WELCOME TO THE FAMILY
The Chapman Family played their first gig on May 5th 2006 and have been preaching their own particular brand of family values up and down the country ever since. They've played over 200 gigs and supported the likes of 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Reverend and the Makers on the way.
Also in this time they have appeared on compilation CDs for Dance To The Radio, Artrocker Unsigned, NARC Magazine and Firestation Records in Germany as well as getting played on local, national, international and British Armed Forces radio and getting featured in Artrocker and the NME, and chatting to living legend Steve Lamacq live on air on BBC6 Music.
This was all done without any management, agents or promotional team. It was done with a Citeron Estate, a Nissan Primera, numerous broken guitar strings, two damaged or destroyed electric guitars, three destroyed bass guitars, four damaged or destroyed bass players, two battered drum kits, two bass amps damaged beyond repair, two damaged guitar amps that undergone repair (one with its frequency settings permanently destroyed), one glittery dress, fifteen black shirts, five black ties and a stereotypical northern working class work ethic.
The Chapman Family released a limited edition single in October 2007 on 7" pink vinyl, each numbered with a hand painted sleeve. It's called "You Are Not Me" and is a double-A side with "You Think You're Funny" (the song that was featured on the Dance To The Radio compilation "Out of the Woods and Trees").
Buy the iTunes download CLICK HERE
Or buy the pink vinyl version from one of these establishments :
NORMAN RECORDS , ROUGH TRADE RECORDS , DON'T TELL CLARE , ARCH RECORDS (JAPAN) , JETSET (JAPAN)
If you want to contact the band to offer The Chapman Family a gig or to discuss life after death or something please contact [email protected]
Kingsley and Paul also put their own gigs on where they get bands they like to play in various venues and locations around Teesside. The emphasis and booking criteria isn't necessarily on musical ability and excellence, it's on ideas, originality and artistic freedom. The ability to play using the cheapest of PA equipment is also a bonus. For more information on these gigs or if you would like to submit a demo please go to The End of The World .
If you are interested in other Teesside bands that The Chapman Family are good friends with try listening to Dirty Weekend (who started gigging around the same time as The Chapman Family and both bands will often be found drunk together in Kubar), Das Wanderlust (Phil Chapman not only was a stand in drummer for DW at one point but has also produced their two most recent singles), The Town of 1770 , Idiot Savant (the second most miserable band in Teesside), The Felons , Hell on High Heels , The Oxfam Glamour Models (the greatest band ever from Stockton), Lifeless , Middlesbrough's most exciting new band Mathematical Lovequest , and Darlington's finest We Start Fires . There are many, many more - Teesside is having something of a band explosion at the moment.
Bands who The Chapman Family are indebted to from slightly further afield include The Small Screen Light Show , Razmataz Lorry Exctiement , White Light Parade , Captain Phoenix and The Night Terrors .
THE THINGS PEOPLE SAY
'Venomous and visceral they rupture into a set of dark vivacious rock...theatrical and terrifying performance hypnotizes...a thunderous racket. Unhinged and confrontational...frightening the audience. The Chapman Family are the real thing.' Artrocker review of Camden Crawl performance, May 08
'Heads down snarling gonzo rock n roll...see them immediately' The Fly Magazine, February 08
'...quite excellent Stockton-on-Tees four-piece The Chapman Family. Think Futureheads or original post-punkers Wire or Gang of Four...raucous, crotchety, call-to-arms guitar pop. A pleasant interlude.' gigwise.com review of our performance at the Camden Crawl, April 2008
'There's a time and a place for this kind of brash showmanship but it's not here, and it's not now' Leeds Music Scene, February 08
'There are gems within, one such nugget is The Chapman Family, who continue where the Futureheads seems to have left off' Artrocker review of Dance To The Radio Compilation, October 07
'The worst band I have ever seen...an abomination' Unnameable internet forum, November 07
'Pulsatingly brilliant grit-pop...wildly entertaining, sharp as a razor, sublimely brilliant and, well, strange.' NARC Magazine, December 07
'With a level of energy rarely seen anywhere at half one on a sunday afternoon they chuck out fast, furious slithers of window-rattling post-punk...darkened further by assertive halfway-to-goth vocals and a clamouring mass of hardcore drums.' Manchester Music review of In The City performance, October 07
'The Chapman Family are mint - they look good, they sound awesome, they've got something to say and they say it well. What more do you want?' NARC Magazine, July 06
'The first band come on and I'm intrigued. And then I'm more than intrigued, I'm absolutley loving it. The Chapman Family pull off the feat of making a bottom of the bill appearance look like the main event.' Artrocker review of debut London performance, December 06
'Ballsy opener 'You Do Something' is high speed jitter-pop destined to get every discerning indie kid shaking their denim clad hips...'Kids' is a swaggering new-wave call to arms, proving to be absorbing, alluring and completely contagious.' NME, February 07
'They may want you to change your surname to Chapman but they're not a cult. Or are they? The jury's out on that one, but what they do best is squeeze out nuggetts of jittery pop that never fails to satisfy.' The Crack Magazine, April 07
'Destined for greatness.' NME, April 07
'Gash.' Dognoise, July 06
'...the north's best kept secret, this Teesside four-piece are a welcome distraction from all the nu-rave/faux-cockney pretenders that seem to be flooding the scene of late...a cocoon of maudlin genius waiting to explode, definately a band to watch out for.' High Voltage, January 07
'It's a brutally hard noise...what strikes is the sheer momentum that the Chapmans generate. They motor along in a blur of anger.' Artrocker, March 07
WE LOVE YOU ALL
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