Chandra monkeys around on his cheeky new single and video Smile (No Fox Gibbon) — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
The fun-loving U.K. pop-rocker’s latest lighthearted single is a sassy rhyming pun on a popular phrase — and Chandra’s own take on not worrying about what others think. Rather than apathy, it’s amusement he asks his listeners to find in the No Fox Gibbon approach to life.
“We all have moments in our day when we unashamedly beam or uncontrollably snigger at something we’ve seen, remembered or heard,” Chandra says. “If we’re in public, then that joyous moment is quickly curbed as the self-conscious part of our brain realises we’re on a bus, in the office, in a queue for a coffee or walking down a street. I am the worst for it and it’s gone on for so long that I now find the self-tempering of joy is an autonomic reaction.
“I wrote this song because it’s something I active want and need to improve on. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all gave a little bit less of a damn who is watching and really enjoyed those amazing moments in our day? Let’s all let go and smile like there are absolutely no f**ks given.”
Chandra is a bold and exciting singer-songwriter from Bristol who forges unique guitar pop with an uplifting, positive message and intimate lyrical prowess. He writes from the heart with stories of the human condition; the struggles of self-belief, building confidence and riding the daily see-saw of mental health. “It’s not cool to sing about these things. But I want to shout loud and evangelise things that otherwise get demoted to a mere whisper under your breath; mental health, being nice to one another, believing in yourself and finding the confidence to simply be yourself.”
Citing influences from David Bowie, Queen, The Carpenters and The Beatles to Britpop, Britney, Pink, One Republic and Sam Fender, Chandra is a sucker for a killer tune. “I grew up learning what a great melody was,” he says. “My teenage years were rocket-fuelled along by Suede, Blur, Oasis, Manics, Supergrass, Elastica, Mansun, Radiohead, Coldplay… but it was R.E.M.’s 1995 Monster Tour at Milton Keynes Bowl that lit the spark before all that. From then on I knew that all I wanted to do was perform my own songs live to thousands of people.”
Chandra fronted alt-rock band Circa in his late teens (during a similar era to Muse and Coldplay’s rise to recognition) and is used to being onstage and putting on a great performance at the drop of a hat.
Watch the video for Smile (No Fox Gibbon) above, check out more from Chandra below, and go ape on his website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
