"Smoko" is a song by Australian punk rock band

The Chats The Chats are an Australian punk rock band that formed in 2016 in the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. They describe their sound as "shed rock". The current band lineup is composed of guitarist Josh Hardy, drummer Matt Boggis, and bassist and vocali ...

. It was initially released on their EP ''

Get This in Ya!! ''Get This in Ya!!'' is the second EP released by Australian punk rock band the Chats. It was released on Bandcamp on 31 July 2017 and physically released on 30 August 2019. It is the band's last EP before the release of their first studio albu ...

'' on 31 July 2017, before being released as a single on 14 August. The song gained international attention following the release of its viral

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on 3 October 2017. The song was certified gold in Australia in May 2021.

Background

Eamon Sandwith, bassist of the Chats, explained to

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that the song originated in December 2016: The song was included as the opening track to their second EP, ''

'', released on 31 July 2017. The music video for the song was released on 3 October 2017 on YouTube, and it immediately began garnering an unexpected amount of attention, ultimately culminating in more than 16 million views by May 2022.

Music video

The music video for the song, shot by Matisse Langbein (who also did the artwork for Get This In Ya) at

Peregian Beach Peregian Beach is a beach and small coastal town on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is a suburb split between two local government areas with the eastern coastal in the Shire of Noosa and the western hinterland part in the Sunshin ...

, mostly adheres to the lyrics in the song, depicting Chats bassist Eamon Sandwith wearing a lifeguard shirt, approaching a tradesman on a construction site (played by Josh Price) eating a

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while sitting on a

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(referred to in the song as a 'milk crate throne'). During the chorus, it cuts to the band playing on the same construction site. During the second verse, Eamon rises from his bed, drinks a can of beer and opens a laptop to see a piece of paper pasted on the laptop screen saying "CENNO ZERO BUCKS" (referencing the lyric "So it's Tuesday morning/And my

Centrelink The Centrelink Master Program, or more commonly known as Centrelink, is a Services Australia master program of the Australian Government. It delivers a range of government payments and services for retirees, the unemployed, families, carer ...

hasn't come through). It then cuts to him on the phone calling Centrelink with drummer Matt Boggis playing a Centrelink employee, who leaves him hanging until he picks up the phone and yells the chorus of the song, leaving Eamon banging the doorway in anger, and then puts down the phone. It then cuts to Eamon on a beach with binoculars, seeing what appears to be a woman having trouble in the ocean, but then checks his watch and realizes it's 'smoko'. It then cuts to the band playing in a different area nearby the same ocean, where the video ends shortly afterwards.

Reception

Triple J Unearthed Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greater emphasis on broadc ...

described "Smoko" in their biography of The Chats as being "a perfectly put together punk song protesting the drudgery of dole queue angst, minimum wage life and work-place hierarchies." The song and its video became popular in late 2017. The song also drew attention from musicians such as

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, and

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Personnel

* Eamon Sandwith - vocals * Josh Price - guitar * Tremayne McCarthy - bass, backing vocals * Matt Boggis - drums

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2017 singles 2017 songs The Chats songs Music videos shot at Peregian Beach