Play and forget
Buttless Chaps offer respite from 9/11 hype

Buttless Chaps
September 11
At the Black Dog

Leaving a message for Dave Gowan of the Buttless Chaps is a disconcerting proposition. When he returns the call a few hours later, I have to ask: what are the Philadelphia soul sounds of John Oates and Daryl Hall doing on Gowan’s answering machine? "I found a good copy of the album on vinyl, but the song Private Eyes has a crack in it, so I can’t play it," he happily explains, ignoring the thrust of the question. "That’s why I put I Can’t Go For That on the answering machine."

Right. You listen to Hall and Oates?

"Oh yeah. They’re back together performing boat regattas and stuff like that. I think that’s pretty cool; they’re still rocking out in their middle age. I don’t know what draws me to it, what’s in it. An element of camp or cheese, I guess."

But aren’t you concerned about what your peers might think? "I’m concerned about having fun," flatly states the multi-instrumentalist.

"I mean, I really admire a band like the Rheostatics; they’ve always done whatever they’ve wanted, released records whenever they’ve wanted, and somehow it’s become a career."

The Chaps haven’t necessarily made a career yet of their dizzyingly eclectic sound, which encompasses Kraftwerk as much as Merle Haggard, but they’ve definitely turned heads with their last album, Death Scenes, which climbed to number nine on the college charts last year and collected uniformly positive reviews across Canada and from as far away as Great Britain. And for good reason.

Anyone who plays music, from the kids in the basement next to your house to the standard generic gnash-and-wail rock combo – all claim to have a unique sound. But the Chaps truly are a genre unto themselves. From old-time country licks to synth-laden pop hooks, to "techno-metal-thrash," with a jittery new wave pulse running underneath, the band gleefully covers all the bases. Because, as Gowan asserts, it’s all about fun. And sometimes fun is the correct answer to an awful situation.

When the Chaps turn up this September 11 at the Black Dog, like everyone else they’ll also be reflecting on exactly where they were at that time last year. "It was a horrible day, obviously," remembers Gowan. "We were playing in Hamilton, and we thought the show would be cancelled after what happened, but the promoter said, ‘We’re still gonna do it,’ and we said okay. We came down there to play, and a lot of people came out who I think wanted to get away from the imagery and the news."

Including Exclaim writer Michael Barclay, who was so impressed by the show he included it as one of his top 10 gigs of the year. "In the show, I didn’t mention anything that had happened," Gowan continues. "We played, and I treated it as a distraction, a breather for people. It was a weird experience, but people said they were glad there was music for them to see."