Chk Chk Chk “Slyd” their way through Noise Pop!!!

Photos by James Nagel

!!! is back, so put on your short shorts, locate those dancing shoes and get prepared to rock out and rage. Sacramento’s Chk Chk Chk pulled tracks from the scope of their discography Thursday night at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, but new tracks from their forthcoming record Thr!!!er provided the evening highlights.

Midway throughout the set, lead singer and single-handed party starter Nic Offer launched into “Slyde,” the first track unleashed upon the (mostly) unknowing public. Those lucky enough to be in attendance at this Noise Pop-headlining event witnessed the first of a few US shows before the new LP drops in late April. Nic and the rest of the incredible band members in Chk Chk Chk have put in proper practice, because they nailed the first performance of their lead single.

Just as “Slyde” finished, Offer snarked “Tricky one I tell ya!” Then, for the first time of the night, the most upbeat man in music looked at his bandmates and proclaimed “We did it!!!” Offer’s joy was palpable from every corner of Great American Music Hall, and it’s moments like this that make you root for Chk Chk Chk. “You can say you were there the first time we played that.”

No one is better at showing a crowd how to get down. Climb the speaker banks at regular intervals? Check. Jump in the crowd and create a mob scene? Check. Inspire the rest of the patrons to loose their collective shit since the ceiling of temperance & reservations has been shattered by pure musical leadership? Triple chk.

The most certain sure thing is that Offer doesn’t do it alone. The nouveau-disco jams are steady and polished, producing a groovy canvas that allows Nic’s freak flag to fly high, and subsequently take everyone else present along for the ride.