Chook Race are Matthew, Carolyn and Rob, three chillers from Melbourne who write breezy and seemingly effortless pop music.After a string of of tapes, 7’s and a self-released debut LP About Time, they return with new album Around The House, which is due for release in September through a joint US/Australian partnership in Trouble in Mind and Tenth Court records.Recorded in a day by Tom Hardisty (NUN, Woollen Kits) the album doesn't mess around. You get jangly guitars, sweet boy-girl harmonies and in the case of “Sometimes”, a track we are premiering below, a whole heap of “bom, bom, boms"Take a listen and read a short chat we had with drummer and vocalist Carolyn Hawkins.Noisey: Were the 'Bom, bom, bom, bom, boms' always part of the song?
Carolyn Hawkins: This is a really old song that goes back way before our first album About Time so I'm not quite sure. I think in the early versions of the song they weren't there but got added pretty soon after we started playing it. I think we were looking for an easy way to make the song poppier and catchier, and were maybe too lazy to write some proper lyrics.There's more of your vocals in the new album. Are you writing more songs or has it just been decided for you to sing more?
I don't know if we ever made a conscious decision to have more of me singing on this album - we've always just had the attitude that there are two singers in the band, it doesn't really matter who takes the lead on what song. When we were making songs for the album, a few had riffs and things, and they just needed lyrics, and we were also running out of time. I ended up writing a few lyrics to some of them so it just stuck with me singing. Regarding songwriting - I guess I am doing more of it, which comes from writing songs for School Damage and now another band with a couple of gals called Parsnip. I used to feel self conscious about it, but now I find it really fun and satisfying.How did you end up with Trouble in Mind?
All of us have been big fans of Trouble In Mind for a while now. I came across them through the Dentists reissues they did, and also the Woollen Kits Shelley 7”. When we were brainstorming labels to send the recordings to their name came up, and I think the fact they were reissuing the Beef Jerk album gave us a bit of push - we thought that they might like our stuff as well. And turns out they did - which is so exciting.It feels crazy since pretty much everything we've done (bar one cassette) has been self-released. Its cool to do stuff yourself, but its also cool to have other people support what you're doing.
June 10 - Sydney at The Vic
June 12 - Sydney at Petersham Bowling Club
June 17 - Melbourne at Bar Open
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Carolyn Hawkins: This is a really old song that goes back way before our first album About Time so I'm not quite sure. I think in the early versions of the song they weren't there but got added pretty soon after we started playing it. I think we were looking for an easy way to make the song poppier and catchier, and were maybe too lazy to write some proper lyrics.There's more of your vocals in the new album. Are you writing more songs or has it just been decided for you to sing more?
I don't know if we ever made a conscious decision to have more of me singing on this album - we've always just had the attitude that there are two singers in the band, it doesn't really matter who takes the lead on what song. When we were making songs for the album, a few had riffs and things, and they just needed lyrics, and we were also running out of time. I ended up writing a few lyrics to some of them so it just stuck with me singing. Regarding songwriting - I guess I am doing more of it, which comes from writing songs for School Damage and now another band with a couple of gals called Parsnip. I used to feel self conscious about it, but now I find it really fun and satisfying.How did you end up with Trouble in Mind?
All of us have been big fans of Trouble In Mind for a while now. I came across them through the Dentists reissues they did, and also the Woollen Kits Shelley 7”. When we were brainstorming labels to send the recordings to their name came up, and I think the fact they were reissuing the Beef Jerk album gave us a bit of push - we thought that they might like our stuff as well. And turns out they did - which is so exciting.It feels crazy since pretty much everything we've done (bar one cassette) has been self-released. Its cool to do stuff yourself, but its also cool to have other people support what you're doing.
‘Around the House’ will be available in September through Trouble in Mind and Tenth Court records.Catch Chook Race at these shows:
June 10 - Sydney at The Vic
June 12 - Sydney at Petersham Bowling Club
June 17 - Melbourne at Bar Open