People wrestle with our name HIT BAND THE TALK OF MUSIC INDUSTRY
CHAPPAQUA Wrestling are thriving – even though nobody knows how to pronounce their name.
The Brighton indie quartet’s frontmen Charlie Woods and Jake Mac met when they were 14 – but Charlie had lived for five years in the New York suburb of Chappaqua until he was 12.
Jake told me: “People get our name very wrong and they do struggle with it – but it’s a very recognisable name.
“DJs will wonder on the radio, ‘Is it pronounced Cha-pack-wah or Chappa-kwa?’
“They end up saying our name four times in five seconds, so Chappaqua Wrestling has worked for us in that regard.
“One fan got confused and called us Chipotle Wrestling, which is also a great band name.”
Charlie said of his childhood: “When I was 12, the proper Chappaqua Wrestling high school teams looked like titans, they were hardcore.
“People in Chappaqua have started to recognise the band so our dream of meeting an actual Chappaqua Wrestling team is getting closer.”
The band have just released debut album Plus Ultra, full of escapist anthems mixed with protest songs.
Charlie explained: “It’s important to recognise the feeling of hopelessness that everyone has from the country being in such a mess.
“You can’t avoid that but you also don’t want to say, ‘This is it, woe is me forever.’
“We want to kick back against that and try to appreciate the good things too.”
Jake added: “Positive rage will always be in our music but it’s hard to say if we’ll always talk about British politics.
“Who knows, we might end up living in Switzerland in two years and get really into turnip farming.”
Set to play at Neighbourhood Weekender, Kendal Calling and YNOT festivals after a tour starting on May 16, Chappaqua Wrestling hope for an intense reaction. Jake revealed: “When we toured last year, people were losing it to Need You No More, even though we hadn’t played it before.
“They were getting on their knees and getting sweaty, so we thought, ‘OK, this song has to be a single.’”
Charlie added: “The other mad fan moment was when we released Wide Asleep.
“Within five minutes, someone had put up a guitar tutorial on YouTube on how to play it.
“Shoutout to that guy, because that was impressive.”