Chew Lips – Wasting No Time

‘Change is a coming’ Chew Lips’ vocalist Tigs sings prophetically on the band’s debut ‘Unicorn’. Formed a little over 18 months ago, the trio have gone from playing at mates’ parties perched on washing machines to releasing what now looks destined to be the debut album of 2010.
Tigs, Will Sanderson, and James Watkins first got together after playing in other bands around Southwest London. “We took the whole winter just getting drunk and playing each other records and then we got down to writing music, got in a rehearsal studio and wrote a bunch of songs”, says lead singer Tigs as she battles a hangover, phone reception with more reverb than a Dalek in a tumble dryer, and a monsoon that’s rattling her tour bus to talk to us on her way to a gig in Liverpool on the band’s first UK tour. Taking their name from a Brendan Behan novel Borstal Boy as, “it’s quite geeky, it’s something sexual, bit druggy, and also a really bad pun”, Chew Lips’ decadent disco first perked up the ears of French dance label Kitsune last year who plucked them from obscurity to release their debut EPs ‘Salt Air’ and ‘Solo’. Since then the band have created a deafening buzz and have gone on to work with Bat For Lashes producer David Kosten on Unicorn due for release early next year. “It’s all about 2010 for us”, Tigs affirms “We’re excited about starting the new decade with a bang!”.

Speaking most of the time like a guns pointed at her head and rarely pausing for breath, the pint sized vocalist is confident of her band’s debut: “I’d describe it as experimental – a future classic pop record”. With its catchy pop hooks and programmed beats, ‘Unicorn’ picks up the torch of sultry electro pop from Little Boots and La Roux. Although, Tigs is quick to dismiss comparison: “Vocally I love Karen Carpenter she’s probably one of my favourite singers of all time. Stevie Nicks I really love as well – women who can really sing, which I think are around but there’s not many. Obviously Karen O can really sing, but the current clutch of female singers is not helping – it’s more about a musical trend”.

Made up of mostly new tracks ‘Unicorn’ is devoid of the early Kitsune singles; like drinking cheap white lightning behind the bus shelter as a teenager the band feel it’s something they’ve outgrown: “I think we’ve moved on quite a lot from that time…it was like our first attempt at what we do and I think they’re quite trashy and a lot different now from our sound” Tigs continues “[the new album’s] quite careful and quite beautiful. The whole things more controlled”. But this doesn’t mean that Chew Lips have lost their bite; early demos like ‘Play Together’ have been stripped back of cluttered riffs and given an infectious throbbing electro pulse, and the new tracks show that the trio deliver a fierce punch of polished pop with the Blondie electro dreaming of ‘Karen’, and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah electrical storm of ‘Gold Key’.

The trio are due to head back out on the road for a mini UK tour around the release of the album in early January. Live, Will and James are Chris Lowe to Tigs’ Neil Tennant as they work hunched over laptops as she stalks the stage, eye balling the crowd. You see, standing detached and vacant to preserve your cool like so many other London bands is not really Tigs’ thing: “I think there’s a lot of apathy in terms of being onstage and stage presence and I find that really boring and depressing and can’t be arsed to watch that” she says the words tumbling out of her mouth at the speed of light, “I definitely think it’s necessary to connect with people and I do that by just sort of scamping around like a twat!… to make it into a proper experience, to make it into a proper show and to enjoy it”.

Like most forward thinking artists like Bowie, Grace Jones, and Lady GaGa – Tigs is woven intrinsically to fashion and art as she is to music citing Vivienne Westwood as her idol, “I am slightly in love with her as a person as well as a designer” she gushes, “I honestly think she should be in charge of the country she has the most amazing attitude”. She would splash all the bands royalties on Chloe given half the chance. She’s currently her style cues from being a space pirate – “I basically look like a glitter ball” she laughs and seeks inspiration from, erm, Freddie mercury!?: “I think I kinda wanna be like Freddie Mercury in a way” she cackles “y’know just the pomp and ceremony, I love it! Why would you not want to go on stage wearing a fucking crown and a legal cape? It doesn’t matter what you wear onstage you’re not going to the supermarket – it’s fine! It’s not too much onstage…you’re not going to see me wearing jeans on stage”.

With 2010 only a breath away it won’t be long before Chew Lips will be the name on everyone’s lips.

Unicorn – Released January 2010

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