61 - Eamon Sandwith of The Chats

Ladies and gentlemen , we are back , and the immortal words of Timberland and Aliyah has been a long time . I shouldn't have left you without a dope beat to step two . I hope everybody out there is doing great . Happy New Year across the world . I hope 2024 brings everybody nothing but happiness .

Much love to the pod gods for bringing me back on the airwaves Last year , the 20th anniversary of the band . The touring schedule was so hectic , so incredible , but it was something that really demanded 100% of my time , energy and focus . So we had to put the pod on ice for a while , but we're back .

Like Brandon Frazier and Encino man , Our guest today is none other than young Australian legend , Aiman Sandwith from the punk rock band the Chats . In this episode , Aiman and I catch up to discuss the highlights of their crazy 2023 . We also talk about the origin of the band , the crazy viral success of their song Smoco .

We talk about meeting punk rock legends , the amazing history of Australian music , writing a new Chats record and so much more . This is an awesome episode , so sit back , relax , pour yourself . Some say Jerry Go another shrimp on the barbie and let's go Yo Aiman , what's up man ? Hey Matt , how you doing , I'm good , can you hear me alright ?

So , yeah , that was a highlight . And about a month ago we did about five shows here in Australia with the Foo Fighters . So that was another highlight for me . They were all really cool guys and they were all down the hang .

And you know , just getting a stand on the side of the stage and watch them play in front of like thousands of people , it was just really cool . It was a really sick experience .

But I mean , they're so cool and they love music and they're so personal and they just want to hang and have a good time and it's so cool to see that on such a massive scale . It's mind blowing , man .

It was really cool just sitting down and talking to them .

They probably got no time to be saying hello .

But it bombs me out that you guys didn't get like a guns and roses hang or a fucking you know , some sort of moment with those guys . Like even kiss takes pictures with everybody , you know yeah .

And it was like , yeah , it was like something out of like a you know Disney channel TV show , like we look around the room and like no one's wanting to be in our group . So we were like , oh , I guess we're , guess we're in the group together . So we , we start , you know we're , we're all mates already .

But we , we weren't really like super into music to the point of wanting to start a band , and I'm sure we probably spoke about it at some point , but actually doing it was a different thing . So it was pretty good .

We had this assignment because that turned into the first chat song and I remember of the whole class I think we got like the lowest , the lowest mark , I think we passed . But everyone else was like , oh , that's such a beautiful composition . And ours was like , yeah , but where's everybody ?

And where we grew up there were only two venues and they weren't the kind of places that would put on a local band . It would be like , you know , a pretty big national band with a big , you know , local support . They wouldn't just put on , you know , like a high school punk band or whatever . So we , we found a way to start playing .

We would , because , you know , in high school that's like a party every weekend . So we would go to who was holding the party and we'd go hey , I bet you'd , I bet you'd like a band to play at the party , wouldn't you ? And they'd be like oh yeah , that'd be great . You know , probably imagining a band who's going to play songs that people like and stuff .

We'd show up with all our shit . You know , we'd bring our own PA and our own amps and all that and we'd just play at the party and usually there'd be a few people , you know , getting into it . But you know , most of them would just be sitting off to the side like where's the DJ ? Get the DJ out , you know .

But yeah , and we just kept just kept giggling around , playing parties and stuff , and then we started getting a few gigs and house shows and stuff . So that kind of got the band rolling a bit . We are , you know , we just recorded whenever we could and just put the songs just straight on band camp .

We were never really worried too much about making CDs or records or anything . But yeah , then the Smoco clip kind of went viral about a year later after that and started getting some actual gigs . And you know it was a bit weird back then just being like kind of known for one song and it's kind of still like that a bit these days with certain people .

But yeah , it's a weird thing just being known for like the one song , even though it's cool that people are like I love that song , it's like yeah , we got some other ones , you know .

. Before the band free chats what was your life like ? You know , like when did you kind of first get into music ? You know , is there any like history of artistry or music in the family or anything like that ?

Yeah , the bands that really got me into music was like Nirvana , green Day , and then you know , and then you go on a couple years and you'd get into your dead Kennedys and your Ramones and that kind of stuff .

And , yeah , around the time the chat started I would have been listening to a lot of you know like kind of 80s , maybe like West Coast hardcore and that kind of stuff . And you know also just like classic 70s , like British kind of punk , and you know , Australian stuff as well .

The video comes out and I mean now as we sit , the song obviously rips , but over 20 million views on YouTube . That's got like 19,000 comments on it . How many streams ? A zillion when I mean you're dude , you're like , you know , you're a young kid , dude , you're having fun , like what was that ? You gotta walk us through the Smoco craziness .

How did it feel as it was happening ?

You know we'd be like refreshing it like , oh , I got another three views . And then all of a sudden yeah , I can remember the day I woke up real late , or maybe at like midday or something . I had all these missed calls and everyone was going like , oh , like , check out the video , it's going nuts .

And now I've logged on and it had like half a million views or something and I was a bit like , oh , this is a bit weird . Oh so , yeah , I couldn't really figure out how it happened . I figured it out eventually that some Facebook page had posted it and like , oh , check out this video .

And people had gone and found it on YouTube and checked it out there . But anyway , it was exciting .

But it was also a bit like weird , because I remember around that time , you know , I still lives at home , I still lives at my mum's house , and I was getting on the bus , you know , probably to go to the pub or band practice or something , and this kid on the bus was like , oh , you're the Smokoguy , aren't you ?

And I was like , oh , I guess I didn't plan for it to be like that , you know , but yeah , it's just weird things like that . And then , you know , I would turn on the news and they were talking about the video on the news like we weren't even on the program and they were like oh , and in news there's a band in the sunshine , cause , look at this video .

And I was just going what the hell you know ? But I don't know . I knew it would kind of fizzle out after a while and I thought maybe , you know , interest in the band would go with that . But luckily it seems that people kind of dug the other stuff enough to give off a shit . So still here , no it's really cool man .

So back in the day I used to do all of the band stuff , all of the emails and the merch and all that stuff , the stuff that you don't miss . But yeah , I was kind of getting overwhelmed at all of these gig offers and stuff , people wanting us to go overseas .

So this guy , Sean , our agent over there , he emails us going like , hey , I reckon I could get you guys a tour over here in UK and Europe . And I was just kind of you know all in my head about this whole thing . So I emailed him back , just going piss off .

And he still brings it up all these years later and he's like I can't believe he told me to piss off in that email . But yeah , I just didn't see it working out . I was like they're not going to like us over there . It's just going to be weird . They're going to be like who are these idiots ? You know , but I don't know .

I guess I kind of underestimated that you know people . Still , I think we go the best over there actually . I think we kind of do the best in any country really .

And you know , you guys going over there all the way from Australia , you know , young as fuck telling promoters to piss off . It must have been so much , it must have been so much fucking fun , man . It's like it's so fucking cool .

You know , when you look back on the quote unquote , early days of the band , what are some things that you think about , as far as you know how the bands evolve now , like you know , obviously I know Josh is in the mix now and you know it just feels like the spirit of the band is only getting stronger .

I feel like it's still kind of the same because we're still just three mates who all grew up together and just love playing music and yeah , and we still kind of have the same approach towards the band , like oh , you know , let's not take it too seriously , it could all end tomorrow , so let's just have fun , you know .

live . What's your preference between recording , touring live ? Do you love them both equally , or are you a studio guy ? You know , obviously , I know you love to play live , but how do you feel about the studio ?

So it's not like we're sitting there at the desk trying to like add in any orchestra sections or anything , so we're just trying to like play the songs and get out of there .

You know , yeah , I mean , every time we've recorded it's not like it's been like a bad experience , but I definitely do prefer the energy of playing live , you know , being in the room with everyone everyone's stoked to be there rather than just , like you know , another day in the studio with these two guys and whoever's recording , and just sit around and be like ,

oh , maybe I could do that a little bit better . You know , I don't know , we're not perfectionists , I'll put it that way .

Do you have any moments on record where you're just like , ah , fuck , I could have done that better or I should have done this , or do you just , it is what it is , you let it go .

But you know , but you look back and it's like oh , you know , we were 16 in high school having a good time , so there's a bit of charm to it , but at the same time it's like I can't believe anyone would want that non-vinyl .

But when I go back and listen to the first Bronx record , it just it just kind of there's certain things that just get me about it .

You know it's like I love it , but I think it's just hard Because for me , like as far as like my actual voice it was , it was like it took me a long time , man , to feel like confident , like especially in the studio , you know , like confident in what I was doing and all that stuff and and it's cool to hear that like the vulnerability you know I guess ,

and just the rawness and the early stuff , but I do it just kind of takes me back to that spot when I listen to it . And so I know there's , you know , as a listener , a fan of the band or whatever people are going to dig , that kind of nuance . But you know it took me a long time to kind of figure it out .

So I definitely hear that when I go back and listen to it and that's why I love playing the old songs live , because I feel like I can , you know , I feel like I'm more equipped now you know , to do them better . You know what I'm saying . Yeah you know I wanted to wrap with you about writing a song and the chats song process .

How do you guys you know take a song from basically you know nothing to something you know , as it start with a lyric ? Does it start with a riff ? Is there no rhyme or reason to it ? How do you guys work ?

Yeah , I'll usually start with like some sort of chorus idea and then and I'll be like all right , like how's that making you feel , you know , like what's going on there ? I'll try not to look at it as like formulaic , but but the way that everyone writes music , it's always kind of going to be in your own style , you know .

I've got a bunch of songs that I haven't even shown the guys yet because we just haven't had that opportunity to do so . Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , I'm really looking forward to that .

I mean , that's kind of my favorite part of being a band , not really the touring or the studio , but just hanging out with your mates and being like what do you reckon of this ? And everyone gets stoked on a riff or something .

You know , going back to the lyric conversation , that idea of you know just kind of writing something around a phrase or you know a chorus or something like that , like I feel like that's like the ACDC like formula , that is just like the coolest thing and the Hives do that really well too where it's just like you know it's just , you know I'm a problem child ,

or you know they just got like one line and it's just like it's so good , and then just right backwards from that , you know .

You know , there's a little bit more of an evolution , kind of lyrically and mood wise , I think there was just like a little bit . It just got a little deeper , you know , and it didn't get like you know , I'm not talking like deep , deep , but it felt like a little bit deeper and it's cool to see . You know .

It's cool to see evolution on all different fronts when it comes to art , music , bands , because I mean , you guys are a fun band man . You guys are fun , but you're also you have like this Ramones thing , where you're like intense too , you know , but you sing about like whatever the fuck you want to sing about , but you're serious about it .

But it's like this cool juxtaposition that fucks with people and it's awesome , you know . So it's like it's cool .

It's cool to see that kind of evolve a little bit and I really like , I really thought Get Fucked was like you know , I thought it was the best record you guys have done so far and I'm looking forward to what you do next , man , thanks so much , man .

I have all these old writing books from , like you know , early on in the band when I was like doing the same thing , you know I was like listen to the , you know , get in the van when I was , you know , a younger guy , and then you think about , you know you're going to tour the world , you're going to write all these intense journal entries and document

all this stuff you're going through and I read back and it's just like you know , tired , hungover . The food in England sucks , you know like . It's just like you know it might as well be caveman drawings , you know , but it's cool to at least have them to look back on . But I couldn't keep it up . You know what ?

It's just like what the fuck happened that day , man .

about . You know Australia and the amazing history of rock and roll , punk rock there . You know , I always try to pick the brain of any Australian friend musician that I have or know , because it feels like some of the best rock and roll and punk come out of Australia . It's just a fact .

I mean , it's a sound , it's a feel and it's a sound , and it's hard to put your you know , your finger on what makes it so great . But to me I think it's just like a rodness and just an attitude that just comes from , you know , being far away from everybody else and just kind of being a self-contained you know country , you know .

So what makes Australian rock and roll , music , punk rock ? What makes it special Do you ? Why do you think it's so good ?

I mean part of it for me , and maybe this is more Queensland than the rest of Australia , but Queensland's always been a very authoritarian , mostly right wing kind of you know place where you know if you are the sort of person who does identify with , like you know , the dead Kennedys or you know any of that , you are more likely to be kind of ostracised from .

You know that attitude . Yeah , but another thing is is just I don't know . I think people just have grown up with it . Like I can talk about it from my generation , like my dad he was born 68 or something , so he lived like through the 80s and 90s and stuff , but in the 70s but he was always really keen to show me all the music he grew up with .

Like you know , he showed me Radio Birdman , the Saints and all that . You know all that good shit . So I think it also comes from just a long lineage of people just always being into that music .

Like you talk to anyone who's really like around 40 or 50 in Sydney and just ask them about music and they'll be like oh , I saw the angels , you know , down the Botany View Hotel , saw the Divinals a few times back then you know they'll just go on without all the bands I've seen .

So while it's , I think it's still , you know , in the grand scheme of things , australia's kind of more ignored by the you know the rest of the music world . But I feel like it's kind of worked in our advantage in some sort of weird way that we've kind of just gone , you know stuff , the rest of years . We've got everything we need here .

So that's why I feel , anyway . Maybe a lot of Australians might disagree .

They're having fun too . You know like it's like Australia is a fucking fun place , man . It's like people love to party there . You know , people love to have a good time and I just think that the music that comes out of Australia I'm just such a fan of , and I think , especially in rock and roll and punk rock , it's so special , man .

And if people out there , you know , haven't had the opportunity to dive into all the great music that's come out of Australia , you got to do it because it's a fucking bottomless pit of just awesomeness .

I was just , you know , like you go on band camp , you find bands that aren't getting played on the radio , no one's really talking about , and you know , maybe they've done a couple gigs at the front bar of the tote Melbourne or something and you just listen into it like wow , this is , you know , actually a unique , you know representation of punk rock and this

this is this band that has maybe done a few shows is just , you know , pumping out these tunes . Yeah , it's just , it's an exciting . It's an exciting place to be at the moment .

We , we always play there and I always , I always tell the audience like hey , you know the once again the promoter was like hey , you know , you guys could just go to Perth . You know you don't have to play , you don't have to play Adelaide , you know you could just do Sydney , melbourne , brisbane and then just go to Perth .

You know , technically you don't even have to go to Perth and I spoke with them but it's like , but honestly , adelaide's always a great show , it's awesome and I love that club , but yeah , it's I , it's . I mean , it's no doubt it's the last on the list , of course and shout out to Canberra .

I don't think we played Canberra for probably Maybe four or five years , but we've been there , we've been there .

I would probably go Ramones , misfits , descendants , then Kennedys clash , but I fuck , I don't know , it's hard man , it's hard I saw the . I saw the photo you guys got with Jello Biafra . He's a pretty awesome dude right . Did he get a chance to rap with him ?

It was so cool , but uh , yeah , that was , that was someone I was almost a bit I don't know , I was a bit , you know , a bit weird about approaching , was a bit apprehensive because you know , he's such an intense personality that I was like , oh man , I'm just gonna get wound up in this conversation that I can't get out of , and it was a bit like that ,

like I had to go . All right , man , sorry , I gotta go like pack up some stuff and just like left . It was really cool speaking to him , but uh , yeah , he's , he's the fucking man and a total , a

total screwball .

Yeah , so we were there and you know , I see this guy and I see this guy and I don't I doesn't dawn on me that it's Jello yet but so I see this guy and he's just like he's , he's power walking , like power walking around backstage and like I'm like what is this dude doing ?

And then I look at the , I look it was like you know , zone in on him and his gel . I realized this job . I'm like , oh my god , like you know , I've never , never seen the guy , never you know anything like that . So I was so blown away but he went . It was so , it was so funny dude .

He was like it was legit , like just like full-on , just just like this power walking , just like power walking . But he was like get it , that's like how he was getting like psyched up for the gig , and then he went on stage and he fucking crushed it , you know , and it was the coolest thing . It was the coolest thing .

Shout out to Jello because he is the fucking man . You know , it's like I always had so many opportunities to see the Ramones when I was younger and I blew that , and even you know the descendants man , like I never thought I'd see them and then you know , when they came back with , everything sucks .

That was such an important thing and you know , seeing them and being able to play with them is just like the coolest fucking thing . Obviously , joe Strummer's past I never got to see the clash .

So I just think it's really cool and important to like man , when you get to meet , like you know , you know dude , like when you're playing festivals , or like you're playing , like you know you get to meet Jello , you get to meet Milo , you know , you get to meet all these , like even when you know , when we were playing with Circle Jerks , keith Morris , all

these , I mean , these dudes are , like you know , they're legends , dude , and they're so important to our history in punk and rock and roll and man , it's so cool to be able to meet these guys and interact with them and still be able to see these bands that have been so important to me and , I know , so important to you . It's a trip .

I just never I could never wrap my head around it on the guitar . So I think I feel like that's kind of where it maybe wore off on me a little bit . I still love listening to that stuff , but I feel like if I could , if I could have wrapped my head around the riffs a little bit more like I could with punk , then , yeah , maybe I would have .

Maybe I would have stuck on that train .

Yeah and yeah , I think we're going to go over to UK Europe at the end of the year and try and bong out another album while we're at home .

But yeah , I'd have to have a look at the actual schedule . I'm not truly up to date , but I know we're going to a bunch of places we haven't been , like you know . For example , we're not doing Detroit , we're doing like Grand Rapids or something like that .

What to you , is the meaning of life ?

You can follow Aiman on Instagram at Aiman Sandwith . His first name is spelled E A M O N . Of course you got to follow the chats . They're going to be playing around the world in 2024 . A lot of stuff in the States , like you heard Aiman say , but they are an incredible band to catch live .

So if they come to your city , make sure , grab a ticket , go support . I promise you you will not be disappointed . Of course you should be following Sailor Jerry on Instagram , on X , on all that good stuff . You can follow me at two and three .

Matman , do not forget that Sailor Jerry Spice drum is still made the old school way 92 proof , bold and smooth as hell . Thank you for continuing to listen to the podcast . It feels so good to be back . We'll see you in two weeks , peace .