Chew Lips was an English

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

trio, formed in spring of 2008. It consisted of singer 'Tigs' and multi-instrumentalists James Watkins and Will Sanderson

Career

2008–2009: First steps

Formed in London as a three piece band in the summer of 2008, Huerta, Watkins and Sanderson armed themselves with a slew of electro-pop hooks and set about establishing Chew Lips as one of the most exciting new acts in the capital. With Tigs developing into a charismatic whirlwind of a front woman who it was impossible to take your eyes off, Chew Lips increasingly compelling live performances grabbed the attention of uber-cool French label Kitsuné who insisted on putting out the band's debut single, "Solo". Released in March 2009, "Solo" sold out almost instantly, causing a storm in the blogosphere and beyond, with Pitchfork calling the track "….classic, pristine," and '' The Fly'' magazine labelling it "one of the most magnificent debuts of the year".

2009–2010: Second Kitsuné single and ''Unicorn''

A relentless schedule of touring followed into 2009 as Chew Lips honed their sound into a sleek, sophisticated beast. Kitsuné released a second sold out single, "Salt Air" in July 2009 – NME called it "an addictive slice of heart-wrenching disco-pop" – before the band begun work in summer '09 on their full-length debut with Bat For Lashes collaborator David Kosten. The fruits of their labour came with the self-released album '' Unicorn'' in January 2010, such a giant leap forward for their sound that they were confident enough to leave off both of the previous singles. It was easy to see why – in the likes of "Play Together", "Karen" and "Slick", they had outdone themselves. The press agreed: the BBC called it "startling", NME "mesmeric", whilst a 4/5 review in '' The Guardian'' said it "drags you straight in." Another stretch of touring followed and by the time the European festival season came round, and after a successful appearance at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

in Texas ('' Elle US described them as the best new act at the festival), Chew Lips were on top of their game. Topping off their tour they headlined the packed BBC Introducing Stage at

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

. Other touring highlights include support slots with The Killers, Delphic, We Are Scientists, The Virgins, Joy Formidable, Howling Bells, three sold out UK tours and a sold out European tour in 2011.

Split

Huertas announced on Twitter in 2015 that she was now only writing material for other artists, implying that Chew Lips had disbanded.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles and EPs

Chew Lips remixing

* Bernard Sumner,

Hot Chip Hot Chip are an English synthpop band formed in London in 1995. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally joined by former member Rob Smoughton for ...

and Hot City – Didn't Know What Love Was *Party Horse – Lazer Beam *Tape The Radio – Stay Inside * Amanda Blank – Make It Take It * Plastiscines – Barcelona *The Brute Chorus – Heaven

Chew Lips remixes

''Solo'' *David E Sugar *Tepr ( Yelle) ''Salt Air'' * Alex Kapranos *Dekker & Johan *Jupiter *

Plastician Chris Reed (born 30 October 1982), also known as Plastician (formerly Plasticman), is an electronic musician from Thornton Heath in the London Borough of Croydon. History Plastician, real name Chris Reed is a DJ from Croydon in South London ...

* Two Door Cinema Club ''Play Together'' *WaWa ''Karen'' *Analogue People in a Digital World *Mark Otten * Netsky *We Are Enfant Terrible ''Slick'' *

FC Kahuna FC Kahuna (also known as FC/Kahuna) was a British DJ and electronic music production duo, consisting of Jon Nowell and Daniel Ormondroyd. The group released only one album, '' Machine Says Yes'', in the spring of 2002. It had a number of singl ...

Soundtracks and syncs

*'' Pretty Little Liars'' (US TV series) *'' The Vampire Diaries'' (US TV series) *

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

(Various) *'' Paris Connections'' (UK film) *'' Skins'' (UK TV series) *'' Made in Chelsea'' (UK TV series)

Live appearances

UK highlights

* The Great Escape Festival * Wakestock *

Latitude Festival The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006 and has been held every year since, apart from 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 ...

* Lovebox Festival *

Secret Garden Party The Secret Garden Party, often colloquially shortened to the SGP, is an independent arts and music festival which takes place in Abbots Ripton near Huntingdon in England. This location is on part of the grounds of a Georgian farmhouse and has it ...

Truck Festival Truck Festival is an annual independent music festival in Oxfordshire, England. It was started in 1998 by the Bennett family (including the brothers Robin and Joe of the band Goldrush), who decided that mainstream festivals such as Glastonbu ...

* Kendal Calling *

Standon Calling Standon Calling is an annual music festival held near the village of Standon, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, in the grounds of private residence Standon Lordship. It is a themed boutique festival which grew from a birthday barbecue into an annual ...

* Rip Curl Boardmasters Festival *

Jersey Live Jersey Live Music Festival (alternatively Jersey Live) was a music festival held annually at The Royal Jersey Showground in the parish of Trinity, Jersey between 2004 and 2016. Overview Jersey Live started out as a 4,000-capacity, one-day ev ...

* Bestival

United States

European festivals

* Electric Picnic * London Calling Festival, the Netherlands *Les InRocks Festival & Ground Zero Festival, France *

Dockville Festival Dockville is a music and art festival on Europe's biggest river island, Hamburg's district Wilhelmsburg. It is sponsored by the German ''Internationale Bauausstellung (IBA)'' and it took place for the first time in 2007. Many parts of the festiv ...

, Germany *

Paredes de Coura Festival The Paredes de Coura Festival, currently named Vodafone Paredes de Coura for sponsorship reasons, is a music festival that is held every year, in August, at Praia do Taboão in Paredes de Coura, Portugal. The first edition was held in 1993. It is ...

, Portugal *Gjon Sports Dome, Spain *Cupola Festival, Switzerland *Summer Well Festival, Romania *Bažant Pohoda Festival, Slovakia * Off Festival gości Electronic Beats, Poland

Press

''Unicorn''

*''"4/5 – an accomplished first offering"'' – Q *''"4/5 – sharp-edged, sharp-witted electro rock...success looks like an open goal"'' – Mojo *''"4/5 – a spine tinglingly awesome debut"'' –

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

*''"4.5/5 – it deserves to be massive...make it so"'' – The Fly *''"4/5 – brilliant...a record that gets better over time"'' –

MusicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

*''"4/5 – Synth heaven!"'' New! *''"Beautiful...clattering electronic pop with big melodies"'' – The Independent *''"Wistful, discoid confections... like Blondie backed by Simian Mobile Disco"'' – The Observer *''"A band to look out for this year… absolutely superb"'' – Sunday Mail *''"Our new favourite"'' – NME *''"An utterly peerless work; ten tracks to completely lose yourself in"'' – NME.com *''"Catchy electro tunes...you'll love 'em"'' –

Grazia ''Grazia'' (; Italian for ''Grace'') is a weekly women's magazine that originated in Italy with international editions printed in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Colombia, France, Germany. Greece, Indonesia, I ...

*''"Unicorn is that rarest of things; a record imbued with genuine talent and emotion which wipes the floor with the majority of its makers' contemporaries... quite startling"'' – BBC *''"Chew Lips confidently reveal their crossover potential... the rhythms are edgy and the songwriting is something you can really get your teeth into"'' – Metro *''"Chew Lips' blending of electronic punk ala 'Yeah Yeah Yeahs go 8-bit' is so infective it's dangerous"'' – Super Super

References

External links

* * {{Authority control English electronic music duos English pop music duos English dance music groups Kitsuné artists