Releasing two EPs in 2019, Lucky Lucky and Confidence Is All I’m Taking Home, Chavez Cartel bunkered down during the pandemic years, turning their gaze and full focus into sharpening their sound and songwriting. The end result was their 2023 EP release Man’s Best Friend, which was unveiled after the group signed with End Of The Trail Records.
Following Man’s Best Friend, Chavez Cartel embarked on an extensive East Coast headline tour, with 2023 also finding the group supporting The Reytons for their What’s Rock N Roll Australian Tour, as well as their first ever UK show, ticking off headline shows in Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham alongside performances at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton and at the End Of The Trail Creative Showcase in London.
We caught up with frontman Ben Simpson to find out what 2024 holds for a band that are making waves overseas. We dig deep to find out where Simpson’s influences stem from and discuss what is floating his musical boat right now…
Sean: Ben, thanks ever so much for your time. It’s great to talk because I’ve been loving your music this year. You’ve had such a busy year, you guys. I was listening again and watching the video to the new single, ‘No One’s Watching Over’, which was out last month. The year’s flying by.
Ben: It is mate. It’s been a busy one for us.
Sean: How was that for you, for writing that track? And the video is fantastic.
Ben: Yeah, thanks Sean. Well, writing, we actually just jammed that one out in the Jam Room. So, like, usually we’d get one or two people just jamming together and then bringing them ideas to band. But that one were like a real band effort. It just…And I think it really sounds like everything we’ve been trying to do for a few years as well, which makes a lot of sense because it just came so organically, if you like. Just, it was just in a rehearsal. It just came out of nowhere, which is… it’s ideal, really. It’s how you dream it to happen.
Sean: It has that lovely melodic, dreamy start where it just sucks you in and then picks up near the end. Fantastic track.
Ben: Yeah, it started off with a bass idea and we all just kind of felt that hazy feel and we just ran with it and just jammed that way. And we’re all very proud of that one. Really like that one.
Sean: Well, it’s been a massive year so far, as we just said. An EP out earlier in the year and you got to go back and play some shows to your home country as well. How was that?
Ben: Yeah, it was good. It was a really good experience. Like, looking back we learned so much from it, you know, even things that you probably take for granted. You need that tour experience so its good to just have to do it. And we feel like such a bigger, better band just from that one experience, whether we are or not, it’s irrelevant, but that’s how we feel. And it was just a real good eye opener to what life on the road could be like and where we need to improve as well.
Sean: You played some festivals while you were over there. How was the reception for those?
Ben: Yeah, it was good. It was really good. Like we played four days down at one festival down in Brighton and there were a couple of them, we were quite busy. And as you’d expect, there were a couple that weren’t so much, you know, we’re still very much unknown in the UK. But overall, it was great, like really positive. The whole tour was really positive.
Sean: It’s fantastic to get over to Europe and get your footprint in there. As early as you can too really, isn’t it? And wonderful to hear you have suddenly become a global band, which is just every band’s ideal scenario, really.
Ben: Definitely and like, yeah, and as you probably know, we’re off to America in March (2024) as well. We’ve got a couple of festivals in this upcoming year. And we do really, really feel like a global band. Like, you know, we’re in Australia, we’ve been to England, we’ve been to America. It’s, that’s everywhere, really.
Sean: Not many bands can boast that.
Ben: No, not at all and it’s really good. Like, we’re really excited. We’ve been excited all year. It’s been a really busy year, as you said. And we really feel that. It’s not until you actually take a look back and you list things, what we’ve actually done. And like, it’s just, we’ve got an endless list of things we’ve done this year.
Sean: Well, ‘Man’s Best Friend’ was out earlier in the year as well, the EP, which was fantastic fodder to dig out material for these live shows. How do you fit time in to write if you’re at the jet-setting all over the place by the sound of it?
Ben: Well, honestly, for that song, that new one we’ve just put out, that’s the only new song we’ve added in the last year. Everything, and we’ve just recorded another new EP as well, but them songs were kind of, they were like floating around anyway. We just finished off the writing in the studio. We actually talk about it a lot of our time these days, it’s not even music, it’s music related, you know, it’s band related. But we don’t do much music. These days, it’s just, it’s planning and it’s like scheduling. It’s just a load of boring shit that you wouldn’t think you’d be fucking doing, but we have, and we are. And then, yeah, we talk about it often. Unfortunately probably like 5% of what we’re doing is music based at the moment, which is crazy because we’re a fucking band. But yeah, that’s pretty much the reality of it. We’ve not got time to write at minute, which is sad, but I think everyone goes through it.
Sean: Yeah, but the good thing is you’re planning bigger things by getting out there. And once you’re out there, you can unleash new music on the world. Which you just said could be coming next year on another EP.
Ben: Yeah, March 1st, we’ve got it recorded now. It’s scheduled for release March 1st. And then we’re going to set off to USA a couple of days after that. Again, like, I mean, it’s another big accomplishment, you know, and we have been really busy. It’s just that we want to just be writing and playing, writing and playing. But I think every pro, probably every musician wants that. And at minute, it just seems like we’re planning more than we’re writing, but it’s also exciting as well. It’s one of the things that we’re planning, we could have only dreamed about planning tours like this a few years ago.
Sean: You just touched on it just now about your song writing, about bringing ideas in as individuals. Is it something you have to really sort of knuckle down to do yourself or is it something that comes quite organically?
Ben: For me personally, because all four of us write, for me personally, I have to go through some stuff. I have to go through some new feelings or maybe old feelings might get touched upon. But when I’m doing the same stuff for every album, I’m going to be working on it. I’m going to be working on it every single day. I’ve got nothing to say. I’ve got nothing to write about. So, for me personally, it’s going through new experiences or, you know the only thing that stops you writing is stress really. Stress is a writing killer, but any other emotion I can utilize for writing purposes. But yeah, these days it’s just finding time. I don’t really play much guitar. I’m mainly just vocals, but the boys will play all the time. They’re always churning out new ideas, just little fragments of songs and later down the line, they’re probably going to be songs. But yeah, it’s just literally, you just got to luckily just try to drop on a few ideas and see what happens. Yeah. But we’ve been a band for a long time now and we’ve got, I don’t know how, you know, some are good, some are bad, but we’ve got a lot of songs. So we’re never without. It’s just, it’s always nice to have that excitement of a new idea.
Sean: So how do you even start setting your playlists up with so much material in the band, and in the bank sort of thing? Obviously the EP would get a lot of play time and the newer songs, but is it hard picking some of the older ones and going, oh, we loved playing that back in the day?
Ben: It is, yeah. It’s hard to get enthusiastic about them as well, because you feel like as much as we should just be keep pumping that stuff out that’s on Spotify, just to keep really like nailing in that sound. It is difficult, especially when, you know, some of those older songs we really used to like playing them and then you release another couple of records and then all of a sudden it is difficult to go back, especially when we’re in this, I think, I feel like we’re in a part of his career where we’re really just like honing in on this newer sound that we’ve worked hard to get and anything sort of previously written, we’re either trying to reapply this new sound that we’ve found to them old songs or just leaving them for a while, you know? So I would say everything over the last couple of years, we still play live and we’re still really enthusiastic about them songs. Anything before two years old we’re probably just shelving them at the minute and just see how they age.
Sean: Yeah, fantastic. So looking back to when the band first started, could you even imagine now that you’d take that band abroad? Was it just something at the start when you thought, ah, this is a bit of fun, we’re doing something we enjoy here, but suddenly you’re standing on a stage in the UK thinking, wow.
Ben: Well, when we got over there, it felt like an achievement that we’re a long, long way away from where we started. I think when we did start, we were always ambitious. You have to be capable to reach goals and back then we were just ambitious. We weren’t capable. So we had a lot of learning to do, but we did dream things up that have actually happened, you know, and we’re still hoping to do that. It’s a strange one because you get these opportunities that you’ve worked really, really hard for and you would think that they wouldn’t be surprising, you know, you’ve worked hard all day, every day for years and years and years. It’s surprising, you know, it’s like it’s all you’ve been focusing on, but they really are because there’s so few and far between. So it’s an odd feeling, but it’s a good feeling, man.
Sean: Well, taking it back for you personally, when you first got the bug for music, where did it all start for you? Were you around music as a kid?
Ben: I’ve always been around music, but not necessarily making it. I was more into writing as a kid, that was like my creative output. I used to like writing poetry and little stories. And then I really got into real writing. I got into The Doors and Jim Morrison and then I found out when I found out Jim Morrison got into it that way too, I just kind of flipped my attention towards it. But I’ve always followed it. You know, I’ve always collected music, I guess. I guess we’re all music critics before we’re writers, aren’t we? Because, you know, as soon as you get into music, you think, that’s good, or that’s shit. You know, we’re all we’re all critics, I guess. But I’ve always collected it. I’ve always followed festivals around and I’ve always been around it. It just took a bit longer than most, I think, to get writing it.
Ben: So what were your influences listening in the early days, you say The Doors, what else was kicking in?
Ben: Well, Oasis, man. I’m from Yorkshire, you know, like I think anyone who’s half into music and half into fashion in North of England, or even South of England too, everyone likes Oasis. So a big one for me as a kid were Oasis, absolutely. The Doors, absolutely. And then as I got a bit older, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, kind of my go to guys. I really like Velvet Underground and the Stooges. I feel like if I could handpick two bands to just listen to forever, it might be them because I feel like every sound I’m interested in, they’ve got it in their music somewhere. And so I feel like, yeah, I feel like Velvet and Stooges are like, probably the two main sources of my influence, I think.
Sean: That’s an incredible eclectic group of bands there. And that poetry love, the love for poetry there. That’s a real cauldron of stuff to get some influences out.
Ben: Yeah. And like, because obviously I’m from Yorkshire, I moved to Australia after a long time, I guess. And then Boyz, the drummer’s from Israel. Well, the two lads are both Australian and we kind of, we all knew we were going to be the band together. And so for a long time we had to just drag all these far and wide influences and work out what worked and what didn’t. And it took a long time, man. It took a lot of humility and we had to compromise a lot. It took a long time, a lot longer than most. I think most bands, it’s just four lads or four lasses that went to school together and they just formed by listening to the same stuff. But with us, it was very different. So I personally listen to a lot of bands. I’ve got a big variation, but you times that by four with other lads. We had to sift through and a lot of bad ideas, man, yeah [laughs].
Sean: It’s good to go through bad ideas to get good ideas, though, isn’t it?
Ben: It’s worth it in the end, mate. It always is, yeah.
Sean: It is. So obviously I’m over on the West Coast here in Perth, which is obviously known for its wonderful isolation. What’s the Gold Coast been like for you guys up there playing?
Ben: Do you know what, mate? And you kind of touched upon this earlier. We’ve got a lot of support at Gold Coast. We really do. But we seem to be finding it easier to get traction elsewhere, which is strange. Again, it’s quite backwards. Usually people, you know, they’ll start locally and they’ll kind of conquer locally and then they’ll venture away. But with us, we… Because we’ve got involvement with a UK manager now and he’s pulling a lot of strings for us, there’s opportunities that come in, or there’s bigger opportunities that come in far and wide, not necessarily locally, which, you know, obviously we’re trying to amend that. But at the moment, we’re just really busy elsewhere. It’s strange. We’re hoping after America, the word kind of gets around local that we’ve been here, there and everywhere and they might try to claim us a bit more passionately, I think [laughs].
Sean: Make sure you get an Australian tour fired up and come over, and see us in the West.
Ben: Yeah, well, I’m actually coming over in February. I’m going to come over to see you, mate. So I’ll get your details when we’re finished and I’ll see you.
Sean: We’ll have a cold beer or two, definitely. Definitely. I’d love to wind up with a couple of general ones, if I can, just to find a little bit more about you. And my restaurant question, I always love to ask, if you could invite three musicians dead or alive to join you for a bit of dinner, who would you have come and join you?
Ben: I think I’d have to say Jim Morrison, man. I’d like to just… I like to find things out for myself, you know. You can only read so much online before you’ve got to get a feel in person. And I’d like to just see just how deep and strange you were, you know, see how far away we are as people from one another. I would like to compare myself to him. So I’d say Jim. And I would have to say Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, man. I’d just get all my three together and I’d just see if my face fits on that table.
Sean: Nice. I think there’d be a few poems written on napkins.
Ben: I think that’s why I’m kind of working towards that. I think the conversation would be really good and poetic. And I think, yeah, I think it’d be quite profound to get a few poets together like that, my favourite ones, and just have it out.
Sean: God, just imagine what those napkins would be worth if they were found with these handwritten poems on from the four of you.
Ben: Yeah, I reckon them three might be worth a bit more than mine at the moment [laughs].
Sean: But not after your American tour [laughs].
Ben: Yeah, maybe [laughs].
Sean: I know we get sucked into the world of playlists, but what would be the… What’s the album you listen to?
Ben: So I’m not sure if you’re familiar with… There’s a band from Ireland called Fontaines DC. Do you know them?
Sean: No, I’m not.
Ben: They’re, again, like they’ve got… I dropped on them a few years ago and the description said Art Punk. And I’d never heard of Art Punk, but I knew straight away I was going to fucking like it. And so I’ve been a big fan of them for probably the last five years. And in them five years, they’ve put three records out. And I just can’t get enough of them. They’re just everything I would want. I don’t know what I want in a band. It’s just got that dark… They’ve got dark effects on the instruments. You can tell the vocalist is pretty well read. He’s a really good poet, which, again, is right up my street. And they’re quite harsh in sound. And Fontaines DC, I just listen to them on repeat at the moment. Wow. And they’ve got three good records.
Sean: I always love that question because there’s so much new music I get to hear. And it sometimes leads to new interviews. So I got introduced to Frank Turner the other week. And I caught up with him and had an interview with him. And, you know, I go off so many tangents with these new bands that I’ve never heard of and never listened to before. It’s fantastic.
Ben: Yeah. Well, so what are you listening to? Because I wouldn’t mind some new ideas myself.
Sean: What am I listening to at the moment? Oh, my God, there’s so much. In my album list, I’ve got around fifteen albums I’m trying to review before the end of the year. I’ve gone down a bit of a blues route of late, actually. I’m listening to a lot more Joe Bonamassa, a new band called Parker Barrow and loving the 70’s vibe of Dirty Honey. But recently Frank Turner got put onto me which I’m loving.
Ben: Yeah. Who else?
Sean: There’s a couple of women that have caught my ear. There’s a girl in America, Vera Bloom. She’s kind of punky, kind of the old skater kind of punk. She’s cool. I just interviewed a wonderful country rock star over there called Jessica Lynn. There’s just so much variance coming in. And I’m a bit like you. I’ve got such a broad range. I mean, it’s embarrassing, my CD collection is embarrassing [laughs]. There’s even some Take That tucked in there somewhere. But there’s some incredible heavy rock bands in there too. There’s everything. And, of course, one of the greatest rock n roll poets of all time, Phil Lynott. I’m a massive fan of Thin Lizzy. So I never go wrong with going back to that.
Ben: Yeah, nice. Actually, there’s a new artist I found recently. He’s called Bob Villain. Like Bob Dylan, but the second word’s villain. And he’s fucking really out there. I think they’re a duo. But they’re like the real alternative, real punky and harsh and raw. And I like a lot of lo-fi music. It doesn’t matter about genre. As long as it’s got lo-fi sounds and elements, I’m really interested. I find it really fucking edgy and cool. And I guess he’s got a lot of that. Yeah, Bob Dylan’s pretty good.
Sean: I’ve just been listening to the new Everclear live album as well. So I’ve got to interview Art about that. They recorded that at the Whiskey. And that’s really good. They’ve captured all their sounds from the early days.
Ben: Yeah, that’s nice. Difficult to do, eh? Capture what you want live. We’ve had a few attempts. And we’ve not used much material. We’ve had a couple of good songs come out of it. But yeah, it’s difficult to capture what you want live, eh?
Sean: Yeah, if you capture that good one, it’s always a nice little bonus track on an EP, isn’t it?
Ben: Yeah, well, we’ve got a song called ‘Dead Weekend’ from the last EP. And we managed to capture a really good live recording of that. So we’re going to chuck that as a B-side. Or maybe just, like you said, just a bonus track somewhere.
Sean: That’s awesome. Well, I’m going to save my easiest question until last. If you could be credited with writing any song ever written, what song would you pick?
Ben: Well, I know this. I think about it a lot for some reason, man. I’m a really big Black Rebel Motorcycle Club fan. Like, they’re the reason I got into bands. When I was at school, I found their sounds and their music. And I just thought, oh, this is it, man. And they’ve got a song called ‘Fault Line’. It’s just an acoustic song, just three chords. And I just know it’s a simple song that anyone could have written. And I think I could have written that. And it’s really good poetry. And it’s a good song. And his voice is stunning. So, yeah, I would say ‘Fault Line’ by Black Rebel. I’m going to add that to my playlist of wonderful answers to that question and wish you all the best for the rest of the year. And it pains me to say it, wishing you a Merry Christmas. We’re getting that bloody close.
Ben: This year is absolutely flown out. I bet it has for you guys as well. I mean, yeah, it really has. It’s been insane.
Sean: Well, we wish you all the best for the rest of the year. We’re so excited to keep a track of your journey when you get to the States. We’ll try and keep in touch and maybe get an update while you’re out there.
Have a little Zoom chat and find out how it’s all going when you’re there.
Ben: Yeah, that sounds great, Sean. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks so much for spending time on me and my band, mate. We really appreciate that.
Sean: Well, we really appreciate finding out about you. It’s always great when a band, especially one in Australia, gets dropped into our inbox and we love it so much. So we really genuinely do wish you all the best on this journey. It sounds so exciting.
Ben: Nice one, Sean. Thanks, brother.
CHAVEZ CARTEL – UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
6-10 MARCH 2024 | THE NEW COLOSSUS FESTIVAL | NEW YORK, USA | 21+
Tickets available from Dice.fm