!!!: Chk The Forecast

“I don’t want to talk about the name!” !!!’s Nic Offer amiably lays down a few ground rules as we sit down backstage at Glasgow's Arches. And in the spirit of his request, we won’t, really. It’s been a topic of discussion since the Californian dance-punkers came into being in 1996, and though somewhat self-inflicted, one can see why he might be tired of dealing with the subject matter after such a period of time.

Fortunately, everybody's since settled for 'Chk Chk Chk'. And with a new album, Strange Weather Isn’t It (no doubt in part a homage to the Scottish ‘summer’) on the way, it’s perfectly understandable there are more pressing points of conversation.

For the newcomers the latest !!!, ahem, Offering may attract, Nic has some helpful advice. “Ok, so fair enough you can’t Google the band name but you can surely Google an interview of me talking about it. Otherwise we’re just retreading old ground and where’s the interest in reading that?”

Turns out the new album title is more a reflection on the experiences of the band over the past couple of years. There have been line-up changes since their last album, the well-received Myth Takes (2007) and last December the band's former drummer Jerry Fuchs tragically died after taking a fall down an elevator shaft. Offer, in this case very respectfully, doesn’t want to discuss that either.

What he does say is that the bulk of their work to date has generally contained an autobiographical angle. “The first song on our first album is about us as friends and what that meant. When we got to this record our relationships with each other felt different, but at the same time we didn't feel like it needed to be about pointing fingers or blaming any individual about the turmoil; it was just what everyone had to go through. So, not a complaint, merely an admission that it was... strange weather.”

When he talks about ‘everyone’, he means it; there are currently eight members of the !!! entourage, and it’s been freely admitted before that they don’t always see eye to eye. So how was it this time out? “It was tough as usual,” Offer admits. “We never argue more than when we’re in the studio. That’s our main fighting time. Jamming is great but once we start writing the songs that’s when the backbiting starts. Once we finish the tracks and we’re out on the road, then it’s great again.”

Is this not quite a draining process after 14 years? “Actually, I think it’s down to a minimum compared to other bands,” says Offer. “I think we’re used to having our feelings hurt and maybe that’s also why over the past two records we’ve made better albums because we got used to getting our points across without offending people, too much.”

Strange Weather, Isn’t It was recorded in Berlin, as per luminaries such as Depeche Mode and David Bowie. So, was it an attempt to tap into that city's near-mythical aura of darkness? “Eh, no! I think it would be enjoyable, in any job, to have to pick up and go to a new town for a few months. If you're an accountant, and you have to go to Berlin for a few months and 'account' then it's going to be a lot of fun. Creatively, musically, I feel it's stimulating to be in a new environment. Berlin's got an aura and buzz which is easy to get under your skin.”

But was it a factor in why Offer thinks that this is the best work !!! have done to date? “There are certain songs which may have been affected by the environment, but I think mainly it helped us be a lot more focused. I’m a big fan of taking your record, playing it for someone and watching when their eyes wander. I don’t want anyone to be bored at any second or thinking about anything else. I want them to be paying attention to it.”

!!! were one of the first bands (if not the first act) to be saddled with the ‘dance-punk’ label, currently attributed to the likes of Liars, The Rapture, and possibly even LCD Soundsystem. Does Offer feel that their music paved the way for acts such as this? In a much more self-effacing manner than the words suggest, he says: “I don’t think anyone argues the point that we’ve done that at least, everyone can check the dates on their records.” He continues; “At the same time I don’t think we ‘started it all’ or anything. We just happened to ride the crest of our own wave. I hope we won’t be patting ourselves on the back anymore than we need to, I know it was going to happen anyway. There have been bands that made things click for me and I’m sure we also make things click for other people.”

So, saddled with a label all of their own, what does Offer think most signifies the spirit of ‘punk’? “To me it’s something you can see in a musician when they play, like soul. There’s a certain ‘fuck it, I’m going for it’ attitude that comes across as punk.”

And are !!!, under this definition, worthy of the label, or could it apply to just about anyone who plays with gusto? Offer’s response is circumspect. “That’s a problem of labelling which effects every single genre or band. Sex Pistols didn’t think they were punk, Roxy Music didn’t think they were Glam, Warp doesn’t think it’s an IDM label. Nobody thinks that they’re that with which they get categorised. Take Glam; Roxy Music is totally different to T-Rex, Bowie or Sparks but it still somehow makes sense they should be under that banner. It’s their burden to try and break out of that genre, to push it so that it isn’t just the cliché of that genre. I feel pretty confident that we’re not in any way generic!!!”