The explosive music of THE CHIMPZ is a product of their every day struggles in the streets of LA. Crossing over from punk rock, hip hop, and heavy metal. Their songs always deliver a great hook and the live show is pure entertainment. Some days ago I had a pleasure to interview band’s lead vocalist Artimus Prime…
Hi Artimus, I’m Tarja. Welcome to MSFinland!
Hi Tarja, I’m doing great. Thank you for having me on MSFinland.
Please tell us when and how The Chimpz was born and introduce us the band members…
The Chimpz originally started as an incredibly fun project in a garage in L.A. around 2005. Since then we realized that we could push bounderies and take what we’ve always had to different and higher levels. The sky and beyond is the limit. The Chimpz have gone threw a few changes and now consist of Sean (Capmaster fresh) on drums, Sonic on bass, Scary Cary on lead guitar, Chuck P (Mc vocals) and me Artimus on lead vocals and rythym guitar.
…mix punk, metal, and hip hop music to raving audiences… an interesting cross-over, indeed! But tell me what bands have influenced you the most, so that today your genre is this quite colorful mix?
My influences are a variety of bands and artists, but I strongly believe that what makes The Chimpz are the mixture of influences that everybody else in the band has, including me put together ranging from Faith no more, Rage against the machine, NWA, 2pac, Pantera,Metallica, nofx, Van Halen, Korn and the list goes on. It’s the the variety of influences mixed with our chemistry that makes our genre such a colorful mix.
What about your band name, The Chimpz… why this choice?
The name The Chimpz, started out almost before we were even a band. When we were getting together we would refer to each other as chimp. Kinda like, what’s up man! wadup chimp! The name is an expression of the tight brotherhood situation that we are in together , struggling every day to make it in this concrete jungle that we call home.
You’ve been touring a lot in these years, playing shows including Uproar Festival, Seattle Hemp Fest, Orange County Fair, Lane County Fair… what are the greatest memories, so far?
Touring all these years and playing great venues have brought us awesome memories of the insane energy we feel when we are on stage and we know by the reactions on our fans faces that they have just been chimpafied.
Playing Live is one of your biggest interests, but please tell us about your other one: Filming music videos… has this something to do with your featuring on FX Channels and MTV?
Filming our music videos is our other passion but the Fx channel and Mtv is a completley seperate deal. Because these channels chose our songs for their shows, it has definately boosted up our views as a band and we are very grateful.
I read that your live shows are pure entertainment… tell me about your raport with your audience and fans?
Our shows are most definately raw entertainment. We all luv to get down with the sickness on stage. After the show we always interact with our fans let them know what’s goin on in the future, sign autographs and give out free Chimpz gear.
Last year came out your latest EP/album “Who Can I Trust”. MSFinland reviewed it just a couple of days ago, saying e.g. that it’s “a brilliant listen… and extremely well executed leaving you wanting more”. How would you describe it, and how it differs to your 2 earlier albums “On Parole” (2006) and “Home Invasion” (2010)?
I would describe the “Who can I trust album” as in , in your face album. It doesn’t have a time stamp and I can see future generations listening to it and not saying , oh that’s old school. You can definately tell how much the band and the music has evolved since our 1st and 2nd album , On parole and Home Invasion. For all our hardcore fans you can purchase our previous albums on Itunes or Cdbaby.
What can you tell us about the songs and themes? from where do you take the ideas for the lyrics?
When it comes down to our songs and themes. It always has to do with something we are going threw or have gone threw in the past. Everything we write about is real and never just made up. Our everyday struggles has made us what we are today.
Now after a year of the release, are the results what you expected them to be?
The “Who can I trust” album was released around Nov/2011 and has gained alot of attention. Since then it still continues to gain more and more radio play , which is awesome. We are very satisfied with the outcome of the album and know we got alot more work to do.
What are your next plans? a new album?
We have alot in the works for more tours threw out the U.S. and alot of great ideas for the next album that we are currently working on releasing later on this year. So stick around.
What about Europe, any chance to see you here touring?
The Chimpz are most interested in playing in Europe and is definately on the top of our list.
Please update us with your next live shows…
Some the shows that The Chimpz are playing in the future are Earthday 4/22/12 San Diego ,Ca. – On the Rox 5/4/12 West Hollywood Ca – Hooligans Alberquerque 8/3/22 NM – The Hunt club 8/9/2012 Tulsa OK – The treehouse 8/11/2012 Tulsa OK. Still more to be announced so keep an eye on this website http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/thechimpz
Artimus, now a question to you as a singer (and guitar player)… what was the moment in your life that you knew to become a musician?
As a singer, guitar player and songwriter I have always known since I was a kid that this was a passion that I wanted to follow and would lead me to greatness. To all out there who feel what I feel for music. Follow your passion, follow your dreams and never lose focus. Never let anybody take that away from you.
Thanks for this chat, Artimus, hope to see you soon on the road! Now the word is yours, how would you like to close this interview?
Thank you Tarja! and Thank you everybody at Metal Shock Finland. Everybody out there reading this check us out on THECHIMPZ.COM. We are a band for the people and remember blaze one for nation because we are The Chimpz of creation!
Interview by Tarja Virmakari
To read “Who Can I Trust” -review, please go HERE.