Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!


Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! are a French post-hardcore band formed in 2007 in Paris. The band consists of vocalist Bertrand Poncet, guitarists Éric Poncet and Paul Wilson and bassist Mathias Rigal, with founding drummer Jonathan Donnaes leaving in 2014 to be replaced by Bastien Lafaye. The band has released three studio albums: Something for Nothing in 2010, Pardon My French in 2013, and Get Lost, Find Yourself in 2015.

History

Formation and ''Something for Nothing'' (2007–2010)

The band formed in 2007, when Paul Cordebard wished to experiment with blending influences from pop punk with hardcore punk and heavy metal and invited his friends Bertrand Poncet, Jonathan Donnaes and Vincent Dahmer, to join the band. Shortly after their formation Vincent left and so they asked Bertrand's brother Éric Poncet and close friend Mathias Rigal who despite having no experience as a bass guitarist joined the band. The band name is taken from the scene in 1985 adventure-comedy film The Goonies, in which Chunk and Sloth arrive on the scene to help their friends. Poncet describes the choice of The Goonies as a "good childhood reference" and felt the name reflected who the band members are. The band found it difficult to establish a fanbase in their native country of France as there is, in Poncet's opinion, "absolutely no rock scene." They found solace in playing in other countries around Asia, and especially in North America.
On September 2, 2010, the band released their first official single "In Friends We Trust", along with an accompanying music video. On November 1, 2010, the band released their self-produced debut album Something for Nothing.

Signing to Fearless records and ''Pardon My French'' (2011–2013)

After signing to Fearless Records with a global deal in 2011, they re-released their debut album Something For Nothing on 19 July 2011 The band was confident in their signing with Fearless as they considered them "one of the best labels out there for that kind of music". The re-release featured a brand new album artwork and a different track listing, replacing "MILF" and "Alex Kidd in a Miracle World" with the song "Make Them Believe", which was a Japanese bonus track on the original release. To coincide with the re-release the band released a music video for "Captain Blood", which was overall the second single off the album.
In October 2011 Captain Chunk! joined The Artery Foundation's European "Across the Nation" tour headlined by Miss May I. This is the first time Captain Chunk! has performed in the United Kingdom. The tour was well received including Captain Chunk!'s, said to have featured "a downright bizarre and eclectic lineup". In December the band went back to the United States Fearless Friends Tour, a tour which exclusively features bands from the Fearless Records' roster with Blessthefall, The Word Alive, Motionless in White, and Tonight Alive. In November 2011 the band contributed a cover of Kesha's single We R Who We R on Punk Goes Pop 4 as part of the Punk Goes... cover album series which was released internationally on 21 November 2011.
In 2012 Captain Chunk! tour schedule in the United States expanded rapidly, supporting Attack Attack! in late January and February 2012 as part of their on going This Means War album support. Throughout March and April the band also supported deathcore band Chelsea Grin on their debut headline tour "The Sick Tour". Captain Chunk! also was announced for Vans Warped Tour 2012 line-up, the band toured for the entire festival and played on the Ernie Ball Stage. With their performances as part of the Warped Tour the band contributed the single "In Friends We Trust" to the Warped Tour 2012 Tour Compilation album. During their performances on the Warped Tour the band performed new songs. The band also was the main support for Woe, Is Me on their Talk Your #?! Tour across November and December 2012. Although proud of how strong their fanbase in America grew in the year of touring the band found the language barrier and being a new band difficult, Poncet has said that even though the band was taught English in school, they learned more English while actually touring in America.
In January 2013 the band started to record their second album with producer Joey Sturgis in Michigan, United States. Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! performed at the Australian 2013 Soundwave festival performing at all 5 dates in: Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth between 23 February and 4 March. While they were in Australia for the festival, they performed two club shows with All Time Low and Polar Bear Club. Across March and April the band returned to the United States to support the upcoming release of their second studio album. To coincide with their appearance at Texas based South by So What?! festival they wrapped a short headline tour with support from Handguns, State Champs and City Lights in mid March. The band is also supporting A Day to Remember on the first half of their Right Back At It Again tour also featuring Of Mice & Men. The band saw the opportunity to tour with one of their influences as one that couldn't be refused. This led to the band rescheduling all of their American headline tour dates of their 'Pardon My French Tour' with supporting acts For All Those Sleeping, Upon This Dawning and City Lights. The band felt they received a positive reaction from the crowd on the Right Back At It Again, and that they learned from the other bands on the bill how to give more professional performances.
On April 30, 2013, the band's second studio album Pardon My French was released. The first single off the album was entitled 'Restart'. They played Slam Dunk Festival 2013 in the United Kingdom in May and then completed their first tour of the country in September with Climates and Light You Up. The band then returned to the United States to support a co-headline tour of We Came As Romans and Silverstein in October and then to do their second headline tour of the country with Counterparts, State Champs and Living With Lions. The band had said that before the end of 2013 they are touring Japan.
The band has said that Europe was their focus for 2014, In which it was announced they would act as main support for We Came As Romans along with The Color Morale and Palm Reader in the United Kingdom. The band will appear on Warped Tour 2014 in the United States. In early February, it was announced that the band will make their second appearance in the Punk Goes... series on the Punk Goes 90's 2 album, covering All Star by Smash Mouth. It was also revealed in March that the band will be releasing a music video accompanying the album's release for the song.
On May 13, it was announced that the band will be releasing a deluxe version of their second album Pardon My French, which will feature 3 previously unreleased tracks and an acoustic version Taking Chances, and will be released on June 13.

Departure of Jonathan Donnaes, ''Get Lost, Find Yourself'', hiatus and upcoming studio album (2014–present)

Shortly after the Warped Tour, drummer Jonathan Donnaes left the band as of August 4, 2014, leaving the following message as of his departure:
On March 11, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! announced their upcoming third album to be titled Get Lost, Find Yourself and revealed its album artwork and track listing.
On August 12, 2016, Fearless Records released a new song on their YouTube channel called "Blame It On This Song".
After Warped Tour 2016, the band went on a hiatus, "We’re taking a break at the moment to focus on other things but hopefully new stuff in 2019."
On December 25, 2019, the band announced that they will play a festival date, thus ending their hiatus.
On May 9, 2020, during Fearless Records' Fearless At Home event it was announced that the band were working on new music.

Musical style

Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!'s musical style is defined by a pop punk sound, contrasted with "growling hardcore" and a "heavy metal alter ego". Guitarist Paul Wilson summarized this style by saying the band is "kind of bipolar". The band fuses the upbeat melodies of pop punk with aggressive breakdowns, guitar chugging and lower guitar tunings such as Drop Bb to give their music a heavier edge. They have been said to "combine the energy of punk, the catchiness of pop, and the crushing assault of hardcore into a power party sound". Singer Bertrand Poncet has stated that although the band is French, their sound is American, which is why they write lyrics in English.
The band's debut album Something for Nothing has been said by the band to incorporate elements of pop punk, hardcore, metal, acoustic, indie, and dance music, employing singing, death growls and keyboards. The style of Pardon My French was intended by the band to center around the theme of bipolarity, with Poncet stating that the song "Bipolar Mind" epitomised their contrasting musical style well, having "the catchiest chorus placed right next to the nastiest breakdown". Rhythm guitarist Paul Wilson stated that "I Am Nothing Like You", also from Pardon My French, is the heaviest song they have ever written.
Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! have been described by various critics as fusing pop punk, metalcore, melodic hardcore, and post-hardcore. This eclectic blend of styles has been described as "easycore" or "popcore", and compared to the style of A Day to Remember and Four Year Strong. Nevertheless, Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! claim they never intended to sound like these bands and simply wanted to apply aggressive musical traits to pop punk. They have said that they are influenced by a variety of styles, including but not limited to dubstep, classical, rock, heavy metal and pop.

Members

;Current
;Former
  • Jonathan Donnaes – drums, percussion
  • Vincent Dahmer – bass guitar

    Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Compilation appearances

Singles

Music videos