!!! (Chk Chk Chk) Biography

!!! (usually pronounced as Chk Chk Chk, IPA: /tʃɪk tʃɪk tʃɪk/) is a dance-punk band that formed in Sacramento, California, in 1996. Members of !!! came from other local bands such as The Yah Mos, Black Liquorice and Popesmashers. The band, who are commonly associated with the dance-punk movement, are currently based in New York City, Sacramento, California, and Portland, Oregon.

After a tour together, members of Sacramento bands Black Liquorice and Popesmashers formed !!!. The band's name was inspired by the subtitles of the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, in which the clicking sounds of the Bushmens' Khoisan language were represented as "!". However, as the band themselves say on their web site: "!!! is pronounced by repeating thrice any monosyllabic sound. Chk Chk Chk is the most common pronunciation, but they could just as easily be called Pow Pow Pow, Bam Bam Bam, Uh Uh Uh, tik tik tik, wik wik wik, lik lik lik, nit nit nit, pat pat pat, sat sat sat, dit dit dit, etc." The title of their MySpace page, however, suggests that "Chk Chk Chk" is the preferred pronunciation.

The band's debut full-length record came out in 2000 as a self-titled album on the label Gold Standard Laboratories. This was followed in 2003 by the single "Me and Giuliani Down By the School Yard", a lengthy track combining house beats with sinewy basslines, psychedelic guitars, and simple lyrics which quote the title song of the musical Footloose.

A second full-length, Louden Up Now, was released on Touch and Go in America and on Warp Records in Europe in June 2004. In June 2005, !!! released a new EP covering "Take Ecstasy With Me" by The Magnetic Fields, and "Get Up" by Nate Dogg. The following December, the original drummer for the band, Mikel Gius, was struck and killed by a car while riding his bike. !!! released their third album, Myth Takes in 2007.

!!! is composed of Mario Andreoni (guitar), Dan Gorman (horns/percussion/keys), Nic Offer (vocals), Tyler Pope (bass/various electronic devices), and Allan Wilson (horns/percussion/keys). Touring members include Shannon Funchess (vocals), Sean McGahan (various electronic devices/sound manipulation) and Paul Quattrone (drums). The band also shared membership with the similar, defunct group Out Hud (including Tyler Pope, who has played with LCD Soundsystem and written music for Cake).

Vocalist and drummer John Pugh officially left the band in July 2007 to concentrate on his new band Free Blood. Shannon Funchess stood in for Pugh during much of their 2007 tour.

John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers saw the band in a gig in Los Angeles and invited them to support the Red Hot Chili Peppers during their 2006 tour of the UK.

One of the songs from the album !!!, There's No Fucking Rules, Dude, is played during Cuddy's striptease in season 4 episode 15, House's Head, from the series House.

On November 18, 2009, the band's former drummer Jerry Fuchs - who was also a member of Maserati, Turing Machine and The Juan MacLean - died after falling down an elevator shaft.