11 September 2021

Band: !!! (also known as Chk Chk Chk)
Who: Veteran funk punks out of (Sacramento, California)
Active: since 1996 / 8 studio albums so far with Wallop (2019)
as the most recent.

The long time funk punk ensemble follows the by now endless
row of artists covering other artists, these past two years.

They picked two not so obvious tracks. Fast Car, the 1988 diamond
by songstress Tracey Chapman and Man On The Moon (a 1992
ode to comic Andy Kaufman) by R.E.M. Two emotive, melancholic
and heartwarming ballads.

If you know those two humdingers, but not really the lyrics, than it’s
possible you won’t recognize them when you hear how !!! turned
them upside down. Suddenly you can dance to both beauts.

!!!: R.E.M. was known as the killer house party band in Athens, years before
they became MTV darlings. We re-imagined “Man on the Moon” as something
they would play at those house parties, in the thick of the James Brown and
Ohio Players sample era. The goal was to make “Fast Car” sound even faster.
Something u would play in a FAST FUCKING CAR. The verses are the bitter
small town feel of it all and the chorus is the fast car on the open highway,
into a night of possibilities.”

It’s party time, folks!!! Get up,
get on up, stay on the scene…

– MAN ON THE MOON –

– FAST CAR –

And below the originals…

– R.E.M. –

– TRACEY CHAPMAN –

!!!: Facebook