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LAist Interview: Allan Wilson of !!! (Chk Chk Chk)
!!! aka Chk Chk Chk (or any other triple repeated expletive) played at the Avalon a couple weeks ago to a large crowd of friends, supporters, party-people, and folks who just effing wanted to dance. The band is 8 months into touring to support their incredible album Myth Takes and are about to embark for another pass through Europe.
!!! loves LA - they have a lot of friends here, they make a pilgrimage to the Hollywood Amoeba and to various bars and eateries in Echo Park and Silverlake. We had the chance to talk to !!!'s sax- synth- and percussionist Allan Wilson in the !!! tour bus outside the Paradise in Boston before they played to (yet another) capacity crowd. Allan is the Portland, OR -based member of the band which also has members in Sacramento and Brooklyn.
Hear about what it's like to put out this kind of high energy music day in and day out for the better par of a year. Hear about what's different between the music scene in Europe vs the US, and hear Allan's thoughts on what might happen to the music industry after seeing what's happening on both sides of the pond. Hear the full interview below:
More pics and details after the jump
Playing the kind of intense dance music that they're known for is hard work Allan explained. Songs on their recordings can be up to 8 or 9 minutes long but they can go to 15 minutes live. But the layers of free-form rhythms that make up these jams are simultaneously the source for new material. "Myth Takes", first tune on Myth Takes, is a song that simply started out as a jam right there during the recording project.
All the members contribute ideas and song concepts and even though they are eager for a break after concluding their scheduled pass through Europe (including a festival in Iceland, of all places) Allan anticipates a new session of recording beginning less than 6 months from now. In the meantime, we have an opportunity to get some endurance training in as well as stocking up on their back catalogue: !!!, Louden Up Now, and several EPs including a live session called Live Live Live that LAist hadn't even heard of. If you haven't been fortunate enough to see the !!! phenom in person, their recordings are very worthy stand-ins and it's what you'll have to deal with, hippies, until next year sometime.
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Vocalist Nic Offer and gang rocking it
!!! dancing to their DJ pre-show
The very kind Allan Wilson who gave LAist almost an hour of his time pre-show as well as a Lucky Stripe.
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Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive from readers like you will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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