Biography
Emerging from San Francisco as an oddball three-piece metal unit that seldom plays for actual metal crowds, the Fucking Champs instead circulate among indie rock circles while unleashing abrasive, unsettled hesher sounds. After relocating to the Bay Area in 1995, ex-Nation of Ulysses guitarist Tim Green soon linked with drummer Tim Soete and guitarist Josh Smith. The resulting trio, operating without a bassist and with minimal vocals, took the name the Champs and delivered unvarnished, aggressive riffing built on galloping power chords in the style of Judas Priest along with sporadic flashy flourishes. They issued a handful of self-produced cassettes bearing titles such as Triumph of the Air Elementals and Music for Films About Rock, plus a pair of 7-inch singles that proved elusive except when purchased directly at performances.
Their 1997 double album III—issued for obscure reasons under the alias C4AM95—stood as their defining statement, brimming with ferocious riff work. Interspersed among those tracks were concise electronic interludes carrying names like “Now Is the Winter of Our Discoteque” and “Silent Night, Friendly Night.” Shared tastes for heavy guitar music and atmospheric electronics fostered a lasting alliance with Trans Am. The group followed in 2000 with the sharp yet equally abrasive IV. The next year saw the release of Double Exposure, an EP credited to the collaborative supergroup Trans Champs. Adhering to their Roman-numeral sequence, they delivered the comparably caustic V two years afterward.
Hiatus soon set in and Smith departed. While laying down the subsequent joint project with Trans Am, the Champs auditioned various configurations before enlisting Philip Manley of Trans Am as their second guitarist. That effort, The Fucking Am’s Gold, appeared in 2004 and included drum contributions from Jon Theodore of Golden and the Mars Volta. The band also supplied music for advertisements, the Sims video-game series, the Italian horror picture La Foresta Della Morte, and supplemental featurettes on the DVD of the Dawn of the Dead remake. They resurfaced in 2007 with VI under a revised lineup: Smith had stepped away to perform with the Makes Nice and Drunk Horse, leaving Manley as the sole guitarist.
Their 1997 double album III—issued for obscure reasons under the alias C4AM95—stood as their defining statement, brimming with ferocious riff work. Interspersed among those tracks were concise electronic interludes carrying names like “Now Is the Winter of Our Discoteque” and “Silent Night, Friendly Night.” Shared tastes for heavy guitar music and atmospheric electronics fostered a lasting alliance with Trans Am. The group followed in 2000 with the sharp yet equally abrasive IV. The next year saw the release of Double Exposure, an EP credited to the collaborative supergroup Trans Champs. Adhering to their Roman-numeral sequence, they delivered the comparably caustic V two years afterward.
Hiatus soon set in and Smith departed. While laying down the subsequent joint project with Trans Am, the Champs auditioned various configurations before enlisting Philip Manley of Trans Am as their second guitarist. That effort, The Fucking Am’s Gold, appeared in 2004 and included drum contributions from Jon Theodore of Golden and the Mars Volta. The band also supplied music for advertisements, the Sims video-game series, the Italian horror picture La Foresta Della Morte, and supplemental featurettes on the DVD of the Dawn of the Dead remake. They resurfaced in 2007 with VI under a revised lineup: Smith had stepped away to perform with the Makes Nice and Drunk Horse, leaving Manley as the sole guitarist.
Albums
Singles
