West London 5-piece Chubby and the Gang have shared a new track from their upcoming second LP, The Mutt’s Nuts, out Aug 27th via Partisan. ‘I Hate the Radio‘ was premiered via Matt Wilkinson of Apple Music 1, and takes the band’s raucous punk energy and injects it with all the hallmarks of a bittersweet 60s pop classic. The song is accompanied by a music video directed/shot by Molly Manning Walker and edited by Lesley Manning, sister and mother respectively to Chubby and the Gang’s lead singer Charlie Manning Walker.
Watch the video for ‘I Hate the Radio’ here: https://youtu.be/FSNoehSnEQo
Charlie elaborates on the song’s meaning: “This song is about when you finish a relationship with someone but you have a certain association between them and a song, and then that song comes on the radio. It’s like, ‘man, I never want to hear this song again!’ and then of course you get in the car and it comes on.”
The Mutt’s Nuts was produced by Jonah Falco of Fucked Up, and features Charlie backed by Tom ‘Razor’ Hardwick, Meg Brooks Mills, Ethan Stahl, and Joe McMahon (aka the Gang). Charlie has lived in west London all his life and works full-time as an electrician, and most of the band also work trade or artisan jobs. As a result, the songs are inherently political, rather than political by design. Alongside classic rock and roll themes of love and loss, the lyrics are rooted in worker’s rights, inequality, police brutality, government failure and gentrification – issues that are built into the fabric of the UK, and magnified in the English capital.
The band has previously shared other album highlights ‘Coming Up Tough‘, ‘Lightning Don’t Strike Twice‘, and ‘Life’s Lemons‘ – the latter two of which were released this spring as part of a double A-side 7″.
Chubby and the Gang have confirmed a run of UK and IE tour dates later this year (full dates below) and also play a small run of Rough Trade in-stores this month as part of The Mutt’s Nuts Ruff Trade Tour – featuring performances from the band alongside signings and dog shows (bring your pup to enter!) with all donations going to All Dogs Matter. The band hope to tour the US extensively behind The Mutt’s Nuts – more info to be announced shortly. They also performed at this year’s virtual SXSW, watch them rip through Speed Kills highlight ‘All Along the Uxbridge Road‘ HERE.
