(Author's Note: I was tasked by the members of Chum to pen the band's biography around the time of their reunion in the summer of 2005. While this bio has appeared online in a variety of places, in some cases my credit to its authorship has been removed. What follows is the second in a two-part series of that original biography, updated to include events through December 2012.)
At the time Huntington, West Virginia's Chum officially split in 1999, the band's bassist, Chris Tackett, had already resurfaced in the rockabilly revival outfit The Heptanes (which also included two members of Huntington’s Fuzzbucket, Kevin Allison and Alex Kendall), who released its debut album ‘Phantom Cadillac’ in 2000.
(The Heptanes' 'Phantom Cadillac', 2000)
'Phantom Cadillac' was recorded by the band in three days (in late-1999) and produced by David Barrick, who had also held the reins for Chum's 'Dead To The World' some four years prior.
Meanwhile, Chum vocalist/guitarist John Lancaster had relocated the band to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the breakup occurred, and immediately formed Dead Letter Room and, later, Semi-Automatic, who would release its own debut album, ‘Toiling To Create Glorious Music For The Proletariat’ in the early 2000's.
Concurrently, drummer Chuck Nicholas had finished his stint with Karma To Burn and had been replaced by Rob Oswald (formerly of Buttsteak and Jade).
Eventually, The Heptanes morphed into Milk Of Napalm, which would also feature Chum guitarist Mac Walker and the former drummer of Huntington's Bacon Hat, Marvin Huffman.
In January 2002, the various members of Chum crossed paths when Semi-Automatic was booked to perform at The Stoned Monkey in Huntington.
(Semi-Automatic's 'Toiling To Create Glorious Music For The Proletariat')
Also on the bill was Milk Of Napalm, so the trio of Tackett, Lancaster and Walker announced that they would, for one night only, reunite for a homecoming set of Chum classics. (Semi-Automatic’s Dave Becknell would fill in on drums, as Nicholas was unable to attend.)
It was a well-received performance that left the band’s still-thriving fan base hoping for a possible full-scale reunion.
That would not prove to be the case, as each member forged on in his respective band.
Although the seed had been planted, a proper Chum reformation would only be possible with the inclusion of Nicholas, who had seemingly moved on and left the music scene behind.
As had been the fate of their other post-Chum projects, Milk Of Napalm soon disbanded, as did Semi-Automatic.
Disheartened by the current musical climate, Tackett decided to leave himself to his own devices and started recording new material for his own amusement.
Those recordings would eventually mutate into the experimental, drone outfit Hyatari.
Walker then returned from a stint working as an engineer and the duo added long-time Chum confidant Brett Fuller to the mix.
Hyatari’s doom-laden riffs and monolithic wall-of-sound got the band noticed by heavy music insiders and the band was asked to appear at the Stoner Hands of Doom Festival in September 2003.
That performance led to a recording contract with Earache Records' subsidiary Codebreaker, who agreed to re-release Hyatari’s self-released debut album, ‘The Light Carriers.'
The response to Tackett and Walker's new project was overwhelming, specifically in Europe, and Hyatari would soon appear in a number of overseas publications.
It was during one such interview that it was revealed that the members of Hyatari had cut their teeth playing in the relatively unknown, but highly-respected Chum.
Jochen Boellath, proprietor of a German label known as Daredevil Records was, at the same time, compiling a wish list of prospective bands to be featured on the third volume of his ‘Burn the Street’ series, when he received word that the members of Hyatari were half of the quartet formerly known as Chum, coincidentally, one of his favorite bands.
('Burn The Street' Volume 3, Daredevil Records, 2004)
He immediately contacted Tackett about the possible inclusion of an unreleased Chum track for the compilation.
The idea was a stretch, at best.
The former members of Chum, however, were still sitting on a number of unreleased recordings from 1998 (and earlier) that were to have formed the core of their second full-length album.
Tackett felt that, if reworked and re-recorded, one of those songs, “Embracing The Eyesore,” would fit perfectly on a compilation that was to feature such bands as Nebula, Hermano (featuring Nicholas’ former Black Cat Bone and Control Freak comrade, David Angstrom) and long-time friends from Cleveland, Ohio, Disengage.
Ironically, Lancaster had recently returned home to Huntington, no sooner than to a field a second life-altering phone call from his old friend Tackett about the possibility of re-recording the track.
Having since settled down to start a family, and with no musical projects looming on the horizon, Lancaster optimistically welcomed the opportunity.
The lineup of Tackett, Walker and Lancaster then convened at Stonehenge Audio and, aided by a drum machine, laid down “Embracing The Eyesore.” (Once again, Nicholas was unable to join them due to work commitments in Indiana, where he now called home.)
With band camaraderie seemingly at an all-time high, it was then decided that they would resurrect Chum in earnest and an official reunion was announced in the summer of 2004.
Nicholas finally agreed and began commuting to Huntington to aid his band mates in planning their full-scale assault.
Now that all the principal players were back in place, Chum was booked to perform at Huntington’s Monkeybar in September with Disengage.
They followed that performance with a slot at X-Fest, an annual all-day rock festival hosted by Huntington’s WAMX 106.3 radio station, and also featured headliners Monster Magnet.
(John Lancaster and Chris Tackett of Chum, X-Fest 2004)
Both shows were met with a resounding response and the band committed to writing new material to be featured on their elusive sophomore album.
Chum would also continue to perform sporadic live shows in the summer of 2005, with back-to-back regional performances in July at the Monkeybar and The Sound Factory in Charleston, West Virginia.
The first night was, by all accounts, a phenomenal success, but rumors began to surface that the band’s second performance left much to be desired and internal strife had started to rear its ugly head once again.
Those rumors were soon confirmed when Chum went on another indefinite hiatus.
In the interim, Lancaster formed Earth To Eros, a three-piece featuring drummer Rusty Knight and Barry Smith, his old Guru Lovechild pal, on bass.
(Earth To Eros' 'Black Naked Eye' EP, 2006)
The band would self-release the ‘Black Naked Eye’ EP in 2006, and perform a few select shows, among them X-Fest 2007, before commencing to write and record a full-length album.
Tackett and Walker, meanwhile, continued on with Hyatari, eventually recording and releasing the band’s second album, ‘They Will Surface,’ in 2007.
Following its release, the duo added drummer Jude Blevins to the lineup to fill out their live sound.
One such performance, opening for Nebula in August 2009 at Huntington's Club Echo, also featured a special guest on guitar – Lancaster.
(Lancaster and Blevins had, coincidentally, already been collaborating on a side-project they would eventually baptize Skinfork.)
When Earth To Eros’ next recording session stalled Lancaster took the opportunity to focus on solo material that he had been accumulating over the years.
In late-2009, he officially announced that the members of the band had gone their separate ways and was anticipating the release of his solo debut, which he issued on his own High Fidelio Recordings imprint in July 2010.
Three years in the making, ‘Phantom Moon’ included such notable guests as David Angstrom, Elwood Francis (Abusement Park, Control Freak) Aaron Grubbs (Sleep Throttle, Wonderful Pills), dUg Pinnick (King’s X) and Barry Smith.
(John Lancaster's 'Phantom Moon', High Fidelio Recordings, 2010)
(Smith and Mac Walker would also join Lancaster’s live band for some regional dates in support of the album.)
Meanwhile, as Hyatari was undergoing a period of inactivity, Tackett rebounded as bassist in Dream the Electric Sleep, a band from Lexington, where he now resided.
DTES would release their own debut album, ‘Lost and Gone Forever’ in the spring of 2011.
It was under these circumstances that the now-active former members of Chum once again decided to reunite and re-record a previously unreleased track (“Headhunter”) in advance of a couple of one-off performances in early October 2011.
(Chuck Nicholas would be absent from the proceedings, and was replaced by Hyatari's Blevins.)
(Jude Blevins, John Lancaster, Chris Tackett and Mac Walker, Chum, 2011)
Once such performance would be a homecoming show at Huntington’s V Club, and this was followed by an appearance one week later in Tackett’s homebase of Lexington.
Both shows were a success, and not intended to be anything more than old friends getting back together to jam, just as they had nearly 25 years earlier in an empty band room at their junior high school.
By this point, the members of Chum had grown comfortable with their own legacy and what they had accomplished in the preceding years, so these occasional get togethers had become no-pressure affairs.
Perhaps because of this perception they are well aware that theirs is a legacy that they would rather not tarnish (as so many other once-respected bands had done by sticking around long after their expiration date).
This perspective allows for each Chum performance to be a particularly special affair because one never knows when it may be their last.
(As of December 2012, John Lancaster had released his second solo offering, an EP entitled ‘Crash Test in Progress,’ and Tackett had reunited with his Heptanes cohorts, Allison and Kendall, and they are expecting to release the long-awaited follow up to their 2000 debut early next year.)
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