The Chats - High Risk Behaviour (2020)

The Chats are such unashamedly proud ratbags that three guys singing about contracting STDs in pickup trucks and having their identities stolen after buying drugs on the internet have never sounded so lovable and fun. The haircuts, attire, and Aussie slang make it hard to take them seriously, but that’s kinda the point. The Queensland trio became unlikely internet heroes when the video for their tradie anthem “Smoko” became a YouTube sensation and quickly scored high-profile fans like Josh Homme and Iggy Pop, both of whom took the punk group on tour, eventuating in a major-label record deal.

There are 14 short, sharp, true-blue ruckuses on High Risk Behaviour, each detailing an aspect of lower-income Queenslander debauchery with gritty pride, from partying on a “Stinker”—a sweltering summer day—to getting called “thieving, violent, volatile thugs” and barred from entering a pub due to wearing mullet haircuts. When they’re especially skint, they commit a “Dine N Dash” (“Any restaurant, any time/We can commit the perfect crime/You just gotta run when you're done”), but when times are looking up, it’s all about the “Pub Feed,” their beloved, anthemic ode to "chicken schnitty, parmigiana, rump steak…medium well!”