ALBUM REVIEW: Chubby And The Gang -The Mutt’s Nuts (Partisan Records)
London five-piece Chubby And The Gang had one of the surprise critical hits of 2020 with debut album Speed Kills.
Throwing hardcore punk, pub rock, classic pop, indie-rock and blues into a blender made them unlike anyone else around.
There’s a bit of labelmates IDLES in their sound, a dash of Amyl & The Sniffers, the Ramones, and much more.
But if you think you know what Chubby And The Gang are all about, you’d better think again.
Over the 15 tracks here you’re as likely to pick out an influence rooted in ’50s pop influence as hardcore punk, where the members earned their chops.
Take the three singles which preceded The Mutt’s Nuts: the double-A-side Lightning Don’t Strike Twice/Life’s Lemons, Coming Up Tough and I Hate The Radio.
Coming Up Tough conforms to type: a punk rager based on frontman Charlie Manning Walker’s experience with a family member.
Lightning… starts off with country-tinged guitar before turning into a garage-blues rocker, while Life’s Lemons is a slow doo-wop-tinged number, and I Hate The Radio recalls The Libertines.
Charlie (aka Chubby) and his gang (guitarists Ethan Stahl and Tom Hardwick, bassist Meg Brooks Mills and drummer Joe McMahon) make a very diverse sound indeed.
Yes, there’s hardcore punk: the blistering It’s Me Who’ll Pay, Overachiever and Someone’s Gunna Die, complete with breakneck guitars and raw-throated vocals.
Just when you think you’ve got their measure, along comes Take Me Home To London, a heartfelt acoustic love letter to their hometown.
Elsewhere, Pressure features the kind of squalling guitar found on a heavy rock record, while White Rags is slow-moving scuzzed-up blues.
Government failure
As well as classic rock ‘n’ roll themes of love and loss, they sing about workers’ rights, inequality, police brutality, government failure and gentrification.
If Speed Kills was Chubby And The Gang announcing their arrival, The Mutt’s Nuts is the sound of them destroying all your preconceptions. 8/10.
- Chubby And The Gang embark upon a 40-date tour of the UK and Ireland in November in December.
