Leon (keys, guitar/bass, baritone euphonium, electronics, vocals, voice of reason)
Dom (crap keys, Davolisint 1972 synth, electronics, tone generator, vintage alto sax, whacked out vocals, actuality facilitator)
CHOPS was a half-baked worm eaten by the early bird of 2007. Richard 'Moz' Morris, Dominic Clare and Leon Carey placed their bun in the oven many years before, the yeast continuing to rise, collectively amassing involvement with current, previous and occasional feasts such as; Leeds based Chinchilla label/promoter - Quack Quack - Two Minute Noodles - Massive Heron - Sense Or This? - Inecto School - Eagle Eye - Cowtown - Chrome Hoof - The Damo Suzuki Network - Chris Corsano - Mick Beck - Chora - Action Beat - Mansun - Double Six Flight Team - This Day Must Die - Ribbed - Kidsbelly.
Mulched and blended with luncheon engagements such as; The Telegraph Young Jazz Drummer Of The Year 1991 - Leeds' Smooth Plasterer of the Month (February 2006) - Leeds Music 2005 Backroom Award - Freelance sound engineer extraordinaire - two expired Bronze Medallions for life-saving (1989-1991, 1997-9) - fully qualified Master Butcher and one barely qualified vegan bread and spread maker - two current, clean European Driving Licences - chauffeur, tour-guide and gourmet sous-chef for many UK and European travels (with the likes of Lightning Bolt, T.I.T.S, Parts & Labor, Action Beat, Army Of Flying Robots, Snowblood, Erase Errata, Lords, The Unit Ama, Lafaro, Coughs, I Had An Inkling, Serfs, Kling Klang, Cowtown, Ashtray Navigations, Pit Er Pat, Quack Quack, Fulborn Teversham, Bilge Pump, Humanfly, OvO, KIT, Mika Miko, No Age, HEALTH, Origami, Cissy, Talibam!, Chrome Hoof, The Mae Shi, Beards, A Place To Bury Strangers).
Influences
We have no taste, ladies and gentlemen! But, we are your chefs tonight!
Fresh faced fortune tellers!
Tear jerkers!
Motivational speakers!
One Love Revivalists!
We have no taste, but, ladies and gentlemen, we are your chefs tonight...
"Ah, you sweet little rogue, you! alas, poor ape, how thou sweatest! Come, let me wipe thy face; come on, you whoreson chops: ah, rogue! i'faith, I love thee: thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy, worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times better than the Nine Worthies" (King Henry IV, part II: II, iv Shakespeare).
ZXZW! We got a gig in Tilburg at ZXZW in September, and we've just started to book a week or so of dates after it from 22-28th or so, along with Moz's other band, TWO MINUTE NOODLES, who are also playing at ZXZW. ZXZW looks like it'll be really sweet - Sun Ra Arkestra, Pelican, gay against you, Torche, Guapo, Trash Talk, Ebola, Pulling Teeth, Usurper, LFO Demon, Pre, Z'ev, Religious Knives, Manatees, Enablers, Ponytail, Eva Braun, munch munch, Hey Colossus, Talibam!, Night Wounds, Judith Priest, Kylie Minoise, Nackt Insecten, $peedranch, and LOADS more!!!
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ITALY NOVEMBER 2008! We just got the first confirmation of a gig in Roma on 15th November, and we're just starting to fill the dates up around it.... If anyone is interested and can help us out, please get in touch!!!
2009.......... Our aim is to play 209 gigs in 2009. Which means we'll be touring lots! Yeah!
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ALBUM! VIDEO! The Upset The Rhythm split 12" with Helheston will be out pretty soon (see below), and we'll be recording an album throughout July and into early August, at various locations, with various people at the helm. We're also currently enlisting the help of a few friends to make a selection of videos, such as Ben from NCM Rooms. If you think you could have a chuckle making a video with us, please get in touch!
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The a.P.A.t.T. / CHOPS UK tour, 28 April - 3 May 2008 was truly beautiful! a.P.A.t.T. make such great tour buddies! Wonderful company, excellent laughs and jollity, seeing their brilliance live every night... it is fair to say that the world can expect more a.P.A.t.T. and CHOPS tours together in the future - if anyone on Continent Europe fancies the flavour, we should totally hook it up!!!??? Massive thanks to everyone that helped us out with the tour - Let The Bastards Grind and Joe in Bristol, Chris and Claire UTR, Ed and Craig in Leicester/Worcester, Ben and Cassie in Birmingham.
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CHOPS/HELHESTON split 12" on coloured vinyl coming soon on UPSET THE RHYTHM RECORDS!
CHOPS has been invited into the bosom of Upset! The Rhythm, as part of their on-going vinyl split series of UK bands. We are fussy fuckers, and U!TR is one of the few groups of people we feel right at home and comfortable with; they are friendly faces, they have the right motivations and dedication, and they have mastered the delicate balance of DIY ethics and actually getting stuff done. CHOPS totally respects fellow risk-takers, and although this isn't a mutual kiss-ass exercise, we are naturally over the moon that they reciprocate the love. On Tuesday 10th July and Friday 3rd August, which seems so long ago already, we recorded at No Recording Studio with the very lovely John Hannon (who has previously recorded the likes of Trencher, Chrome Hoof, Birds Of Delay, James Blackshaw, Man Aubergine, Cleckhuddersfax, Woman, etc). We will be sharing the vinyl with HELHESTON, who were previously known as ON FIRE; a trio from Brockley/Cambridge, who play clarinet, saxophone, violin, viola, percussion, guitar, vocals, drums and tapes. It will appear for your consumption sometime REALLY soon!!! The artwork, as seen above, was created by the lovely Brian, of Narwhalz (Of Sound) and Google Earth from the Pom Kiki Crew of Richmond, Virginia, USA. In the mean time, we recommend that you take time to listen to other U!TR releases; ----BARR ----DEATH SENTENCE: PANDA! ----ESQUILAX ----GOWNS ----HANDS ON HEADS ----HIGH PLACES ----KIT ----LEOPARD LEG ----JOHN MAUS ----NO AGE ----NUMBERS ----SOILED MATRESS & THE SPRINGS ----THE STICKS ----T.I.T.S. ----TRENCHER ----YIKES
Sneak preview of a CHOPS track from the forthcoming UTR split 12" available from Daze Digital - Upset The Rhythm Podcast, along side Gowns, Softboiled Eggies, High Places, Soiled Mattress & The Springs, John Maus, Hands On Heads, Death Sentence: Panda!, The Sticks, No Age, Barr and Future Islands. Another CHOPS song on a UTR podcast is available from Caff-Flick, along side 29 other bands such as Telepathe, Gay Against You, Abe Vigoda, Helhesten, Foot Village, a.P.A.t.T., etc! And yet another CHOPS song is on the 199th (March 14th) Z-Radio broadcast, along with Plush Kitty, Human Host, Air Hate Band, Weyes Bluhd and Axolotl, Bill Cosby and the Black Disaster, and Art Baker’s Colostomy Bag, etc. The ZRadio dudes rule, please go and listen, and keep listening, every week, without fail, for it will enhance your musical livelihoods very nicely.
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A message about the songs featured on this here profile:
It should be noted that, with the exception of 'OSPYLCA EMIT' from the forthcoming UTR split 12", all other songs featured on this here profile were recorded through a cheap microphone into an old laptop, mostly live and improvised at practices or at gigs.
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A couple of live reviews:
"We walk in to a resplurgent opening from Chops, Leeds' answer to nothing at all. It's all beats here and BEATS there and more beats, then some Lightning Bolt guitars and boom keyboards. Then some guy walks around the crowd talking into his microphone, or is he singing? Either way, it's a great performance." (Magic Monster review of Black Dice, Family Underground and Chops, 17 March 2008)
Slightly non-CHOPS-related, but exciting none-the-less; Dom toured and played replacement sax for the totally brilliant space=prog=doom=disco=rock=orchestra CHROME HOOF (on Southern Records) around Europe from 20 Feb - 8 March. Much jollity was had. CHOPS then returned to live-action with an Upset The Rhythm gig at CARGO in London with BLACK DICE, which was a rather splendid evening enjoyed by everyone involved.
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TALIBAM!, CHOPS and COWTOWN UK TOURS - NOVEMBER 2007
We had a barrel of laughs on tour with TALIBAM!, PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ and COWTOWN! Super thanks to everyone involved in helping out... Howard, Lucy, Phil, Tom, RAC mechanic Steve for helping get the van working again, Allan, Jake, Sam, Lurch, Kaz, Crysto, Jase, Giles, Duncan, Paul, Andy, Noel, Mark, Jon, Lorrie, Chris, Chukka, Luke and Tanith! And of course massive thanks to Matt, Kevin, Sticks, BJ, Nash, Hils, Shields and Steeevesie for being very lovely tour buddies! And yeah, big thanks to everyone that put their heads through the door and joined us to shake booty! Dom sends apologies to the French girl in Brighton who I squashed a bit when I fell over.
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Totally in the pipeline, but probably going to take a while, CHOPS and TALIBAM! are slowly working on the creation of a split DVD, to be released on the Chinchilla-Tone label. You can be assured that it will be as visually stimulating as it is aurally exciting! If you live near Leeds, UK and are interested in film, set production, costume creation, acting, or any of that fandangle, please get in touch with us - the more on board the merrier! Oh, and please do go and entertain yourself by listening to TALIBAM!
'CHOP OF THE POPS' was released on a Room237 and Poor Girl Noise compilation in July 2007. The cd is a hand-made release jam-packed with football related banter, clichés and general nonsense. Each CD represents one of the 140 F.A. Cup Finals there has been; and that includes the replays. Each has a sticker with the specific F.A. Cup Final details, and coloured ribbon of the team that won the cup that year. Get in touch with Poor Girl Noise if you would like a cd and have a preference for a specific cup final year! It should be noted that CHOPS does not endorse corporate sports.
The first CHOPS release was a series of free 7 song CD-Rs in a variety of lo-fi/non-existent packages. We donated approximately 800 of them to various joyful looking people across the UK.
To contact us or book us a gig if you are not a total idiot::: mightychops@mail.com
To contact us or book us a gig if you are a total idiot::: spohcythgim@liam.moc
Our 9 seater Mercedes Benz Sprinter Van is perfectly adequate for Earth travel! Invite us to your town (perhaps lure us with offerings of gold and vegan consumables?) and we will arrive; friendly, fresh faced, and full of beans!
Here is some generalised information for people interested in organsing a CHOPS performance >>>>> The information is not intended to sound negative; we hope that this will serve the purpose of ensuring that our gigs remain positive, enjoyable experiences for everyone involved:
>>> To the uninitiated, untrained eye, it could seem that we are active only sporadically, but it is not because we are lazy! It is because we are (at present) only capable of being in one place at any one time - unfortunately, one or more of us is absent on a persistently regular basis; driving other bands on tour; playing in other bands; doing sound at gigs; disappearing on radical benders; all that kind of thing. However, do not be alarmed! CHOPS is a dedicated and committed team! We will bend all the rules, open all the doors, flick all the switches, press all the buttons, and continue so on and so forth until we satisfy your every need.....
>>> We enjoy playing gigs outside of the usual venue set up - for example; youth centres, old people's homes, festivals, city centre streets, schools, all ages venues, squats, office christmas parties, people's houses, village fêtes, practice spaces, etc. We also enjoy playing gigs with audiences not expecting to hear something like what we get up to. We would very much like to avoid crummy scenarios such as pay-to-play, idiot promoters, venues with aggro security guards, rooms that sound terrible, and where possible, audiences that suck on lemons.
>>> We will often decide to not play on a stage. It is much more fun for us to be able to engage with the audience at close quarters. We are able to do this because we are a self-sufficient band; we have all our own gear - we don't neccessarily need a PA or sound engineer; all we need is the space to play, and some power sockets to plug into.
>>> If we are on tour, or having to travel a considerable distance from Leeds, some vegan food and space to rest weary heads when the party ends would be muchly appreciated, and earn you the great wealth of our heartiest of loves!
>>> We only ask for cash to cover our costs (fuel, plus a bit extra to go towards the upkeep of the van). If the event has been a great success and all the gig/venue/PA/band costs have been covered, we believe that it is courteous to divide any remaining cash equally between the bands/performers; and on exceptionally cash-rich nights, for the promoter to keep a small amount of cash aside to help rescue any future gigs where things haven't gone so well. This is how we work when we organise gigs (chinchilla), and in our idealistic world, we keep our hopes up for similar treatment.
We very much look forward to playing with/for/amongst you, getting to know you, partying with you, .....
CHOPS LIVE! Performance 4 :: JUNE 9th @ GALVANISED - Space Studios, London
Chinchilla were invited to participate in a 3 day festival, with a bunch of other labels, each providing two bands/artists (chinchilla put a.P.A.t.T. and CHOPS forward to play). Other labels involved included:Golden Lab (Manchester), Curor (Brighton), Unluck (London),
Seed (London).
8th June: My Ambulance is on Fire, Goodiepal, Signals, Rocketnumbernine, Skitkanja /// 9th June: a.p.a.t.t., Le Couteau Jaune, Cowtown, CHOPS, Serfs /// 10th June: Chora, Isambard Kingston Brunel, Horatio Pollard, Clouds, Madame P, Stuckometer + Panel Discussion (Far Gone and out - The history of experimental music in the U.K.)
CHOPS LIVE! Performance 3 :: MAY 21st @ The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (British Wildlife) with OvO (Load Records, Italy), TRIO-VD, Souvaris, Signuls, and Dome Stick.
CHOPS LIVE! Performance 2 :: APRIL 27th @ The Klondyke Club, Manchester (Golden Lab) with Death Sentance: Panda! and Ford Maddox Brown.
CHOPS LIVE! Performance 1 :: FEBRUARY 28th @ The Library, Leeds with Clark (Warp Records), Random Number (Rock Action, Catmobile Records), WorriedAboutSatan
