The Chavs is an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

supergroup band originally formed in London in 2004, by former Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things guitarist

Carl Barât Carl Ashley Raphael Barât (; born 6 June 1978) is a British musician best known for being the co-frontman with Pete Doherty of the indie rock band the Libertines. He was the frontman and guitarist of Dirty Pretty Things, and in 2010 debuted a ...

. Alongside Barât in the band are Tim Burgess of The Charlatans and drummer Andy Burrows from

Razorlight Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Dalem ...

. They made their live debut at Chatham's Tap'n'Tin, in December 2004, where the set included the Libertines songs "Death On the Stairs", "France" and "Road To Ruin", the Charlatans' "A Man Needs To Be Told" and "North Country Boy", Burgess' solo song "I Believe In The Spirit" and festive songs including a cover of "

Fairytale of New York "Fairytale of New York" is a song written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan and recorded by their London-based band the Pogues, featuring English singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl on vocals. The song is an Irish folk-style ballad and was writ ...

" by

The Pogues The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...

. The Tap'n'Tin is the same venue the Libertines played on the night after

Pete Doherty Peter Doherty (born 12 March 1979) is an English musician. He is best known for being co-frontman of the Libertines, which he formed with Carl Barât in 1997. His other musical projects are indie rock, indie bands Babyshambles and Peter Dohert ...

was released from prison for burgling Barât's flat in 2003. The band also played the launch of

Alan McGee Alan John McGee (born 29 September 1960) is a Scottish businessman and music industry executive. He has been a record label owner, musician, manager, and music blogger for ''The Guardian''. He co-founded the independent Creation Records label, r ...

's ''Death Disco TV'', which was shown on Rockworld TV in July 2007. For the gig Burgess, Barât and Duffy were joined by Jamie Reynolds and Steffan Halperin from the

Klaxons Klaxons were an English Rock music, rock band, based in London. Following the release of several Gramophone record, 7-inch singles on different independent record labels, as well as the success of previous singles "Magick (Klaxons song), Magick ...

and Didz Hammond, Gary Powell and Anthony Rossomando from Dirty Pretty Things. The set drew from all three bands' material with " Golden Skans", "North Country Boy" (which merged into a cover of

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

classic "

You Can't Always Get What You Want "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1969 album '' Let It Bleed''. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was named as the 100th greatest song of all time by ''Rolling Sto ...

") and " Bang Bang You're Dead" all featuring, as well as their own song "Kickin' Against The Pricks", which name-checks the Tap'n'Tin. The band appeared in almost full format at the 2007

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

in Lost Vagueness; with Carl, Jamie and Tim. The band was missing Martin Duffy and Andy Burrows but were assisted by Anthony Rossomando, Didz Hammond and Gary Powell in their place. The band appeared on an open mic stage and turned up wearing fancy dress; only revealing themselves after one song. Tim Burgess has stated that the band had planned to record an "avant-garde" debut album in August 2008. Their official Myspace page claimed that they have one already written and rehearsed a single they hope to release in the future called 'I Always Crack a Smile', but this now seems unlikely due a lack of activity from the band.

Personnel

;Current lineup *

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...

– lead vocals (2024–present) *

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and a founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is nicknamed "Cookie" by friends in the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was ...

– drums (2024–present) * Steve Jones – lead guitar, backing vocals (2024–present) * Tony James – bass, backing vocals (2024–present) ;Former members *

* Tim Burgess * Andy Burrows * Anthony Rossomando * Gary Powell * Martin Duffy * Didz Hammond

References

External links

The Chavs
– The Chavs official Myspace

– Footage of The Chavs performing live for Rockworld TV at the Cuckoo Club

– Goodbye Essex girl, hello Chatham girl; 26 May 2002.
BBC
– Chavs in Chatham. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chavs, The British rock music supergroups Indie rock groups from London Musical groups established in 2004 Musical groups disestablished in 2023