RELEASE : CHOPS / HELHESTON 12" (UPSET! THE RHYHTM, October 2008)
RELEASE : Stench Of Muscle compCD, (STENCH OF MUSCLE, September 2007)
RELEASE : CHOPS Tour CDR (Self Released, November 2007) - FREE DOWNLOAD
RELEASE : Concentrate On The League compCD , ROOM237 & PGN, 2007)
RELEASE : Get Civilised compCD, CHINCHILLA-TONE, 2007)
RELEASE : CHOPS (1000 free CDRs in envelopes, Self Released, 2007)

HIGH RES PRESS PHOTOS:

All photos by Ian Marshall

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Ah, you sweet little rogue, you! alas, poor ape, how thou sweatest! Come, let me wipe thy face; come on, you whoreson chops: ah, rogue! i'faith, I love thee: thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy, worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times better than the Nine Worthies" (King Henry IV, part II: II, iv Shakespeare).

The CHOPS / Helhesten split 12" on UPSET! THE RHYHTM is out now! Available from CHOPS gigs, the Chinchilla distro, and various independent record stores in the UK such as Jumbo, Rough Trade, Picadilly, Mono, etc. Also available at UTR gigs and online, as well as through Southern Records Europe and USA and iTunes.

There'll be some footage courtesy of TRACKS (ARTE TV France and Germany) up soon; CHOPS, a.P.A.t.T., Zun Zun Egui, DJ Scotch Egg and Katie Stelmanis live footage and interviews from Hokaben Festival November 2008 broadcast on 9 January 2009.

CHOPS did a big interview for Plan B at the end of 2008, and due to excessive wordage, not all of it got printed. You can see the interview in its entirety over on the Upset The Rhythm blog. Plan B reviewed the UTR split 12" with Helhesten in the January 09 issue, which also features a CHOPS 'In The Studio' interview. The review of the alubm is just here....

"This one's easy: there's no going wrong, because there aren't any words that don't fit in a CHOPS review and because there aren't any sounds that don't fit in a CHOPS record. Caution: we may have exceed our hyperbole allowance for the week. Sherbert dib-dabs, Ladybird books, Delia Derbyshire jacked up on E. Caustic nonsense reigns supreme; ice cream headaches, pause for breath. Rollercoaster accident, bird on a wire; thank you sir, I'll leave the sugar and slice the horror movies up with razors instead. That's the kind of album this is. Or, at least, that's the kind of album this is until the final track which comes courtesy of Helhesten, who take you for a gentle walk through a dark cellar and out into the cold night, dragging bows awkwardly across strings and straws while they're at it. Nineteen minutes of scaremongering later and you're ready to head straight back to Top Of The Chops".

"Frantic prog/Dance/Rock and free rhythm clatter" (Jumbo Records)

"Loads cooler than you could ever hope to be. CHOPS play that music that kids like with homemade synths, retro saxophone stuff and dancing. If you have ever worn sunglasses indoors, they are your new favourite band. In spite of this, they’re actually rather good. I give them 12 cheese food slices." (Play Something We Know Blog)

"A crazy, crazzzzy mangled pop, squirreled through gong sax, fx smeared keys, melt banana tempo switch-a-roos, and fits of absolutely mental drumming… Trying to describe their sound is just pointless, it’s just something you need to experience for yourself..." (RottenMeats review of Winkstock Festival, 2008)

"We walk in to a resplurgent opening from CHOPS, Leeds' answer to nothing at all. It's all beats here and BEATS there and more beats, then some Lightning Bolt guitars and boom keyboards. Then some guy walks around the crowd talking into his microphone, or is he singing? Either way, it's a great performance." (Magic Monster review of Black Dice, Family Underground and CHOPS, 17 March 2008)

"I missed CHOPS because I was busy breaking into parks but I'm told they were great." (Hybrid Formats review of Colour Ride Festival with DJ Scotch Egg, Helhesten, The Rebel, etc)

"I'm a prat. Got my times muddled and missed out on opening band CHOPS. Oops. I hear they were stupid but great, so that's that one hastily out of the way." (Leeds Music Scene review of I Love West Yorkshire, 21st March 2008)

"CHOPS, well god knows what they were like as my train didn’t get in on time to check them out, but they seemed pretty good at packing up their stuff." (Sonic Mind Field Review of Deerhunter, High Places, CHOPS, 16 June 2008)

"When it comes to the experimental and the avant garde, US bands are beating us hands down. So where are our new sonic pioneers?... there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Formed in 2003 by "a bunch of kids who were bored of the London music scene", London-based promoters Upset the Rhythm are one of the most important allies of underground music in the UK... And UTR is certainly not alone in fighting the underground's corner, as promoters such as the Leeds-based Chinchilla Collective attest to. The knock-on effect of this is palpable evidence of the UK underground rousing itself from a baffling hibernation, with bands such as Leopard Leg, Polly Shang Kuan Band (who have released a seven-inch single on Ecstatic Peace, and toured with Magik Markers), Quack Quack, CHOPS, Birds of Delay and Hex Out Tapes producing work of note. It will be interesting to see how the scene develops over the next few years, then, and who knows, perhaps in the near future at All Tomorrow's Parties we'll see just as many UK acts on the bill as those from across the pond" (James Wignall, Guardian Unlimited, November 2007).