1        How did The Chores first come together, and what made you decide this was the right group of people to make music with?

The  Story of The Chores is aged like fine toilet-hooch.. Terry and Riley  toured together as members of The Horny Coroners (Valleyview AB) and  Throatkick (Prince George BC) a decade-or-so ago. Later in 2019 they  found themselves decrepit specimens of Dadhood living close enough  together to start something new. They recruited  washed-up  singer/songwriter Robin Graves and Semi-professional ball dodger Jack  Phavone from the internet.

The  chemistry between Terry and Robin as guitar players was there from the  first jam. It didn’t take long before they had written a couple of songs  together and workshopped some of the material each brought to the  table. They have many shared experiences to draw from but have sometimes  vastly different perspectives. It makes for a great push-pull dynamic  in the writing. Robin’s story-driven narratives and Terry’s pragmatic  lyrical bend.

We jammed  for a few months, working with a couple bass players, but the band never  really felt whole until we met Jack. We used to jam at this place  called Origin Road in Sherwood Park. Terry and Robin were having a smoke  while Riley reconfigured the drum kit to southpaw. Jack pulled into the  parking lot, responding to a Kijiji ad. When he came out of the  vehicle, on his energy alone, Terry turned to Robin and predicted  ‘That’s him, he’s the one’. Terry was right.

Jack  brought a clean focusing energy without feeling like he was polishing a  turd. [The Chores is the turd in this analogy. just to be clear]. The  chemistry was there again. We had become The Chores. All Dads, All  Middle Aged, All punk fans. It was a match made from the eye-rolls after  a Dad Joke.

2        For someone hearing you for the first time, how would you describe your sound in the simplest way?

Storytelling lyrics mixed with wit and heart carried by heavy guitars, blistering drum and bass, and odd-man fronting vocals.

3        Edmonton has a tight‑knit music scene. What’s your favourite part about being a local band here?

The hugs.

But  not really. After sharing the stage with 20 or so bands in the last few  years, it’s great that the scene overlaps. Familiar faces start to pop  up at every show, whether we’re playing or holding tickets. When you see  the same bands 6 months or 2 years apart, you see these cool leaps in  skill and delivery. It’s awesome to watch groups develop, get tighter,  and set their personality on stage.

4        Every band has a moment that feels like a small breakthrough. What’s been that moment for you so far?

We  have this song called Garbage Night. It’s the one song in the set where  there’s only one guitar. The first time we pulled it out on stage it  was at Dive Bar, halfway through the first verse, the power to the amps  at the front of the stage and the PA died. The lights were still going,  and Riley was still drumming, but there was nothing. We stopped playing,  made some jokes with the audience and cheered when Dive Bar sound  legend, Royce, fixed the issue. We were still pretty new.. show 3 or 4  as a group. We were one of the opening acts for The Spuds Mackenzies. It  turned out we made a band-crush that night. We’ve joined the Spuds on  stage a couple times since, and the vibe is always great. It would be 2  years before we played Garbage Night live again.

5        When you’re writing new songs, what usually sparks the first idea?

So  far, three members of this band have written songs. Every one of them  comes along in its own way. Some start off as a single line. Others as a  riff. Sometimes Terry does math. Once we just jammed and a song popped  out.

6        What’s a show you’ve played that really sticks with you, and why does it stand out?

See question 4

7         If you could collaborate with any other Edmonton artist or band, who would it be and what kind of track do you imagine making together?

We  have neither the skills nor the time or energy to keep up with the  great bands we’ve played with. I (Robin) can’t speak for the rest of the  band on this one, but I’m spell bound by the talents of Nick Dee (Dee  Roach, Systems to Chaos, Reckloose). He does this rendition of Love  Potion Number Nine in his solo Dee Roach act… and I just wanna sing  backup.

8        What’s next for The Chores, new music, more shows, or something fans might not expect?

We  have plans… like so many items on a honey-do list, but we keep putting  it off. We’re excited to be featured on The Basement Frequency live  broadcast on March 18. And we’re thinking about recording, practicing  some new songs, and generally just slacking.. getting together when we  can to jam and playing as many shows as we get invited to. We have  fans.. and we’re testing their patience by.. well.. being us. We’ll get  to it… eventually.