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1.) We’re super-excited to be speaking today with acclaimed British Metal Punk band extraordinaire CHUB; greetings and salutations gang and welcome to Vents Magazine! Before we dive into the Q&A mosh-pit, could you all say ‘hi’ and introduce yourselves to our ever-inquisitive readers?
Kyle: Ello ello ello, resident smashy man and social media monkey here!
Zakk: I’m the bassist.
Kyle: He’s also the best damn editor, director and videographer there ever was! (Subscribe to Mead and Metal)
Greg: Hi! I’m guitar boi. I write most of our riffs and some of the lyrics 😀
Ben: HELLO! Vocalist and lyricist present
2.) Major kudos and accolades on your freshly-minted single Carolina Reaper which is set to drop this October 25! Ben, can you talk about what inspired this fiery and rousing new single?
Ben: Well you see, CHUB are really all masochists at heart, crushing our livers with beerbongs and breaking our bones for the love of live music, so why not add gut wrenching spice and explosive diarrhea to the mix too? In all seriousness though, Greg loved doing spicy chilli challenges and thought it’d just be fun to write one about the world’s (now second) hottest chilli, a perfect theme for our fast bombastic sound!
3.) Greg, who did the producing honours on Carolina Reaper and what did the in-studio collaboration between producer and band look like while fashioning and shaping this new gem of a ditty?
Greg: We’re incredibly lucky to have a swiftly growing music scene in Eastbourne, our home town, and one of the majorly multi-talented motherfuckers making that happen is our friend Jasper Lyons (@Jasperlyonsproducer on Instagram). He recorded, mixed, and mastered Carolina Reaper and our other recent singles with us at Bad Habit studios. We like to keep things pretty goofy, so it’s nice to work with friends in a relaxed atmosphere. We’ve been playing the song live for ages, so no major changes needed to be made, but Jasper added lots of layers and little quirks and details to really give it that extra depth and polish. And we’re extremely happy with the result.
4.) Zakk, in your humble opinion what differentiates Carolina Reaper from the Distinguished Competition on the 2024 music scene?
Zakk: In my humble opinion it’s different because it’s the greatest song ever written, this will change the way the entire world looks at music and the music industry is about to get shaken to the core. Also it’s a good song.
5.) Kyle, in the wake of the October 25 release of the new CHUB single Carolina Reaper, can fans look forward to catching the band on the touring/performing circuit?
Kyle: Ah, well, the trouble is we’re all 9-5 plebs with limited holiday and cash, and it turns out being in a band is expensive! We’ve just come off of our first ever tour across the South coast and we are GAGGING to get back on the road, but our lovely CHUBblies will have to wait until summer of next year for our next tour. This time around we’ll be hitting the Midlands and North, wrapping things up at punk rock Mecca, Rebellion Festival. Can’t wait! 💖
6.) Ben, the companion music video for Carolina Reaper will also be released on October 25; congrats! Did you have as much fun making this music video as we did in watching it?
Ben: Thank you for the grats! 😁 If you’d describe the sensation of a thousand blades across your tongue, mixed in with a bit of a napalm and hydrochloric acid concoction, fun… Then yes, it was oodles of fun! Aside from the absolute PAIN we endured, it was genuinely a great and hilarious day! A massive thanks to L (@lbphoto.uk) for shooting and editing the music video, and to Mel and Dan for starring as the evil chilli and heavenly milk. Go check out the bands Crowgod and Gurf which those two are members of!
7.) Greg, what’s the prognosis on a possible EP or LP release from CHUB either in late 2024 or possibly sometime in 2025? Is this something which fans should keep their ears and eyes open for?
Greg: Ooohhh yeeeee! We’re planning on recording 2 more songs before the end of the year, 1 new banger and 1 re-recording of a track from our self-produced first album (the theme tune of our glorious mascot, Microwave Dave). Those should be released in early 2025. And then we’ve got 4 or 5 others that’ve been in our live set for a while already. So I reckon next year we slap ‘em all together, call it an album 👉👉
8.) A question for everyone: Who are some of the musicians – from Times Past and in the Here and Now – who have inspired your own music?
Zakk: For me it’ll have to be The Chats, they really revitalised punk for me! I got into playing bass because of Geezer Butler. So glad we got to see Sabbath on their final tour.
Kyle: My biggest musical inspiration is definitely Brann Dailor, I’ve been a massive Mastodon fan for years and years. His frantic, fill heavy style means I never get bored of them, there’s always something new and tasty nestled away in each track.
Besides Brann, Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth is the greatest genius in metal as far as I’m concerned. His songwriting is UNPARALLELED.
Greg: When it comes to punk-type stuff I’m a fan of The Chats, Kid Kapichi, Soft Play, and of course Spunk Volcano and The Eruptions. For my own tastes though, I’m more of a proggy/nu-metal boi. My favourites are SOAD, RATM, and other acronyms. I try to write riffs that are weird and memorable but most importantly catchy, and bands like those have really influenced me in that respect.
Ben: Old bands that inspire the music I write are bands like The Clash, Nirvana, early Joy Division (Warsaw) and Sham 69, but newer bands would be Idles, Bad Nerves, Wine Lips, Snayx etc. I like to shout and write about hard hitting politics as well as dumb stuff like chillies and Dungeons and Dragons, it’s all about the balance.
9.) Zakk, what’s the VH1-Behind the Music secret origin story on how CHUB came together to form the fiery band which we hear so prominently on the new Carolina Reaper tune?
Zakk: After the 2019 general election we were all mad about the result, so we decided to make a punk band to vent some of that anger. We all have metal backgrounds though, so we’ve over time slowly implemented metal into our music as well as punk to give it that edge. We conveniently all play different instruments which helped form the band!
10.) Kyle, any final thoughts you might like to share with fans and readers regarding the new CHUB single Carolina Reaper?
Kyle: It’s always one of our most manic and rowdy songs live. It’s a nightmare to play cause it’s so fast, I had to practice it more than any of our others cause I was struggling to get through it without my arms falling off! But it’s so, so worth it to see the fans going absolutely mental in the pit- we had our biggest circle pit yet at Bloodstock and people were going completely feral for the whole song, it’s beautiful to see.
STREAM CAROLINA REAPER, WATCH US SUFFER IN THE VIDEO, AND KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR MORE TUNES SOON, LOVE YA ALL 💜💚💛💙
https://linktr.ee/chubtheband
https://www.youtube.com/@chubtheband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4bGpqwO0AyHLatPN4DRDoy
