It's been two and a half years since members of the Charlatans, the Klaxons, Dirty Pretty Things, Primal Scream and Razorlight first teamed up as a short-term supergroup. But now some of these musicians are set to reunite - and they're even recording an album. The Chavs were born in December of 2004, when the Charlatans' Tim Burgess was asked to perform a solo gig the Tap'n'Tin in Chatham, Kent. "My guitar skills are not the greatest so I asked [Dirty Pretty Things'] Carl [Barat] if he would come along and play the guitar for me," Burgess explained to BBC 6 Music.
Barat- a former member of the Libertines - wasn't the only one to make it out to Kent that night. "We ended up asking a load of other people down as well, [Martin] Duffy from Primal Scream and Andy Burrows from Razorlight, and we created a supergroup on the night called the Chavs."
The Chavs have since performed at a few other gigs, including an unbilled performance at the Glastonbury festival in 2007. "Every now and again we bring in new members, we lose a few members," Burgess explained, "[and] we have been known to write the occasional song and perform live. But the idea is to actually record something proper over the summer when we get a chance."
To this end, Burgess invited Barat and the Klaxons' Jamie Reynolds to a "band meeting" earlier this summer, and has now booked some studio time for August. "I think we are all free," he said. The Chavs' recording lineup will be made up of core members Burgess, Barat and Reynolds, though other musicians may appear.
However, the Chavs' ambitions may be reined in by Carl Barat's recent medical woes. "I've just heard the news yesterday that Carl got quite sick so hopefully he'll be recovered by then," Burgess said. The Dirty Pretty Things frontman was rushed to hospital this week with acute pancreatitis. He is being kept under observation until the weekend.
But the Chavs aren't just a headline-grabbing side-project, Burgess said. "I just want it to be very serious you know, which would kinda be conflicting in the way that people have seen us in the past, but I think it might be quite avant garde to be honest."
Let's hope "avant garde" doesn't mean "ridiculously indulgent".
