With their 2011 debut LP, Wild for Adventure, they got called the German Libertines and the German Black Lips. The comparisons were attempts to express the sea change Chuckamuck represented with their gloriously sloppy live shows and irrepressible energy. On the one hand Chuckamuck are an unapologetically straight-up rock band: two guitars, a bass, and drums. But on the other, there’s no way to hear them without recognizing in their music something completely fresh and new. Yes, they draw on familiar sounds like surf music and New Wave guitar bands. Yet the result is warped in the most wonderful way—it’s like the Beach Boys singing with the Ramones, the Jesus & Mary Chain doing doo wop, or the Undertones playing a Spring Break party in 1955. Chuckamuck generate breathless enthusiasm from critics and fans alike—not only have they completely reinvigorated the Berlin indie scene, they’ve rewritten the rules. And their shows? Their shows put the audience right in the middle of it all, caught up in the band’s manic lust for life. (Tim Mohr)
