Biography
Street Chant formed in Auckland in late 2007, originally under the name Mean Street, when Emily Littler and Billie Rogers recruited drummer Mikey Sperring to complete a three-piece. A reaction against the electro-pop dominating student radio at the time, the band described themselves as “a couple of Auckland teens who hung out on K Rd, doing punk rock shit” — leaning into distortion-heavy instrumentation and a confrontational live presence.
Less than a year after forming, a demo of ‘You Do the Maths’ reached the 95bFM Top 10, helping the band build momentum through relentless gigging across Auckland. In 2009 Sperring departed and was replaced by Alex Brown; the band also renamed themselves Street Chant. Support slots followed for a nationwide tour with Flying Nun legends The 3Ds and an opening spot on The Dead Weather’s Australasian jaunt, cementing their reputation as one of the hardest-working live acts in the country. Frontwoman Littler became known for her ferocious stage presence — throwing microphone stands and ramming guitars through kick drums.
Their debut album Means arrived in mid-2010 on Arch Hill Recordings, a signing initiated after label owner Ben Howe sent a MySpace message expressing interest. The album was recorded and engineered by Bob Frisbee, who the band credited as instrumental in evolving them “from drunk, stoned, screaming teenagers into musicians able to make conscious decisions about sonic experience and vocal tone.” Means earned the band the inaugural Critics’ Choice award at the 2010 New Zealand Music Awards.
What’s hard to deny is the passion with which Street Chant take to their task — irrepressibly convincing in its entirety.
Paul Gallagher, Under the Radar
In 2011 the band headed to the United States for the CMJ Music Marathon and South by Southwest, then joined The Lemonheads for a West Coast tour — the latter connection made after Evan Dando spotted a video of Littler wearing a 3Ds T-shirt during a bFM In Session performance. A 7″ double A-side, Frail Girls / Salad Daze, followed in April 2012, with videos directed by Levi Beamish and Damian Golfinopoulos. The Sink EP and the B-sides collection Isthmus of One-Thousand Lovers — which included a cover of Blam Blam Blam’s ‘There Is No Depression In New Zealand’ — appeared in 2013.
In early 2015 Alex Brown left the band and was replaced by Christopher Varnham of Auckland post-punk outfit Wilberforces. Singles ‘Never’ and ‘Pedestrian Support League’ — the latter nominated for the 2016 Silver Scroll — preceded the second album Hauora, released through Arch Hill Recordings and Flying Nun Records in April 2016. Produced by Littler, the album took its title from the Māori concept of holistic health. In 2017 Street Chant were awarded the Taite Music Prize for Hauora.
Hauora is a portrait of the lives of a certain breed of the twenty-something, creative middle/under-class; over-read and under-employed, drinking too much and earning too little, bussing from an existential crisis to a house party, walking from breakup to hangover.
Henry Oliver, North & South
Street Chant announced a nationwide farewell tour in 2018 and had ceased activity by 2020.
Members
- Alex Brown (Drums 2009–2015, Street Chant, Girls Pissing On Girls Pissing, Shab Orkestra)
- Emily Littler (Guitar/Vocals, Street Chant, Wilberforces, About Town, Mean Street)
- Billie Rogers (Bass/Vocals, Street Chant, Mean Street)
- Mikey Sperring (Drums 2007–2009, Mean Street)
- Chris Varnham (Drums 2015–2020, Street Chant, Wilberforces, The Midnights, Na Noise)
Discography
- Means [LP] (2010, Arch Hill Recordings, AHR044)
- Frail Girls / Salad Daze [7″] (2012, Arch Hill Recordings)
- Sink [EP] (2013, Arch Hill Recordings)
- Isthmus of One-Thousand Lovers [EP] (2013, self-released)
- Hauora [LP] (2016, Arch Hill Recordings / Flying Nun Records, AHR061/FNLP557)