This review is much more delayed than I would have liked it to be, but life got busy. Anyways, two Thursdays ago I had the honor of seeing the The Chats at the Grog Shop!
As I’m sure I’ve said before, I love that venue because of how small it is and the neighborhood it’s located in. This time around did not change my opinion of the place. In fact, it gets brownie points because when I showed up, The Chats front man, Eamon Sandwith, was standing out front chatting and smoking. I unfortunately lost the nerve to go up and speak to him, so that was a weenie move on my part, but still. Very cool. The show opened with a really fun punk band called Thick. These three women really rocked hard, and I thoroughly enjoyed the song “Mansplain” and new single “Love You Forever.” Afterwards I found out they’re under Epitaph’s label, so I’ll be checking out more of their stuff. They also have a new album coming out this summer, apparently!
The next band to take the stage were Mean Jeans. I loved these guys! Most of the reason was because they had excellent songs, but the other part was that they made me laugh pretty hard. Each song announced was by the lead singer in a wide stance and then he’d just yell the song title into the mic. Now, that wouldn’t typically be funny, but they had songs called “Steve Don’t Party No More,” “Coors Light,” and “I Fell Into a Bog.” I really enjoyed the whole set and need to spend some time listening to their music, but I’d be very interested in checking these guys out again if they ever come back around. They also had a great relationship with the crowd. Yes, it’s a small venue, but no artist ever really has to interact with them other then asking “how’s everyone doing out there tonight?!” These guys responded to lots of audience comments, and one guy even got to consume the rest of the drummer’s twisted tea. If it still weren’t COVID times I would have enjoyed that exchange a little more.
Finally, The Chats took the stage! At this point, I’d been pretty well protected in the front row which is quite the feat given that I was wearing flip flops. I made that choice knowing it’d be a stupid one, but it was hot out! Anyways, I got through about two-thirds of their first song before my foot got stepped on once and the front crowd was moving as one organism. So, I squeezed my way to the back of the venue after that. These guys banged through 26 songs in under an hour – that’s crazy! They played some of my favorites like “AC/DC CD” and “Better Than You,” and they also played their two new singles from their upcoming album, Get F**ked, “Struck By Lightening” and “6L GTR.” I was surprised that the set didn’t end with “Smoko,” but instead with “Pub Feed.” Still a strong choice, just not one I was expecting.
This was a fantastic show and if you can still catch them on any of their other tour dates – DO IT!