Why Metallica, David Lee Roth rejected Aussie rockers The Chats

Aussie upstarts The Chats reveal how their run in with Metallica and David Lee Roth went south.

When irreverent Australian rockers The Chats sent off a couple of requests to Metallica and David Lee Roth to use a snippet of their old stuff for the band’s new record, they didn’t hold out much hope of permission being granted.

Roth rejected frontman Eamon Sandwith’s request to repurpose a lyric from Panama for their single 6L GTR and Metallica said no despite The Chats covering Holier Than Thou for a tribute album released last year.

“There were a couple of rejections we got, one was David Lee Roth and the other was Metallica. And I didn’t expect either of them to actually let us use their intellectual property because, as it obviously seemed to them, we were taking the piss, which we were, so I can’t really fault them for that,” Sandwith says.

“Sunny Coast” rockers The Chats are waiting for their XXXX sponsorship. Picture: Luke Henery

The frontman and bandmates Matt Boggis and Josh Hardy actually met the members of Metallica in July, just ahead of the release of their second album Get F … ed.

Sandwith wisely decided to let the permission rejection slide to keep the American rock legends on side, adding them to the band’s considerable list of superstar champions which includes Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, Iggy Pop and the Arctic Monkeys.

It was their 2017 viral smash Smoko – from their second EP titled Get This In Ya! – which propelled the “Sunny Coast” rockers to viral fame and more than 20 million Spotify streams.

And every song released since then has sounded like a throwback to the halcyon era of Australian pub rock as it lampoons, or celebrates, quintessentially Aussieness.

Sunshine Coast band The Chats party with Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and Arctic Monkeys after their LA show. Picture: Supplied.

The Chats are the Aussiest punk rockers to land in the ARIA charts and dominate the alternative airwaves in the past decade.

On the debut album High Risk Behaviour, they delivered such postmodern punk classics as Pud Feed (covered by The Wiggles on their Rewiggled record) and Dine N Dash.

On Get F … ked, Sandwith knows one song is going to get him in strife with pedantic Queenslanders. And that’s I’ve Been Drunk in Every Pub in Brisbane.

As there are about 250 pubs and bars in the Queensland capital city, The Chats could put their song to the test in under a year but they wouldn’t get much else done, like touring or recording.

“I thought that the title was tongue-in-cheek enough for people not to take it seriously. But I don’t know, I guess some people will probably be like ‘He’s a fraud! I’ve never seen him at the f. kin’ Wynnum pub or whatever,” he says.

The Chats outside Brisbane's Boggo Road Jail … because they wrote a song about it. Picture: Luke Henery

Like their heroes AC/DC before them, The Chats are unapologetic about playing punk rock songs which could offend any number of people looking to be offended.

As smoking returns as a major health risk with the vape craze, The Chats are bemoaning The Price Of Smokes “have gone up again, a dollar 95 a cigarette” or calling out the Ticket Inspector or the Southport Superman.

But Sandwith doesn’t steer away from delivering unvarnished personal truths as he does on the song Panic Attack.

“When I wrote that, I wasn’t trying to make a joke, and I do think there are songs on the new record that are definitely more serious and not so tongue-in-cheek or purposefully dumb or anything,” he says.

“I mean, when we started, we were like 16 and now we’re 23 so you want to progress a little bit, not too much – we’re not pulling out synthesisers or church organs.

“A keytar, oh, I’d be down with that.”

There is always a wry irony in punk rock success. Sandwith wears rock’s underdog status in the streaming era as a badge of honour.

“There’s more of a sense of community within the bands who share a similar sound, it feels like we’re all in this together,” he says.

“It’s not like a competition which is kind of how it seemed when you read those old music magazines and all these bands want to talk about is how much they hate all these other bands and stuff and it’s just silly.”

The Chats are far from haters. They signed another quintessential Australian rock band King Stingray to their indie label.

King Sting’s Yolngu surf rock sound also recalls ’80s pub rock even as their songs celebrate East Arnhem culture and the band is rapidly growing their audience, gig by gig, commanding an impressive crowd of early adopters at Splendour in The Grass in July.

Brisbane band Waax are bringing the Aussie back to rock. Picture: Supplied.

Another band wearing their Aussieness with pride is another Brisbane rock outfit Waax, whose second record At Least I’m Free – co-produced by Australian rock god Bernard Fanning – debuted at No. 20 last month.

And, of course, there is the Melbourne legends King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard who haven’t left a rock genre unexplored in their discography library – the band has produced 20 studio albums in a decade with such wondrous titles as Flying Microtonal Banana and Gumboot Soup.

Indie rocker Stella Donnelly is also not shy about celebrating Australiana with her music videos often co-starring iconic symbols of suburbia.

Get F … ed is out now. Their Australian tour kicks off in Hobart on September 10 with all dates, including their support dates with Guns N’ Roses, via https://www.thechatslovebeer.com/

Originally published as Why Metallica, David Lee Roth rejected Aussie rockers The Chats