Smoko (song)

"Smoko" is a song by Australian punk rock band The Chats. It was initially released on their EP Get This in Ya!! on 31 July 2017, before being released as a single on 14 August.[1]

"Smoko"
Single by The Chats
from the album Get This in Ya!!
Released14 August 2017[1]
Recorded2017
GenrePunk rock
Length3:00
Songwriter(s)The Chats
Producer(s)Fin Wegener
The Chats singles chronology
"Smoko"
(2017)		 "Do What I Want"
(2018)

The song gained international attention following the release of its viral music video on YouTube on 3 October 2017.[2] The song was certified gold in Australia in May 2021.

Background

Eamon Sandwith, bassist of the Chats, explained to Red Bull that the song originated in December 2016:[3]

I was walking to the bakery from my dad’s house. The words of the chorus just got stuck in my head while I was walking, and when I got home I wrote the song. Josh [Price, guitarist] and Matt [Boggis, drums] helped me make it sound better.

The song was included as the opening track to their second EP, Get This in Ya!!, released on 31 July 2017.[4] The music video for the song was released on 3 October 2017 on YouTube, and it immediately began garnering an unexpected amount of attention, ultimately culminating in more than 19 million views by October 2023.[5]

Music video

The music video for the song, shot by Matisse Langbein (who also did the artwork for Get This In Ya) at Peregian Beach, mostly adheres to the lyrics in the song, depicting Chats bassist Eamon Sandwith wearing a lifeguard shirt, approaching a tradesman on a construction site (played by Josh Price) eating a sausage roll while sitting on a milk crate (referred to in the song as a 'milk crate throne'). During the chorus, it cuts to the band playing on the same construction site. During the second verse, Eamon rises from his bed, drinks a can of beer and opens a laptop to see a piece of paper pasted on the laptop screen saying "CENNO: ZERO BUCKS" (referencing the lyric "So it's Tuesday morning/And my Centrelink hasn't come through). It then cuts to him on the phone calling Centrelink with drummer Matt Boggis playing a Centrelink employee, who leaves him hanging until he picks up the phone and yells the chorus of the song, leaving Eamon banging the doorway in anger, and then puts down the phone. It then cuts to Eamon on a beach with binoculars, seeing what appears to be a woman having trouble in the ocean, but then checks his (non-existent) watch and realizes it's 'smoko'. It then cuts to the band playing in a different area nearby the same ocean, where the video ends shortly afterwards.[2]

Reception

Triple J Unearthed described "Smoko" in their biography of The Chats as being "a perfectly put together punk song protesting the drudgery of dole queue angst, minimum wage life and work-place hierarchies." The song and its video became popular in late 2017. The song also drew attention from musicians such as Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, Alex Turner, and Iggy Pop.[6]

Personnel
  • Eamon Sandwith – vocals
  • Josh Price – guitar
  • Tremayne McCarthy – bass, backing vocals [7]
  • Matt Boggis – drums

Certifications
Certifications for "Smoko"
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[8] Gold 35,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "Smoko – The Chats – Bandcamp". 14 August 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2020 – via Bandcamp.
  2. "The Chats – Smoko (Official Video)". 3 October 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2020 – via YouTube.
  3. "The Chats Smoko Interview". www.redbull.com. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  4. "Get This In Ya, by The Chats". The Chats. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  5. THE CHATS - SMOKO (OFFICIAL VIDEO), retrieved 16 October 2023
  6. "Dave Grohl, Alex Turner & Josh Homme Went To The Chats' Gig & There's Receipts To Prove It". Music Feeds. 12 July 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  7. "The Chats: "We're self-aware. We know we're not cool" | NME Australia". NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  8. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2021 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
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