The Fucking Champs are a three-piece
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band from
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. They are known for their
heavy metal sound, based largely around shifting
time signatures
The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...
, guitar harmonies, and plentiful rhythm. Most songs are instrumental. They are currently signed to
Drag City. They have also collaborated with
Trans Am
Trans Am may refer to:
* Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, an automobile model
* Trans Am (band), an American post-rock band
** ''Trans Am'' (album), their 1996 debut album
*** ''Trans Am'' (1996 song), their eponymous song from the eponymous album, see ...
and the two have recorded albums together as
TransChamps and
The Fucking Am. Founded in
Santa Cruz in the early 1990s, the band was initially called The Champs, but added the "Fucking" to their name – following a brief stint as The Champs UK – because
The Champs
The Champs are an American rock band, most famous for their Latin-tinged rock and roll instrumental "Tequila". The group took their name from that of Gene Autry's horse, Champion, and was formed by studio executives at Autry's Challenge Recor ...
had been used by a band in the late 1950s.
Tim Green was a member of
Nation of Ulysses
The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply "Ulysses," the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kroner ...
,
Lice
Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...
,
The Vile Cherubs and
The Young Ginns. He has released various solo albums and remixes under the name Concentrick. He has also recorded and produced numerous bands through his own Louder Studios.
Drummer Tim Soete was the singer/guitarist of San Diego mod revivalists
The Event
''The Event'' (stylized as THE EVƎNT) is an American television series containing elements of science fiction, action/adventure and political allegory. It was created by Nick Wauters and aired on NBC from September 20, 2010 to May 23, 2011. ...
and guitarist/vocalist for Santa Cruz band Tail Dragger.
Phil Manley is a founding member of
Trans Am
Trans Am may refer to:
* Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, an automobile model
* Trans Am (band), an American post-rock band
** ''Trans Am'' (album), their 1996 debut album
*** ''Trans Am'' (1996 song), their eponymous song from the eponymous album, see ...
and has also released albums under his own name. In 2011, he collaborated with
Earthless
Earthless is a mostly instrumental psychedelic rock band from San Diego, California, consisting of guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton and drummer Mario Rubalcaba.
The band formed in 2001 and released their first album, '' Sonic Pr ...
guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, under the name 'Mitchell Manley', to release an EP for
Thrill Jockey
Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago.
History
Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...
. He also works as a recording engineer and has worked with numerous bands in the Bay Area.
Founding Champs guitarist Josh Smith was also a member of the cult San Francisco
black metal
Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...
band
Weakling
Weakling was an American black metal band from San Francisco. The band never toured and released only one album, '' Dead as Dreams'', recorded in 1998 and released on Tumult Records in 2000.
History
The name Weakling, according to founding membe ...
, as well as fronting the power pop band
The Makes Nice and playing guitar in
Drunk Horse
Drunk Horse is a rock band from Oakland, California. Formed in 1998, the band released several albums on Man's Ruin Records before the label went out of business. The band then moved on to Tee Pee Records with 2003's ''Adult Situations'', which was ...
. He is currently a member of
The Futur Skullz.
Phil Manley stated in a January 31, 2011 interview that "The Champs have broken up. Tim Soete has moved to San Diego and Tim Green lives in Grass Valley, California. I have been playing a bit with Josh Smith, but not as the Champs".
Contrary to Mr. Manley's statement, The Fucking Champs recorded a remix of
Justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
's song "
Civilization
A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system).
Ci ...
" for Justice's ''Civilization EP'' released June 6, 2011.
Members
Current
* Phil Manley
* Tim Green
* Tim Soete
Former
* Josh Smith
* Adam Cantwell (also known from the band
Spaceboy)
* Alex Wharton
Discography
* ''Music for Films About Rock'' (self-released cassette, as ''Champs'')
* ''Triumph of the Air Elementals'' (self-released cassette, as ''Champs'', 1994)
* ''Some Swords'' 7", (Galaxia USA, 1995)
* ''Second 7"'' 7", (Wantage USA, 1995)
* ''The Drug Album'' 7", split with Regraped (Poor Dora Maar Records, as ''The Champs'', 1995)
* ''III'' (first release as ''C4AM95'') (Frenetic USA, 1997)
* ''Split'' 7", split with Tight Bros. From Way Back When (Ace Fu Records, as ''The Champs'', 1999)
* ''IV'' (first release as ''The Fucking Champs'') (Drag City USA, 2000)
* ''Double Exposure'' (with
Trans Am
Trans Am may refer to:
* Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, an automobile model
* Trans Am (band), an American post-rock band
** ''Trans Am'' (album), their 1996 debut album
*** ''Trans Am'' (1996 song), their eponymous song from the eponymous album, see ...
as ''TransChamps'') (Thrill Jockey USA, 2001)
* ''
V'' (Drag City USA, 2002)
* ''Wantage USA's 21st Release Hits Omnibus'' 2XCD, (Wantage USA)
* ''Greatest Hits''
*
''Gold'' (with Trans Am as ''The Fucking Am'') (Drag City USA, 2004)
* ''VI'' (Drag City USA, 2007)
* ''Civilization-EP'' (The Fucking Champs re-mix of Justice song "Civilization") (Ed Banger Records under exclusive license to Because Music 2011)
External links
Official siteMySpace page*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fucking Champs
Progressive rock musical groups from California
Drag City (record label) artists
Musical groups established in 1994
1994 establishments in California
American instrumental musical groups
Instrumental rock musical groups