By Morgan Noseworthy
Supplied photo.
Chips ov Oi! are a cookie-themed street punk band formed in 2015 in Edmonton. The band has been making a big noise in the punk scene for the last four years with their name brand chocolate-chip fueled pogo punk.
Bass player Colby Amyotte came up with the idea while eating a bag of cookies and just thought the pun was really funny. He had just left the band Abuse of Substance and was looking for a new musical project. He had plans to only record the project, playing every instrument himself. When he told his good friend, Mike Symington (formerly from Snakebite) about it, Mike was eager to play guitar.
From there it was easy to get Myke Peters, ex-lead vocalist for Edmonton band MSA, on board. Finding a reliable drummer has proven troublesome for the trio of chocolate-studded punks. After going through two or three drummers, they recently recruited Alex Guitierrez for the job.
Alex’s music cred is substantial. Spanning back to 1999, Alex plays guitar for bands Panik Attak and Mortillery, and is drumming for Sacrificial Rites.
“Drop out of whatever course you’re taking at NAIT and immediately go to Grant MacEwan to be a drummer,” jokes Peters when talking about having a crumby time finding a drummer.
The cookie punks got the chance to play at the We are the Punks 2 festival in Florida this past summer. They got to play with big name pogo and street punk bands like Tom and Boot Boys, Who Killed Spiky Jacket? from Japan, as well as Americans Wrekt and Thulsa Doom.
Their first album, Make Pogo Great Again, was recorded in 2016, but didn’t get released until 2018. Internal problems at the studio required it to be re-recorded. The second producer offered to re-record it for free, but apparently “lost his mind,” according to Amyotte, and couldn’t finish it. These tough cookies eventually ended up being recorded by Rob Lawless, singer for Edmonton locals Fuquored, at The Physics Lab. Make Pogo Great Again is available on vinyl, CD and a limited run of cassettes through a German record label, Tape or Die.
Chips started recording their second album in the summer of 2018 and finished it in March of 2019. The band was recorded again by Lawless at The Physics Lab for the new album titled Boots, Leather, Scarves, and Touques. They plan to have the album out by February before they return to Miami for the We Are the Punks 3 festival in March.
Their music can be found on Spotify, Google Play, iTunes, BandCamp and Deezer. Physical copies of the album can be found at local record shops Blackbyrd, Revolver, Record Collector’s Paradise and FreeCloud. The band can be contacted on Instagram @chipsovoi, at http://www.facebook.com/chipsovoicookiepunx, and directly at chipsovoi@gmail.com
