Chavez Cartel On New Single ‘Dead Weekend’

Liven up your day with a sonic cocktail of hazy guitars, moody melodics, and sultry swagger courtesy of the brand new single Dead Weekend out now from Gold Coast rockers Chavez Cartel.

A track that would equally be at home sound tracking a slick HBO series as much as it appears to unfurl like a shot of single-malt whisky, Dead Weekend finds Chavez Cartel teaming up with ARIA Award-winning producer Govinda Doyle on recording and engineering duties to bring this dark and blazing tune to vivid life. Drawing inspiration from two key hypnotic, slow-burning tracks, Colossus by British rockers IDLES and In Every Dream Home A Heartache by Roxy Music, Dead Weekend also pulsates with nods to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club alongside deep and mature self-exploration.

Spending the past twelve plus months honing their sound and crafting a new batch of music, Dead Weekend is the perfect addition to both 2023 and Chavez Cartel’s ever-growing catalogue. A group equally enamoured by music as they are with art and food, Chavez Cartel, comprised of four self-described “working class dreamers”, firmly embrace the loose acronym for the word “Chavez” with every creative move they make. Constantly spurring themselves to surge forward, their relentless hard work has also led to the group working with a UK record label and ultimately, as of this year, ticking off an exciting career first: their first ever overseas tour, with festivals and side shows lined up in the UK this May. And before they trek across the pond, Chavez Cartel will also appear as the main support for UK rockers, and current UK and Ireland #1 Album Chart toppers, The Reytons, with a show in Sydney next month. The band answer a few questions about Dead Weekend.

How has the build-up been leading up to the release of the single?
It’s been busy, that’s for sure! But the team we’re working with at On The Map PR are just amazing. Can’t complain one bit and we can’t wait to throw some more singles and EP’s their way in the future.

Was the process of making your single as challenging as you thought?
Dead Weekend actually came about with a guitar riff idea and a half finished song being combined. It took a while for us to decide to put these together and there were many different changes and alterations made along the way. It’s edgy, it’s druggy and it builds up to a huge explosion of sound that makes a great last song on a set.

Sonically, how would you describe your music?
I’d say dark and edgy with energetic build ups & stripped back breakdowns. We’ve been experimenting a lot lately with new sounds and ways to create an edgy atmospheric feel in our songs too.

Who would you consider to be the biggest influence on your music and why?
I would say we all influence each other the most. We all bring different characteristics and influences into the band and we constantly share it with each other and give each other ideas.

Best piece of advice you have been given?
Even if you’re playing to no one, give it your all. I’ve experienced it first hand where we played to an empty crowd and although it was disheartening at the time, it actually led to us getting one of our biggest gig to date. A promoter saw our gig poster from that night and looked us up and then booked us for a big music festival that was later that year. We played to hardly anyone that night, but if we didn’t do it we wouldn’t have been scouted to play that big music festival.

How did the band get together?
It’s not a very interesting story haha, Ben originally had some songs demo’d and he sent them to me (Tom) via Facebook and asked me if I was keen to jam. We met up about a week later and we got along pretty well. I loved the songs and we pretty much became a band that day. We met Jack and Josh a bit later after our previous guitarist and bassist left. We’ve been down the road of line up changes but it all led to all of us meeting and this is now who Chavez Cartel is.

Are you looking to tour more broadly?
Absolutely! We’re actually heading to the UK very soon for a three week tour.

What’s next for Chavez Cartel?
Lots of music festivals, studio recordings, new merch…you name it. This is our year and it’s gonna be a busy one.

Interview By Rob Lyon

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