Chk Chk Chk Made the Thursday Morning Hangover Worth It

For the latest record from !!! (Chk Chk Chk), As If, founder and frontman Nic Offer turned to a wide variety of influences: The Cure, Diana Ross, Erykah Badu, Jai Paul, and old school house all flavored the band’s sixth studio album. Wednesday night, Offer and company needed all that history combined with their own unstoppable energy to get the groove going at Gramps in Wynwood, and they handily pulled it off.

Early on in the night, the patrons of Gramps were entertained by the bar’s weekly bingo night and the openers, Stereolad, who are a Stereolab tribute band that features members of Chk Chk Chk. Initially lathered up and ready to go, the audience seemed to pull back some in the intervening time between Stereolad and Chk Chk Chk. Perhaps the drinks were still kicking in, or, since the headliners didn’t take the stage until after 11 p.m., they realized that Thursday morning was fast approaching.

Regardless, once Offer jumped on stage, he didn’t quit and didn’t allow the crowd to quit either. Packed into an intimate space at the outdoor stage, with the South Florida weather (finally) cooperating, the scales fell off of our eyes and we saw what fun looks like. 
Offer’s curly-haired mop top bounced as effervescently as the music. As the leader of this dance party, Offer was the “Disco Infiltrator” that LCD Soundsystem sang about a decade ago. There were shades of noise rock tangoing with the sexy funk of Prince and the sizzling indietronic of Hot Chip and Friendly Fires.

For a band that’s been around as long as the New York-based outfit, this should be the point in their lives where the only reason they visit the Sunshine State is to look at prospective retirement communities. Instead, Offer and Chk Chk Chk burn with the intensity of newborn suns, as hungry as an undiscovered band of youngsters.
Chk Chk Chk performed fan favorites including “One Girl/One Boy” and “Slyd,” as well as several cuts from its brilliant new record. “Freedom! ‘15” in particular burst with a vitality that overtook Offer so tightly he leaped into the crowd and danced his way to the middle, hopping repeatedly, sucking in the mass around him like a whirlpool tugging at an ocean liner.

There’s a line in “Sick Ass Moon,” one of the first tracks Chk Chk Chk premiered off of As If, that goes: “All night, I’m gonna sing my song/goddamnit ’till the break of dawn.” Had there not been a time restraint on the concert last night, they might have lived up to this motto.

In the end, although Chk Chk Chk normally spells its name !!!,  its effort at Gramps was worthy of an extra !, as it so often is.