Fast-rising London punk 5-piece Chubby and the Gang have shared a new song and accompanying music video. ‘Lightning Don’t Strike Twice’ was premiered yesterday evening by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6Music, and is part of a double A-side 7″ out on May 28th via Partisan that will feature another new track entitled ‘Life’s Lemons’.
‘Lightning Don’t Strike Twice’ is a three-minute ride through the band’s entire moodboard – opening with lap slide noodling before steering into anthemic pub rock with snarling lyrics. The video was directed by Jasper Cable-Alexander and takes inspiration from ’90s internet cafés.
Speaking of the track, frontman Charlie ‘Chubby’ Manning offers: “I wrote this song about social inequality. Not mine but the people I saw around me. I feel like the whole premise of poverty is presented like this game in which if you play your cards right you can escape. In reality it’s more like playing a game of dice when they’re loaded against your favour. Constantly being struck by lightning and being told that it will never happen again. I remember witnessing someone’s telephone voice where they had to change their voice when conducting business or applying for jobs so they don’t come across as if they are from a lower class.
“I wrote the last verse about that because it disgusted me that in a system supposedly created on meritocracy a human being has to change their identity to try and shake unemployment. I’ve had very few jobs that required me to go for an interview. No one really cares who you are when you drive a minicab or lay out cables so I’m lucky in that sense. But many people aren’t.”
Both ‘Lightning Don’t Strike Twice’ and ‘Life’s Lemons’ will appear on the band’s highly anticipated second LP due out later this year. More music + info on that coming soon!
Watch the video for ‘Lightning Don’t Strike Twice’- BELOW:
Chubby and the Gang recently performed virtually for SXSW, watch them play ‘All Along the Uxbridge Road’, from their acclaimed 2020 debut Speed Kills HERE.
The band have also announced a bumper 40-date tour of the UK and Ireland through November and December of this year offering a chance for many to finally see just why they’ve become one of the most exciting and talked-about punk bands in the world over the past year. All dates go on sale at 10 am this Friday, March 16th.
Fronted by Manning (a former cabbie who now also works as an electrician), Chubby and the Gang have been leading a pack of bands coming out of a new wave of British Hardcore. Speed Kills was one of the critical surprises of the year thanks to its unrelentingly fun concoction of hardcore, pub rock, doo-wop, and blues. The album was produced by Jonah Falco of Fucked Up and boasts songs of deep substance and political conscience with a precise sense of time and place.
UK/IE Tour Dates:
Nov 4th | Woking – Fiery Bird
Nov 5th | Bournemouth – Anvil
Nov 6th | Coventry – Central Library
Nov 7th | St. Albans – The Horn
Nov 8th | Hull – The Polar Bear
Nov 10th | Hebden Bridge – Trades Club
Nov 11th | Stoke – The Sugarmill
Nov 12th | Blackpool – Bootleg Social
Nov 13th | Edinburgh – Mash House
Nov 14th | Aberdeen – Café Drummond
Nov 16th | Sunderland – Independent
Nov 17th | Huddersfield – Parish
Nov 18th | Liverpool – Jimmy’s
Nov 19th | Sheffield – Delicious Clam
Nov 20th | Sheffield – Delicious Clam
Nov 21st | Milton Keynes – Crauford Arms
Nov 23rd | Exeter – Cavern Club
Nov 24th | Southampton – Joiners
Nov 25th | Oxford – The Bullingdon
Nov 26th | Bedford – Esquires
Nov 27th | Cambridge – Portland Arms
Nov 28th | Southend – Chinnery’s
Nov 30th | Tunbridge Wells – Forum
Dec 1st | Margate – Elsewhere
Dec 2nd | Dover – Booking Hall
Dec 3rd | Portsmouth – Guildhall Studio
Dec 4th | Brighton – Green Door Store
Dec 5th | Norwich – Waterfront Studio
Dec 6th | Nottingham – Bodega
Dec 8th | Birmingham – Castle & Falcon
Dec 9th | Leeds – Belgrave Music Hall
Dec 10th | Newcastle – Think Tank
Dec 11th | Glasgow – King Tuts
Dec 12th | Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach
Dec 14th | Manchester – YES
Dec 15th | London – Scala
Dec 17th | Bristol – Exchange
Dec 18th | Dublin – The Workman’s Club
Dec 19th | Belfast – Voodoo
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