CHINGALERA
is


Dave Gibney – Vocals/Guitar
Tommy Holt – Drums
Ben Shirley - Bass


As the sun set on a sultry Los Angeles night last fall, the “sunny place for shady people,” brought forth a new form of metal called CHINGALERA. The power three-piece metal band has since attracted the kind of ecstatic response of which most newcomers only dream. Based entirely on word-of-mouth and the strength of their live performances, CHINGALERA has built up a sizeable following since their first “full house” performance at the Viper Room in November 2006.

With the release of their debut album, IN THE SHADOW OF THE BLACK PALM TREE, getting their self-described “Prog Metal/ Stoner Metal” sound to the people is CHINGALERA’s primary focus. The “progressive” metal arrangements are long and feature hooks that are less traditional than ones found in most industry-produced metal. The trio has gone against every industry standard to produce the album on their indie label, Pacific Recordings.

“We give them true metal,” said bassist Ben Shirley. And with songs like the first release Trust Us True Believers’ almost four-minute intro, the band delivers.

“That’s our anti-formula song. We don’t even get to the singing for six or seven minutes,” said drummer Tommy Holt. “We wanted to do something different. We wanted to do everything on our own, and own our music.”

CHINGALERA describes the CD as a “throwback to playing live or the live recording.” The only concession made to the digital age on the CD is the CD itself. Other than the delivery of the music, the band prides itself on being “true to old-school”.

The group enlisted Chicago-based Electrical Audio Studio’s engineering wizard, Steve Albini, to record each track on 2” reel. Albini has a list of credentials that range from his own Big Black, to acts such as PJ Harvey, Pixies, Helmet and Nirvana.

Guitarist Dave Gibney, who the others describe as the creative force of the band, would not settle for anyone other than Albini. “We had to have his vision on this. We kept trying and trying and finally Tommy called and explained our vision and got us in,” he said.

The outcome is a five-track, ten-minute long each and counting, “Prog Metal” story. The CD is also released with an eight-page booklet and short film, shot in hi-def, detailing the recording session and some other insights into the band and their history. Once again the guys refused to compromise perfection and sought out highly-credentialed, award-winning, Twelve Rakes Films Director, Anthony Scarpa.

The entire packet is set for release this fall in all digital outlets, including iTunes, and a limited edition vinyl.

“We may record old school, but we will give you our music however you want it,” said Holt.

The band is currently working on their first video, to again, be directed by Scarpa. It’s a raw look at what could happen if a battered woman takes revenge, or as the band puts it, “rises to the challenge.”

The band lineup is a group that “vibes” together in a way they never did with previous acts. Holt and Shirley have been performing together for about 10 years. The duo met as band mates for former group, U.P.O..

“We went through a who’s who of Hollywood’s major label guitar players, and when we played with Dave, it was on,” said Holt.

Gibney’s history in the music industry spans over 17 years and includes acts like Fear Factory and Circle Jerks.

Gibney agreed. “Never before had I met a band so polarized between the rhythm section and the front section,” he said describing the sound of U.P.O. when he first met the two former members.

Holt said, “Everyone else seemed to not get it. But when we got together we just rocked it out.”

With heavy influences like Black Sabbath, The Melvins, Deep Purple, The Who, King Crimson, The Rollins Band, Tool and other hardcore influences, continuing with the motto “Death to False Metal” is the intention of CHINGALERA.

Named for the tour trailer they called home their first year, CHINGALERA (that fucking thing), is determined to do the Hollywood thing their own way and deliver IN THE SHADOW OF THE BLACK PALM TREE to the people in their own form.
reviews

The artwork on the CD of Chingalera's 'In The Shadow Of The Black Palm Tree' is designed to look like a vinyl record, and I can hardly think of a band that such a look would fit more. Nor the cover art itself: Simple, 50's style California logo on black leather with military block print for the album's title; it's minimalist yet eclectic and carefully designed. It's a fairly perfect match for the music, which is similarly minimalist yet lovingly crafted, with harsh, low riffs that get repeated endlessly over the album's five very lengthy tracks, bound with thick guitar tone, sparse, gravelly vocals, and some sort of super-rock drum performance that raises John Bonham from the dead and forces him to listen to Crowbar. To be more blunt and less pretentious, it's pretty sweet. This music is as much rock as it is heavy metal. There's approximately the same amount of Negative Reaction as Led Zeppelin and Sunn O))) as Pink Floyd. Variation is established through tonal qualities and timbre rather than a really changing song structure: on this repetition of a riff, there's more distortion, the vocals are drawn out a bit more, the bass has doubled up on its notes, etc. It's sort of sludge metal for the funeral doom fan; in the latter genre, you have to teach yourself to delight in every sound the band makes because they're so infrequent, and here you have to learn to enjoy all the subtle changes that occur during the song. So, as you would guess, this is music that requires quite a bit of an attention span. I'm not quite sure if you should listen to this in the background or give it your full attention: I suppose it depends on just how much you like the intricacies of the songs. The music as a whole is pretty damned dark and oppressive, with lots of sparse breaks packed with feedback and drear. 'Black Palm' is a good example: after its uptempo opening section, the musicality drops to about subzero and starts resting on nothing but massive, held chords and feedback before it picks up a bit in the last couple minutes. Despite this, the best track is also the 'happiest': 'Better Living Through Chemistry' has a sort of psychedelic pop style of melody that's great, especially when the group vocals kick in over the shimmering guitar lines. The music is very well played, but not merely on a technical level: it's well composed, and the songs are played in precisely the way that they should. Though that seems vague, if you listen to the album, you'll understand: each bit of syncopated snare drum and throbbing bass is precisely in place. Maybe the biggest surprise of the album is that it really isn't as inaccessible as it appears at first: think of the tracks here as normal rock songs, only stretched out and smoked up beyond what you ever thought was possible. As a bonus, the CD comes with an additional DVD entitled 'That Little Fucking Thing Over There', which covers the recording process of 'In The Shadow Of The Black Palm Tree' as well as a bit regarding the creation of the band. The vast majority of the film is footage of Chingalera recording the album: you practically hear the entire thing, but with added visuals. The best parts of it are when the band is just hanging out and discussing the music amongst themselves and producer Steve Albini (who apparently likes fantasy baseball and knows a great deal regarding the flight of small animals). I can't imagine watching it very often, as it is essentially the CD repeated, but it's an interesting and appreciated extra nonetheless. I like this album quite a bit. It's pretty removed from what I normally listen to- there's nary a blast beat or tremolo riff to be found- but I find myself enjoying the aesthetic of the band significantly. It takes a lot of balls to make music as mercilessly uncompromising as this, and while such a description would fail in many cases, it works here: you're getting crushed, merely in a different way from what many of you are acquainted with. Written by Noktorn on September 10th, 2007