Bands to Watch #37: The Chapman Family

This is one for all you Joy Division fans to check out. Before you’ve even listened to The Chapman Family, it’s clear to all they’re influenced by the Manc band – they’ve placed them as their top friend on MySpace, for starters. Distorted guitars, heavy basslines and dark vocals – The Chapman Family have already gained an ickle bit of a reputation thanks to their support slots alongside bands such as We Are Scientists and Reverend and the Makers.

Their edgy tunes echo those of Maximo Park, with a great deal more grit and a lot less commercialism. The Chapmans are pure energetic gloom, guaranteed to get your pace beating a little faster thanks to their hardcore, surrealist sounds that wouldn’t be out of place in a sweaty club deep underground.

Now, however, the band are rising, ready to spread their strangeness on a riotous trip across the U.K, starting out in November at Cardiff and coming to an end in their hometown of Stockton on Tees mid December. If you can catch them live, be prepared for a chaotic bash - the band are currently filing a request for donations of old guitars which they’ll happily destroy on stage for you (really!).

Want to download just one track to get a feel for them? We suggest ‘Sounds of the Radio‘ - go on, give it a listen!