Zombie.
New songs up for your ears! 'OSPYLAC EMIT' by CHOPS is track 2 of 8 from their forthcoming split 12" with Helheston on purple and white splatter vinyl, released by Upset The Rhythm in August 2008. In the mean time, we recommend that you take time to listen to other UTR releases such as BARR, Death Sentence: Panda!, Eequilax, Gowns, Hands On Heads, High Places, KIT, Leopard Leg, Lucky Dragons, John Maus, No Age, Numbers, Softboiled Eggies, Soiled Mattress & The Springs, The Sticks, T.I.T.S., Trencher, and Yikes.
'You Have Got Arms' by Beards is a track from their recent self-released CDR, available from the band or the Chinchilla distro at gigs.
Keep an eye out for some rotating Bilge Pump tribute tracks by Printed Circuit, Beards, Cowtown, Lords, Monster Killed By Laser, Mucky Sailor, Two Minute Noodles and Pifco from the recent chinchillafest cdr compilation 'Christ! This wine is agreeable.' Bilge Pump have copies to sell at their gigs, and it's also available in the Chinchilla distro for three english pounds (artwork scan coming soon...).
Sincere thanks to everyone that assisted, performed, and attended Chinchillafest 6! The weekend was a success!! With a bunch of touring bands from overseas, our costs were higher than usual, but we met all the guarantees and everyone was fully fed and well watered! We're pretty sure everyone had a good weekend, if a little body-punishing! Resting on no laurels, our thoughts are already turning to December - planning for the second one day Babichin. We're thinking that this time around Babichin is going to focus on stuff at the heavier end of the spectrum! Oh, and just before Chinchillafest, the Cops & Robbers podcast Chinchillafest special with Circuit, Dicko, DRC, Hilary and Jon Nash was broadcast. There is an interview with Beards, and tracks by quite a lot of bands who played Chinchillafest and at other gigs in Leeds in May: Gay Against You, Broken Arm, New Bloods, Eats Tapes, Monster Killed By Laser, Pifco, a.p.a.t.t, Quack Quack, Ghost Fleet, Fangs, Melt Banana, Printed Circuit and Beards; this is your first chance to hear some of the Bilge Pump covers from the Chinchilla CD, and also a brand new Quack Quack song ::: Cops & Robbers Podcast 3 - Chinchillafest special . If you subscribe in iTunes you’ll automatically get future episodes downloaded to your PC when they are available. If you have an iPod, they’ll get transferred onto it automagically... Cops & Robbers Podcast @ ITunes .
We've been invited to take part in two different exhibitions in September 2008!
In collaboration with the new Leeds Museum opening later this year, The Art Library at Leeds Central Library is hosting an exhibition based on different groups involved with music in Leeds, such as Manifesta, ClothCat, etc. More info about the exhibition coming soon, though we can say that our space will be based around the set design we created for Chinchillafest 6.
We will also be showing a selection of original record sleeve and poster artworks at the "DONALD TRUMP AND THE PLANETS FEAT. ROMAN ALASKA WORLD ENTERPRISES" exhibition, opening at The 42 New Briggate Gallery in Leeds on Stember 6th. The exhibition is a DIY blockbuster, based on a shop front inside the gallery displaying homemade bric a brac (this is collectively all the artwork, side projects, films, inventions, artist designed products and so forth which have been made by the many creative communities of the worldwide DIY scenes). All this surrounded by hundreds of portraits of Donald Trump! To find out how Donald Trump and the Planets fit in, visit the myspace site and blog of Roman Alaska World Enterprises . The exhibition will run for two weeks, featuring an opening all-day spectacular event at the 42 New Briggate Gallery and a gig at the Brudenell Social Club on 7th September Leeds (line-up: The Pilgrim Fathers, Wet Dog, Private Trousers, Captain Blood Blood and The Seadogs).
There's a blog on the GUARDIAN UNLIMITED site (November 2007) which lists Chinchilla , CHOPS and Quack Quack as well as our friends Upset The Rhythm Records , Leopard Leg and Birds of Delay as the UK's "new sonic pioneers". We don't particularly agree with most of the article, and we think there's a great deal more brilliant UK bands than those mentioned, but that's not to say we're not grateful for the appreciation from someone we don't know, because we very much are. In a similar vein, Beards were recognised by Plan B Magazine as 'one of the best support bands of 2007'.
*** *** CHINCHILLA-TONE RELEASES *** ***In the pipeline:
CLECKHUDDERSFAX CD
a.P.A.t.T. CD/LP
---CTR004; COWTOWN - PINE-CONE EXPRESS CD - £5 (plus p&p)
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A relentlessly refreshing sugar-soaked high" (7/10 - Drowned In Sound)
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What a debut! Super-fun synth-driven mayhem bringing to mind a more shouty Plastics or a crazier Hot Chip. This is excellent and catchy stuff. Recommended!" (Jumbo Records)
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Deliciously catastrophic and shambolic, listening to 'Pine-cone Express' is like walking through a TV theme tune with Urusei Yatsura jamming along and Mark E Smith hurling abuse from the sidelines. If there was a competition for The Band Who Sounds Like They're Having The Most Fun Without Uttering A Word, COWTOWN would reign supreme. Or more, likely, they'd come second and still be laughing. The real secret, though, is that underneath the matching knitwear and fuck-fi recording techniques, these skronky keyboards contain the catchiest, danceable-est 30-second anthems this side of Kraftwerk and that side of the Crazy Frog." (Contact Music)
The first Cowtown album is ready for your listening pleasure! 12 tracks of total party fun, mostly instrumental stuff, plus a taster of the Cowtown to come, with Steevsie vocalising a song. Chinchilla-Tone released the CD, and Golden Lab Records will be releasing the vinyl version of the album in 2008. On The Bone Records are co-ordinating mp3 downloads. Artwork by Dave Bailey: secret dogs with cocks, ostriches with ying yang eyes - y'know, s'nice. There's an ever growing stack of reviews (Drowned In Sound, Subba Cultcha, Contact Music, etc) which you can read on the Chinchilla Info Page . A track from PINE-CONE EXPRESS, I'm In Your House (Part Two), was played on Huw Stephens' BBC Radio One show on 21st November, because On The Bone were chosen as his DIY Label Of The Week. Huw also played the new single by our pals That Fucking Tank on the same show. GET IN TOUCH WITH US FOR A COPY OF PINE-CONE EXPRESS, £6 + P&P. You can also buy the album in real-life and online shops such as Rough Trade (London), Out Of Step (Leeds), Jumbo (Leeds), Crash (Leeds), Monorail (Glasgow), Norman Records and Selectadisc (Nottingham).
---CTR003; PIFCO - CASSETTE - £2.50 (plus p&p)
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Available on cassette only, in a handmade, handscreened cardboard box. Yeah. Your MP3s probably sound like shit anyway. Pifco are a Northern guitar'n'drums duo who embrace the no-fi clatter; this compiles demo recordings and rubs its magnet on The Fall, long-gone Nineties blooz scum Doo Rag and Bristol champ Steveless" (Plan B mag).
The slackest and most prolonged project of Chinchilla to date! PIFCO handed us two cassettes containing no fewer than 47 songs, weighing in at just under 180 minutes of music! Together we picked out the best bits, and after a year of delays with pressing plants going AWOL, Pifco recorded some newer songs which were added to the release. Your ears will be excited! And so will your eyes, because Ste lovingly printed on 500 hand-made cardboard boxes! Email us or see us at gigs to buy one, £2.50 plus postage where necessary. Oh, and as you'll have just noticed, there was a review of the tape in the August 2007 issue of PLAN B.
---GET CIVILISED; Chinchillafest 5 Compilation - £2 (plus p&p)
Featuring a.P.A.t.T. , Brown Owl , Humanfly , Kling Klang , Pifco , Cowtown , Chronicity , CHOPS , Sense Or This? , Dawn Chorus , Inecto School , Tigers!
---CTR002; THE DRAGON RAPIDE - II CD/LP - £7/£8 (plus p&p)
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Leeds post-math perfectionists THE DRAGON RAPIDE have their lushly packaged 2nd studio collection now up for grabs. This is joyous & fizzy, uncompromising, optimistic, widdly, wobbly, kaleidoscopic & heart warming stuff. There's elements of free jazz & world music here & there but all in all no threat of Andy Kershaw coming round your house to chew your ear off with that worthy accent. So think maybe a friskier, dizzier Tortoise jamming with small slices of Sea & Cake, Him, hints of Mice Parade & Five Style. Very intricate & clever stuff indeed.". (Norman Records)
---REAL CIVILISED; Chinchillafest 3 Compilation - sold out
Featuring TIGERS! , Trencher , Cowtown , Printed Circuit , Quack Quack , The Dragon Rapide , Line , Our Beautiful Ridiculous Plan, Sense Or This? , Monster Killed By Laser , Polaris , The Ik Jan Cremers , The Rest , Twinkie , Soeza , David Thomas Broughton , Pifco , McWatt , Lords , Brown Owl
---CTR001; TIGERS! - TIGERS! 7" - Sold Out!
"Wild guitar heroics like a cross between Fugazi, 80's British underground bands like Bogshed, and the experimental hardcore of Gay For Johnny Depp or Mukilteo Fairies. Uncompromising underground punk rock! Skewed!" (Jumbo Records)
*** *** FURTHER INFORMATION *** ***www.chinchillaweb.co.uk
Links to MP3s, videos, photos, reviews (etc) for all the bands can be found here: www.chinchillaweb.co.uk/information Download a pile of chinchilla-related songs, including all of our first two chinchillafest compilations from our LASTFM page: www.lastfm.com/label/CHINCHILLA-TONE
