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Five years after telling the world to Get Fucked, Australia’s most gloriously unfiltered punk trio The Chats are back with their third studio album, Half Cut, arriving March 5, 2027 via Virgin Music Group.
The Chats offer the first taste of Half Cut today with “Off It,” accompanied by a suitably bonkers new music video. Serving as the album’s opening track, the single sets the tone for the band’s next chapter, delivering the irreverent energy and unmistakably Australian attitude that have made them a global punk phenomenon.
“Half Cut is a fun rock and roll record, but it’s maybe a little more open than stuff we’ve written in the past,” says vocalist Eamon Sandwith. “I definitely hesitate to use the word ‘mature,’ but it’s a bit of a progression, I’d say.”
Recorded at Los Angeles’ Maple Sound Studio with Frenzal Rhomb’s Jay Whalley, the new LP sees The Chats’ sound shuffle into more expansive territory without losing any of its signature Australian lyricism, as evidenced by track titles “Half Arsed,” “Hanging Shit,” and “Brown Bottle Flu.” An exploration of hangovers, confrontation, reconciliation, and even rehabilitation, Half Cut is as introspective as The Chats have ever been.
A fair bit can change in five years. Since releasing 2022’s Get Fucked, The Chats have toured rather relentlessly for a trio who kicked off their career without a plan or a passport. They’ve supported Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, and The Hives across multiple continents, made their Coachella debut this year, and most recently traversed North America alongside Social Distortion and Descendents. Along the way, they’ve progressed from teenage upstarts to slightly more world-weary 27-year-olds, a transformation that comes with its own realizations and maturations, even if the band might hesitate to call it that.
Probably best known for their 2017 ditty “Smoko” — a track that can legitimately lay claim to the term “viral” — the Sunshine Coast trio have since proven themselves to be a once-in-a-generation band. A standalone entity that’s become a bullish rebuttal to the claim that Australia has “no culture,” The Chats have established themselves as a musical force, winning over audiences at home and around the world.
