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Bio
The Chinaskis mix a heady, bittersweet cocktail of loud guitars, driving rhythms and huge four-part vocal harmonies, gleefully spiked with immigrant Scottish frontman Robbie Edmonstone’s acerbic lyrics and muscular vocals. Propelled by the incendiary rhythm section of drummer Bill Spellman (CLIFFFS, Ben Folds Laundry) and bassist Andy Lester (The Deathray Davies, CLIFFFS, Corner Suns) and the soaring guitar work of Nick Phelps (Micah P. Hinson), the band draws on a range of influences, from power-pop trailblazers like The Byrds, R.E.M, Big Star, CSN, Tom Petty and fellow Scots Teenage Fanclub to darker, heavier artists like Soundgarden, Rocket from the Crypt, Red House Painters, The Replacements, Bob Mould and Warren Zevon.
Named as an homage to Henry Chinaski – the battered, booze-soaked three-time loser immortalized by Charles Bukowski – the first iteration of the band was formed in Glasgow in 2009, and for seven years honed their craft on the sticky floor stages of the Scottish toilet circuit, playing over 75 gigs before going on indefinite hiatus in 2017 when Edmonstone emigrated to live and work in United States.
Debut album Songs for the Scunnered was completed in late 2021 with the help of acclaimed Dallas songwriter-producer John Dufilho (The Deathray Davies, CLIFFFs, The Apples in Stereo, Corner Suns) who mixed and added his inimitable sparkle to the twelve tracks. Edmonstone returned to live performance in 2022 with a series of solo acoustic shows, growing his musical network in the hope of creating a new Dallas-based iteration of the band.
Debut single Bought and Sold was released in December 2022, and quickly garnered praise and airplay in both Texas and Scotland, including on popular local station KXT 91.7. Singles Wasting Away, Believe Me, Paper Tiger and Find a Hero followed in early 2023, with version 2.0 of the Chinaskis coming together in the summer of 2023 and Songs for the Scunnered launching soon after.
Songs for the Scunnered
Scunnered /skənərd/
Adjective; Scots: The state of feeling disgust or strong dislike; world-weary, downtrodden, and angry.
Songs for the Scunnered is the long-awaited debut album from Dallas-based power-pop band The Chinaskis. Soaked in a bittersweet cocktail of soaring melodies, sparkling guitars and big harmonies spiked with a wry, unflinching and unquestionably Scottish lyrical polemic, it’s a celebration of popular music, drunken camaraderie, and righteous anger at a life where the odds are all too often stacked against “the wee man”.
Across the album’s forty-eight minutes can be found myriad diverse musical influences, from power-pop trailblazers like The Byrds, R.E.M, Big Star, CSN, Tom Petty and fellow Scots Teenage Fanclub to darker, heavier artists like Soundgarden, Red House Painters, The Replacements, Bob Mould and Warren Zevon. The music is shiny, slick and sweet with vocal harmony – but behind the veneer there’s darkness, bitterness and a very Glaswegian gallows humor and hatred of injustice.
Basic tracking for the album took place in 2016 in Glasgow, Scotland, with frontman and songwriter Robbie Edmonstone putting the album on hold in 2017 while he emigrated to the United States and adjusted to a new life in Dallas, TX. Work on the album resumed in 2020, with original Chinaskis bassist and Caustic Waves frontman Neil Thomas helping edit the tracks and add backing vocals from across the Atlantic.
With the album complete, in 2021 Robbie turned to acclaimed Dallas producer, songwriter and performer John Dufilho (The Deathray Davies, CLIFFFS, The Apples in Stereo, Corner Suns) to mix and add sparkle to the songs. By 2022 the album was complete, with debut single “Bought and Sold” being released in December and quickly gaining FM airplay in both Texas and Scotland. Early 2023 saw the release of singles “Wasting Away”, “Believe Me”, “Paper Tiger” and “Find a Hero”, with the album finally hitting the shelves on August 4th to coincide with the launch of the new, U.S. version of the band.
Songs for the Scunnered is a paean to a wild, lost night in a dark neon-tinged bar… a night spent downing shots, hijacking the jukebox, and arguing with wild-eyed barflies about politics, music, and religion. It’s also an ode to the comedown the next morning: the soul-crushing hangover, the sense of anxiety and existential dread… and the emergent glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel as the pain finally subsides.