Chk Chk Chk (!!!) finds their focus by weathering the Strange Weather

After tragedy and loss, the band regroups for one of its best efforts yet

By Nicole Sheikh
Published: September 7th, 2010 | 2:30pm

Chk Chk Chk (!!!) has had a rough year. The dance-punk ensemble lost three members—John Pugh, Justin Van Der Volgen, and Tyler Pope—to side projects and also faced the tragic loss of former drummer Jerry Fuchs, who fell to his death down an elevator shaft in Brooklyn last November.

Now, standing as a slim six, Nic Offer, Mario Andreoni, Daniel Gorman, Allan Wilson, Paul Quattrone, and stand-in vocalist Shannon Funchess are proving to be one resilient force of nature, gearing up for an international tour and the upcoming release of their fourth album, Strange Weather Isn’t It? (Warp). In fact, they could not be more ecstatic.

“The band feels really good, everyone is excited about the record,” says Offer, sounding pretty excited himself, even moments after what seemed to be a haranguing exchange with the U.S. consulate to straighten out a nagging issue with his Japanese visa (for the sixth time this month). His enthusiasm is genuine.

Strange Weather is kind of an anomaly. The fact that, after such a rough patch, !!! managed to create their most precise and euphoric album to date is pretty impressive.

“You know, people are complex and they have all these different things in them,” Offer explains. “I was kind of surprised at some point when we realized that it was the most ecstatic pop that we have achieved. The records we make are a reflection of where we’re at. They just come out. You can’t decide whether they are happy or sad, they kind of just are.”

Having band members who are spread across the country and working on different side-projects, it’s rare that the entire group is able to sit together in the same room and jam—most of it is done over the computer these days. So, when the band found themselves together in Berlin, with exclusive access to a practice space in the basement of a rock club and able to collaborate in real time, they soaked up what they saw and heard around them and started writing what would eventually become the new album.

“Berlin was a really good starting point,” Offer states with conviction. “Ultimately it was just kind of a focus thing for the band. It made us think differently, like in the romance of a Berlin album, and how is that going to affect the sound?”

Undoubtedly, the minimal techno the band heard every night when they went out dancing had an impact on this newfound focus in their music. Throughout Strange Weather, they've stripped down the songs to the funkiest, catchiest hooks and uncluttered beats, which is evident in standout tracks like “The Most Certain Sure” and “AM/FM." They also had the help of fledgling producer Eric Broucek, former house engineer for DFA Records—the label backing such dance prodigies as LCD Soundsystem and Hercules and Love Affair—to fine-tune the final product. And while the album clearly benefited from Broucek’s refined influence, mixing the album was not an easy collaborative task. The band’s clear-driven focus and argumentative nature made the process a rather trying experience for both parties. The album’s sound, much like the band itself, had to go through an obstacle course of conflict in order to come together.

“We fought a lot,” confesses Offer, “and I think [Broucek] was kind of surprised by it. It was his first time really producing, so having a band mad at him wasn’t something he had ever experienced—but that’s just what we do! On every record, everyone takes a step back and says, ‘See, I told you so,’ or, ‘Oh, you were totally right about that.’ He got into a fight with us and it was good.”

!!! has clearly achieved a new level of maturity in their creative process and the music they put forth. From their small beginnings in Sacramento 14 years ago, to now headlining major international festivals like Fuji Rock in Japan, !!! is one American group that has the potential to influence and rectify American dance culture, much like those influential dance musicians of Berlin. So, 2010 is shaping up to be a better year after all.

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Warp Records