Formed at the tail end of 2014 and named after a fictional power-pop group dreamed up by drummer Mike Cranberry’s friends, The Chinchees don’t take themselves too seriously.

Take, for example, the album art for their eponymous debut LP. Dreamed up by Cranberry and Bill Rohla (bass), the design is based upon ‘The Almighty Grape’, a character the pair created when hosting a party for their friends. Rohla explains: “We threw a grape/purple themed party back in 2015. We built a “grape cluster” that contained exactly 420 Hamm’s that could be plucked straight from the “vine”! We had a giant grape called ‘The Almighty Grape’ – you could ask it anything and it would give you advice. When we were talking about album art, Mike thought of the idea of bringing it back and now it’s kind of become our mascot.”

This sense of joviality and of friendship, a willingness to laugh at themselves, is present throughout our discussion. “If I remember right, I was at The Hexagon (a Minneapolis bar) and I was just the first person Mike saw that he knew and he just wanted to play darts. Then he asked me if I wanted to be in the band with him” Bill Rohla (bass) jokes. The band’s talent, however, is nothing to take lightly. With a fuzzy, lo-fi, garage sound, The Chinchees are confidently and assuredly making a bold statement with their forthcoming album. “It was very much a conscious decision. The demos we record in our space are all pretty lo-fi mostly because we have shitty mics and we’re just kind of winging it as we go along. However, we liked the almost blown out sound of the demos and we wanted that to continue onto the record”, Rohla explains.

Tyler Walters (vocals/guitar) agrees: “I wanted the record to sound like a fuzzy, noisy, passionately drunk New Year’s Eve party with champagne spraying everywhere, guitar and drums questionably too loud and vocals sung with dirty microphones. I am really happy with how it sounds.” (Writer note: coincidentally, the first time I saw The Chinchees was in a basement in Minneapolis at 12:01am, January 1st, 2016. It was extremely fitting).

The band are eager, too, to point out that their album is far from a singular effort. Walters brings up engineer Matt Castore frequently during our discussion, praising the way he “really captures a band’s energy. He has recorded many of my favourite local punk records and they always kind of have a Twin Cities signature feel to them.” Rohla and Cranberry also lavish praise on Castore, Rohla explaining how “it was one of the most fun, relaxed, and creative experiences I’ve ever had” and Cranberry enthusiastically agreeing: “it was probably one of the smoothest experiences I’ve had recording with the intent to release. Probably recording with Matt kept us moving without throwing a stick in the spokes. I’d just feel bad if I had a frustrated, studio-freak-out moment in front of him or his dog. He’s great.”

It isn’t just an eagerness to praise Castore that stands out, though. The Chinchees grew up in the DIY punk scene in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and through these experiences have met, created and collaborated with many friends, artists and musicians. “We are all kind of stubborn people in many regards who enjoy having control over our art”, Rohla explains when asked about their approach. “We’ve learned a lot about what works from DIY; we’ve also learned a lot of what doesn’t work with it. At this point in the band, a lot of being DIY is because we have to be”.

“Being in a DIY band isn’t really strictly about ‘doing it yourself’ for me”, Walters chimes in passionately. “It’s an amazing feeling having your peers be a part of your music, whether it’s people who are passionate about recording, design, photography, video work, booking shows or anything else that goes into a band besides writing songs.” Rohla is quick to agree: “Yeah, we are thankful to be in a community that has a lot of talented artists around who can help us make these bizarre ideas come to life. I’d imagine it would be harder to do some of this stuff ourselves if we didn’t have awesome friends who happen to be awesome artists.”

Rohla details The Chinchees’ plans for a “big loop all around the west coast and up into Vancouver in March and then coming up through New Orleans and back. We also plan on doing an east coast tour this summer and hopefully just continue to try and hit the road hard for this record all year long.” Walters agrees with Rohla’s aims. “2017 is the year of The Chinchees. I’d like to spend more time touring this year, as well as writing and getting some new music together. I think we would all say we are interested in going to places other than North America, it’s just a matter of figuring out the logistics of it.”

The Chinchees debut self-titled, self-released record comes out on 24th February and you can pre-order it here.

If you’re in Minneapolis, head down to the album release party on February 16th! Details are here.

Photo credit: Caitlin Connery-Harris