The
Chevelles are a great big garage POWER POP band with loads of guitar
action and heaps of soaring harmonies. From day one the critics have raved and
the kids of the confection generation have danced and screamed... from their
hometown of Perth right across to Europe, USA and South America.
In 1992 their debut
Album ÒKids AinÕt HipÓ heralded the arrival of a new power pop force in
Australia. With blistering guitars, soaring harmonies and a kick ass live show
the band has blazed a significant musical trail over the last 16 years in many
corners of the world.
The Chevelles have
played over 1000 live shows, extensively toured Australia and the US, Brazil
and Europe over a dozen times in their career.É.playing in small sweaty rooms
and the massive outdoor stadium concerts. They have released over 20 recordings
including 5 full length albums and 2 Òbest ofÓ compilations. The Chevelles have
sold over 80, 000 records !
Over
the past 16 years the bandÕs albums have featured prominently in many rock
radio/TV playlists all across Europe, the US, Japan and Brazil. In France,
"Gigantic" (1995) spent two months on the Rock 30 Radio Chart,
entering at No 3. along side such luminaries as Sugar, Suede and Aerosmith.
ÒRollerball
CandyÓ followed in (1999) then ÒGirl GodÓ (2003) has seen the bands popularity
spread even further through the US and South America and sparked great interest
in new markets such as Japan and USA. The ink has just dried on a worldwide
recording and publishing contract signing to Little StevenÕs Wicked Cool Record
Company.
What The Chevelles
have, is the ability to pen huge head shakin' power pop tunes that lesser bands
would kill for. Add to that, a multitude of loyal pop fans, releases all over
the world and a live show that can "maul just about anyone on a good
night", and what you have is the band that is deemed "most likely to break out of the
underground".
2008 will see the
release of the anthology ÒIntroducing- The ChevellesÓ and the killer 6th album,
ÒAcceleratorÓ through Wicked Cool Records. The Chevelles have always and will continue to BLAZE on
through the landscape of the worlds musical wilderness. So start your engines,
drop into the fast lane and Shake It Baby, Shake it !!!!!!!!
Some words from the press across the planetÉÉÉ
" This is Pop
like God ( or at least Cyril Jordan ) intended." - Juke Magazine
" Watch out, The
Chevelles could be the next Hoodoo Gurus" - Rolling Stone
"Deliciously sugary three and a half minute pop songs"
- The West Australian
"Perth Indie Pop
Legends" - On The
Street Magazine
"Crafted Melodic
Pop Gems that can be reined in if needed be and then let out onto the open road
with the crank of the amplifier volume dial." - Juke Magazine
"Hooks aplenty
and loads of blazing guitars" -
Bucketful of Brains , England
"Red Hot Power
Pop with plenty of Zap to it"
- Noise For Heroes, U.S.A.
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT:
www.thechevelles.com
or myspace.com/thechevelles
DISCOGRAPHY
This discography lists albums, singles, EP's, then tracks on
compilation albums.
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2002 Girl God (Zip Records) |
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2002 Sunseeker (Bittersweet Records) |
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2001 Delirium
(Tronador) Released in
Brazil Valentine*/
Another Girl*/ Girl for me*/ 8675309`/ Katherine*/ On My Mind^/ memories*/
Murder her mind*/ She's not around^/ Can't Pretend*/ promise^/ Mesmerized*/
Time Machine*/ Starlet*/ My Kind^/ For your love`/ Show me your love*/
Rollerball Candy*/ Out of my mind`/ Delirium |
|
|
1998 At Second
Glance (Not Lame / Spinning Top) Top009 (CD) Released in
Australia/USA She's not
around^/ Murder on her Mind*/ Valentine*/ Something^/ Show me your Love*/
Mesmerized*/ No need to say^/ Can't Pretend*/ Fall^/ Dissolved^/ Starlet*/ On
my mind^/ Over* |
|
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1995 Rollerball
Candy (Running Circle) Run007 (LP/CD) Released in
Spain Shes not
around^/ Mesmerized*/ Rollerball Candy*/ Something^/ Playground*/ 8675309`/
No need to say^/ Time machine*/ Us^/ Phenobarbitual Love*/ For your Love`/
Fall^/ Starlet*/ Gold Trans-Am*/ Delerium* |
|
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1993 In the
Zero Hour (Munster) MR028 Released in
Spain Be My
Friend#/ She Don't Come Around*/ Show me your Love*/ Tracie Lee#/ First
Time*/ Hold On#/ The Kids Aint Hip!#/ Deceivin*/ Run & Hide#/ Elroy#/
Find My Way Out#/ Can't Stop#/ Red Dress# |
|
|
1993 Gigantic
(Survival) SUR 526 CD (LP/CD) Released in
Australia/EEC Memories*/
Murder on her Mind*/ Girl for Me*/ Understand ^/ Valentine*/ Dreaming^/
Blind*/ Another Girl*/ Promise^/ Over* |
|
|
1992 The Kids Ain't Hip (Survival/Zero Hour)
Sur 519 CD (LP/CD) Released in
Australia/EEC Show me your
love*/ Tracie Lee#/ First Time*/ Hold On/Deceivin*/ Run and Hide#/ Elroy#/
The Kids Aint Hip#/ Be My Friend#/ She Don't Come Around* |
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|
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2001 C'Mon
Everybody^ / Angelina Jolie* / Sleeper * (Zip) ZIPAUST009 CDS |
|
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1992 Murder on Her Mind*/Can't Pretend* (Survival)
Sur 708 CDS |
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1992 Girl For Me*/ Valentine*/ On my Mind^
(Survival) Sur 704 CDS |
|
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|
|
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2000 Sunbleached
(Zip / Spinning Top) Top013 CDEP Released in
USA/Australia Stardust*/
Time and Time^/ Bloodlust*/ Sonic^/ Lost in Love` |
|
|
1998 Mesmerized (Hellfire Club) HFC002 7"EP Released in
France Mesmerised*/
Rollerball Candy*/ Delirium/ Out of my Mind` |
|
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1993 Memories
(Survival) CDEP Released in
Australia and Germany Memories*/
Dissolved^/ Show me Your Love*/ Out of my mind ` |
|
|
1991 The Kids
Ain't Hip! (Zero Hour) Zero 401 12" Released in
Australia Show me your
love*/ Tracie Lee#/ First Time*/ Hold On#/ The Kids Ain't Hip# |
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1991 This Aint
the Plimsouls (Zero Hour) Zero 1000 CD 1991 The
Singer not the Song (Munster) 1995 Australian
Power Pop (Bam Balam) 002 CD 1996 Pop On Top
(Bomp) 044 CD 1998 Spin Me
Pop (Spinning Top) Top010 CD 1998 Pop Under
the Surface Volume 2 (Yesterday Girl) 002 CD 1999 Beat Party
(1 + 2 Records) 1+2 CD 120 2000 Popgun
2000 (Screaming Apple) CD "From
out of Nowhere 2" album released by Survival Records in Europe. |
|
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1990 -
1992 In Our Lives
(Tommy Keene) , Her Comes your Man (The Hairs), Looking for Lewis and Clark
(Longryders), Can't Resist/ Can't Turn the Clock Back/ The Otherside (The
Stems), My Generation (The WHO), 1993 -
2001 Without You/
I'm in Love (Diehards), Behind the Wall of Sleep (Smithereens), Modern Girl
(James Freud and the Radio Stars), Jessies Girl (Rick Springfield), |
|
|
|
|
|
Richard
Lane 1992 The
Rosebuds Get it Out of
Your System/ That's No Lie 7inch (Rubber) Australia 1992 The
Rosebuds Playing the
Passion Revue CDEP (Rubber 021) Australia Honey Your My
One#/ Lonely for You#/ Sarah#/ Red Dress#/ Get it out of your system# Duane
Smith 1998 Rollercoaster Split EP with
Challenger 7 (Hellfire Club HFC7004) France Smith's
tracks - Kylie*/ Six Million Dollar Man* 1999 Rollercoaster Self Titled
CD (Snap Fun006) Spain Smiths Tracks
Flowers for Kylie*/Six Million Dollar Man*/Use me*/All She Wants*/I wanna
know* * Principal
Songwriter - Duane Smith |
REVIEWS
THE
CHEVELLES - GIRL GOD - ZIP Records
Third full length album from the Perth - Australia power poppers. Already
receiving raves in the USA and Japan, The Chevelles would do wonders for Radio
1 if given the chance. At their best they are a cross between early Ramones and
Redd Kross, which is enough to forgive weaker moments that sound like Teenage
Fanclub rehearsing the theme from Friends over and over. The opening song Every
Moment states the template: catchy melody, great guitar riffs and big unison
chorus, while Girl God sounds good enough to be a outtake from 70's power-pop
stalwarts The Raspberries. Better still is their original C'mon Everybody, a
true party anthem made for MTV, or the rocker Angelina Joie, both mixed
perfectly for summer radio by Redd Kross's Steve McDonald. Living proof that two
guitars, bass and drums can still sound inspirational. Q Magazine -
September 2002.
Q4music.com/archives
THE
CHEVELLES
Girl God (Zip records/MGM distribution)
If
another band is currently passing as the kings of power pop, then they
are usurpers; pretenders to the throne. The Chevelles are the once and
future kings, and with Girl God they return to reclaim the crown that they
last held with their Sunbleached EP (2000). The band has perfected the knack of
producing crisp, shiny three-minute blasts of summery pop. Their track record
is so strong that they could almost have refined the process down to a precise
formula except for the fact that there¹s nothing formulaic about
their songs.
The songwriting duties alternate song to song between guitarists Duane Smith
and Adrian Allen, with each penning roughly half the album. Their styles are
very complementary, to the point where it's nigh impossible to generalise
about the finer points of one in relation to the other.
The anthemic
C¹mon Everybody is a nostalgic tribute to the Sunnyboys,
wrapped up in a tight package of ringing guitars, melody, and nice vocal
harmonies. It¹s guaranteed to ignite a spark in the heart of pop-lovers of
all ages, even those who wouldn¹'t know the
Sunnyboys from a bar of soap
(cough, cough). With a classically simple chorus (it basically just repeats
the title of the song), it¹s hard to pass up. Angelina Jolie good
god! Does it rock! If only the weird-lipped Hollywood star of the title had
heard this plea to "Angelina be mine" before she married Billy Bob
ThorntonS well, she probably still would have married him. But it would have
been even more inexplicable than it already was. The explosive Madeleine is
another winner. If it wasn't for the angelic vocals, it would probably be classified
as hard rock (you want guitar solos? You got it, bud!). But it¹s not all
pop on overdrive. Round And Round and Here She Comes bring the tempo down a
notch, while Supernova is (in contrast to its name) a mellow number. The
Chevelles¹ sound has a lineage that can be traced all the way back to The
Beach Boys. There ain't a dud song here, and while in general they all mine
similar territory, there¹s sufficient variation to keep this reviewer
happy. For a taster, I recommend C¹mon Everybody, the majestic Goodbye
Sally, Every Moment and First Time Last Time. Follow this dosage with the
entire album. This is an essential addition to any self-respecting guitar-pop
fan's collection.
Owen
Heitmann
rip It Up (South Australian Street press) Aug 2003
http://www.ripitup.com.au/archives
BEAT
MAGAZINE – Melbourne Aug 2003
http://www.beat.com.au
The Chevelles Girl God
CD review by Kerrie Hickin
It's a bit of a Trojan horse, this CD. It seems simple enough, but in fact is a
vehicle for sneaky songs to get into your brain and start taking over. It's no
secret that I'm a total sucker for well-crafted powerpop songs. And it'd be a
pretty good bet that something like this would be right up my proverbial alley
it's got all the trademarks: summer-y melodic hooks, guitars with power without
being overpowering, classic 60s/70s pop references, heck, even cute graphics.
And the band is from the musical Galapagos Islands that is Perth. The good
folks at Zip Records know how to sniff out the best powerpop. This one is a
little bit Raspberries, a little bit Flamin' Groovies, and a lot of that
indefinable something-in-the-water-besides-sharks 'Perth sound'. With two
songwriters in the band, the songs are joyous bursts of happy-powder even
the sad one and any one of them could stand alone. As it turns out my
fave tracks are Angelina Jolie and the single C'mon Everybody (about sneaking
in to a Sunnyboys gig, no less) both mixed by Redd Kross groovy guru Steve
McDonald, with Sydney pop supremo Michael Carpenter lending his mixing talents
to some of the other tracks. Just why this sort of accessible quality music
doesn't get the wider audience it deserves continues to be a perplexing mystery
to me. It's catchy as all get-up and easy to fall in love with. It's just as
the guys sing, 'can't you see it's a passion of mine', and it could be yours
too. Take a chance. (And I'm still waiting for that east-coast tour, fellas!)
Xpress
Aust Aug 2003
The
Chevelles
Sunbleached EP
"The bungalow is reverberating with pop noise harmony, paying tribute to
Air Supply and female car consumers from the 60's. they have been Down
Under for six albums and have finally pulled up in the driveway of America with
blistered hands, electric eyes, and amplified hearts, ready for your love. For
Australian beach punks thrashing with inflatable flotation devices because they
are young and euphoric".
I.S Giant Robot, http:/www.giantrobot.com/issues
Japan
May 2001
The
Chevelles
C'mon Everybody
Zip
The
weekly dose of Perth's wonderful way with guitars comes from one of the
veterans of the form. But a decade in, The Chevelles are still ripping 'em out.
It's all here: the drums are cracking and splashing, the guitars are
overflowing tunefully everywhere. and the lyrics include a vignette of licking
your entry stamp onto a mate so you can get into a Sunnyboys show for free.
Gotta love that. They then go into their tribute to Angelina Jolle, and again we
learn to hate Billie Bob Thornton, but with the aforementioned guitars
expressing the frustration. Still to be filled under 'power pop'. As it should
be.
Ross
Clelland. In Press Aus August
2002
http://www.inpresss.com.au/archives
The
Chevelles
C'mon Everybody
The WA arm of Zip Records is making a habit of teaming its jangle pop boys
with some big name spiritual forebears - last week it was Superscope
utilising the studio experience of Mr Posies, Ken Stringfellow. This week
The Chevelles make use of Steven McDonald of the permanently baby-faced Redd
Kross. But, y¹know, whateverS when the guitars are strummin¹ madly
and the
sounds are this infectious, who cares who mixed the bleedin¹ thing? After
10
years or so of hard graft, it¹s about time Australia stood up and took
notice of The Chevelles. However, there is no approving of their love ode to
Angelina Jolie, cos that¹s just plain wrong.
neala
johnson
Beat magazine – Melbourne Aug 2002
http://www.beat.com.au
US Review
at http://www.LMNOP.com
The Chevelles - Sun Bleached (CD, Zip, Pop)
Zip Records is a serious American connection for up and coming Australian
pop bands. One of the label's first releases for 2001, the new EP by The
Chevelles is a pop lovers delight. Fuzzy loud guitars surround bubblegummy
vocals while energetic rhythms drive the tunes home. The band's simple
arrangements are most arresting, and the vocal harmonies are absolutely
super. The only problem? Hey...only five (!) tunes? We wanna hear MORE...
Great upbeat stuff that is both intelligent and inventive... (Rating: 4+++)
The Chevelles - Sun Bleached
Zip
Whoa. Every now and then I have a big stack
of records to review, and one is head and shoulders above everything else.
Ladies and gents, meet The Chevelles.
This two-guitar power pop quartet hails from Western Australia and blew every
other record in the latest batch right out of the water. Or CD player, but you
catch my drift. This is but a five-song, 19-minute record, but is so good, I'd
buy it before many a full-length. There's bits of classic power pop like The
Records, The Only Ones, and The Plimsouls in here. And on a slower second
track, you can hear a bit of the more recent Scots band Teenage Fanclub. But
mostly, The Chevelles sound like The Chevelles, so you need to get this. They
even cover that most hideous of schlock songs, Air Supply's 1980 opus
"Lost In Love," and turn it into a great song! Honest, I would not
kid you about a feat so amazing. I don¹t care if you have to fly to Perth
to buy this, do it now.
Zip Records (USA), 116 New Montgomery Street, Ste. 200, San Francisco, CA
94105, (415) 348-8426; ziprecords@earthlink.net; Chevelle's management:
MONSTERR, PO Box 346, Mount Hawthorn, Western Australia, (61) 8 9444 902 083;
rocketman@bigpond.com.au
Brian Kruger
http://www.ink19.com/issues/april2001/wetInk/musicC/chevelles.html
THE
CHEVELLES - C'MON EVERYBODY
Another West Australian outfit, this time a 4 piece, whose sound is
fairly
well placed in the indie rock / pop field, the 3 songs presented on this
single certainly a good quality effort on the part of the band & one that
should no doubt make fans sit up & take notice in a big way.
Primarily revolving around the great guitars, especially on "Angelina
Jolie", the band's sound is energetic, but not what I'd call aggressive,
this easily seen on opener "C'mon Everybody". Closing out is
"Sleeper",
which is a nicely paced track that runs about twice the length of the others
& it's the one that gives you the best idea of what the band are capable
of.
The latest in a fairly long line of releases for this band.
C'mon Everybody is out now through Zip. hEARd rating 8.5/10
Heard
magazine Online
www.heard.com.au
Review -
Cmon Everybody
John mcPharlin i94bar.com
4.5/5
http://www.i94bar.com/reviews/chevelles.html
During the dark ages, the light of learning was kept burning in isolated
monasteries at the periphery of the fallen civilization. Perth seems to have
fulfilled a similar role for power pop, which has remained a fundamental
feature of the music scene there, while it has gone in and out favour
everywhere else. Several times in fact. Perhaps it has something to do with
Perth being the world's most distant city, in the sense that no other city
anywhere else on earth is so far from another, comparable city (and even
then it's only Adelaide...). Or perhaps it has something to do with Perth
being the home of Dom Mariani. Either way, a bubbling spring of crisp, clear
pop is forever flowing out of there.
Like Monty Python's parrot, I'm all shagged out after a long squawk (about
various power pop albums), but I do have just enough breath left in my body
to gush a little over the most recent singles from two well known Perth
power pop bands. When you think about it, singles are the perfect setting
for power pop, far more so than albums, although the "repeat"
function on
most CD players does allow you to play a single track obsessively over and
over - for the truly infectious tune, there is no alternative except to give
yourself over to it continually until the fever finally breaks.
The Chevelles' "C'mon Everybody" is about as power pop as you can get
- a
song about sneaking into a show by those colossi of Aussie power pop, the
Sunnyboys. Strangely the All Music Guide (www.allmusic.com) entry for power
pop doesn't acknowledge the Sunnyboys at all. It has them under "Aussie
Rock", throwing them in with a diverse crew that includes AC/DC, Beasts of
Bourbon, Birthday Party, Celibate Rifles, Died Pretty, Powderfinger, Radio
Birdman, Saints and Scientists (but not the Church, for whom there doesn't
seem to be an entry under any category)! Oh, and the Chevelles and Stems are
lumped in under "Aussie Rock" as well, though the Stems don't yet
have a
biography, while the Chevelles cop a mere three lines.
In fact, the only Australians listed under power pop are Rick Springfield?!?
and the Hoodoo Gurus, who not only also appear under "Aussie Rock",
but are
listed in the "Key Artists" sections of both (within the Hoodoo Gurus
entry,
Dave Faulkner, Brad Shepherd and Mark Kingsmill all score highlighted hot
links and everybody who is or ever was a member gets an additional, separate
listing as well).
To add insult to injury, the band listing in the power pop category even
includes the Bay City Rollers!?! The Chevelles know better. "C'mon
Everybody" is pure power pop, a guitar driven gem; bubblier than the often
moody Sunnyboys it eulogizes, but without completely sacrificing the muscle
that always lay just beneath the skin of the best Sunnyboys' songs.
In this wondrous digital age, the term "single" is certainly a
misnomer;
strictly speaking it always was, since even on vinyl you always got two
songs - one on each side - notwithstanding Phil Spector's desire that things
should be otherwise. So back in the days of vinyl, a single had two songs,
while an EP had four. Then everything got confused with seven inch records
that played at thirty three and a third and twelve inch records that played
at forty five... In this package from the Chevelles there are two other
songs, which makes it some kind of mutant mixed breed: TP (triple play)? SEP
(short EP)? NSEP (not so extended play)? Whatever.
I don't know how record companies come to select one track over another to
be the "A" side. Although it's much rarer in these days of prescribed
playlists and heavy rotation (sounds like something that should be going on
behind closed doors with the blinds drawn, doesn't it?) for DJs to do much
thinking for themselves, or even just turn a record over to hear what might
be on the other side (figuratively speaking), there have been cases in the
past where a "B" side has become a hit because DJs and audiences
preferred
it to the record company's pick. Maybe selecting the "A" side isn't
the
refined science that the majority of A&R wankers would have us believe.
To these ears, either of these other two songs has an equal claim to being
the featured track. The second song, Duane Smith's hymn to "Angelina
Jolie",
is in the noble tradition of worshipful obsession for unattainable stars
(technically the Who's "Pictures Of Lily" fits into this category as
well,
even if you couldn't have caught Lily at your local cinema; the Dead
Salesmen's "Ballad of Mary & Me/Wings Of Desire" is a worthy,
though
slightly more borderline, case with its blurring of real life domestic drama
and fantasized invocation of actress Mary Stuart Masterston). The Chevelles
pull off their homage with just the right undertone of frivolity, making
their point while avoiding lengthy court proceedings and possibly a
restraining order.
Final song, the slightly thrashy "Sleeper", is an insistent grinder
with
ringing guitar over a shredding rhythm and slightly nasal/adenoidal vocals.
It must be a killer live. Reading between the lines of the credits on the CD
sleeve, it looks like this one has already fallen through the cracks and
isn't going to be making an appearance on the forthcoming album, since it's
failed to score the same Californian mixing and mastering as the other two
tracks. Stuffed if I can comprehend why; it's a ripper.
InPress
Magazine Wed 26th Sept 2001
"THE CHEVELLES - C'MON EVERYBODY (Zip Records / MGM)
Not the most original song in the world. Not the most original sound in
the world. But the harmony enriched power pop charm and vivacity of this
little ditty from this Perth quartet will quickly allow you to forgive such
faults. And if the buzzing guitars and sunny vocals remind you a bit of Red
Kross well ten points to you - Steve McDonald mixed the thing.
Discovering Aussie gems like this is the great thing about doing the singles
column" -
(MARTIN
JONES) http://www.inpresss.com.au/archives
"The
bungalow is reverberating with pop noise harmony, paying tribute to Air
Supply and female car consumers from the 60's. they have been Down Under
for six albums and have finally pulled up in the driveway of America with
blistered hands, electric eyes, and amplified hearts, ready for your love. For
Australian beach punks thrashing with inflatable flotation devices because they
are young and euphoric".
I.S
Giant Robot, Japan, May 2001 http:/www.giantrobot.com/issues