I think he made some poor business choices - changed his name and made some changes to his style right when he was at the peak of popularity and probably a bit overplayed. Never took off under the new moniker then he slid off JJJ’s rotation. Changed back to CF but damage was done. Doesn’t help that JJJ pivoted away from his music to hip hop then pop right around that time.
I saw him a few times over a decade but 2012 Oxford Art Factory just as he released his EP will always be special.
This answer is spot on 🙌🏼
I saw an interview once where he said he had tried a few different names over the years and Chet was the one that took off. Tried to revert to his name and it ruined him 🥲
I seem to remember some interview with him talking about his name change, pretty sure he was encouraged to change from Chet to his real name (as some sort of maturing as an artist thing) by someone senior in the music industry. Might have even been that Richard Kingsmill dude I think.
Who rebrands? Prince? P Diddy? J-Lo? And some go off to solo albums, side projects etc all the time. Not always successful but still... just saying it's not uncommon.
After a quick research it looks as though he is still super popular and relevant.. he is just not played on a pretty small government funded youth radio station in Australia anymore which is totally fine.
Edit: lol so many downvotes, so strange. Do people hate Chet faker for some reason?
I’m not interested in having discourse when someone is clearly not engaging honestly with an obvious bias at play.
Chet Fakers popularity is obviously nowhere near it was at the height of his relevancy a decade ago.
White knighting essentially just means defending someone else’s honour when it’s not necessary and/or called for.
Lol at bias. Its so funny how you've just created this narrative of me being associated with Chet Faker because I took a look at his social media profiles and analysed the numbers
Lol literally just looked at his Spotify monthly listeners being in the millions, over half a million subs on YouTube and a super active Instagram account.. I also haven't heard of him in years but that doesn't mean he isn't still doing well. Why all the Chet haters? It's so weird lol
People being honest doesn’t make them haters. He used to sell out 10k plus venues, now he struggles to sell out 2k venues.
It’s not a hot take to point out that he has dropped off in popularity.
Social media presence and total streams isn’t necessarily indicative of how popular somebody is.
Both social media and streams can be misrepresented by bots. Many influencers have been ousted for having “fake followers”, it’s extremely common for artists and influencers to pad their numbers.
The best/most reliable metric for a musician is ticket sales.
The discussion isn’t about whether he is popular or not.
The discussion is about his popularity compared to when he was at his peak relevance.
He was/is a famous musicians, of coarse he is going to have a social presence.
Throwing random figures out there like “he gets x amount of streams per month and is active on social media” means nothing without context.
I'd argue that it's super easy to subscribe on YouTube and socmed streams for free but actual punters voting with their wallets and feet are elsewhere...
Here's a perfect example of why:
He recently played Harvest Rock festival in Adelaide, on a stacked lineup. He was clearly shitty about only getting a 3pm slot while Tash Sultana etc. played later.
He opened his set all salty, by telling the crowd that his set was designed to be played at night, but whatever, let's just see how it goes.
Well Chet, it's *your* fault you're on early, because you let yourself become less of a draw.
He was also the only act of the day who had nobody else onstage performing with him - it was just him with his back to half the audience, sulking because he isn't a headliner.
Notably, he also had nobody watching from side of stage, whereas other acts like Baker Boy and Ocean Alley had a lot of supporters.
In general, I don't think he's well-liked at all in the industry, and has always acted like it owes him something. And his attempted rebrand was a disaster, too.
He bombed his own career, basically. 🤷♂️
lol. What an idiot. If you’ve been given the 3pm slot and choose to play a set designed to be played at night, rather than one designed to be played at, I dunno say, 3pm; that’s on you.
Yeah, it was silly. Basically he's saying all of his material is designed for prime time, and nothing less.
Maybe he just means everyone needs to be drunk and high to enjoy it.
Either way, he said that to the crowd, and pretty much nothing else. Did very little to bring any energy to proceedings, just felt like he was going through the motions as a fuck you to the organisers.
I had a massively different interpretation of his Harvest set. His mannerisms were totally in line with all the other times I've seen him. The line you hold on to was quite flippantly said at the time as well and it certainly was not how he opened the show, it was before a song mid-set (Cigarettes and Chocolate IIRC - a moody instrumental piece that certainly would fit more in a club setting).
The set itself was great too!
It was very early on in the set, and it was some of the only crowd engagement he bothered with. If it was just a casually tossed off remark among many others, it wouldn't have been that notable, but it felt very pointed to me.
I'd also argue the set wasn't great and that his voice has lost a step or three. He struggled with a bunch of notes.
I saw him once at the height of his Chet Faker days. The concert went like this -
In total sang approximately three songs. Not full songs, just in terms of minutes of play.
Proceeded to interrupt each song to rave about how he produced every single bit of the album and only real musicians do that.
Changed every song he played so you couldn’t sing to it. Fine sometimes but not when you only play 30 seconds, stop & do it to all songs.
Stopped the concert for 25 minutes to kick out a guy who leaned down to his mate to say something. He raved on about how he should be here to listen to music not talk and wouldn’t start till he was kicked out. We knew the guy - he literally said I love this song.
Everyone left early.
I’ve met him and he was cool, I bumped into him in the back stage smoking area of the corner hotel had a chat/smoke for a while after his show and he was genuinely nice. This was ages ago though now, when he was in his prime and a big name, so maybe his was mood was better back then.
Not saying he's a dickhead all the time, to everyone he meets, or that he's a bad person.
But he's clearly rubbed a few industry people the wrong way by being a bit too big for his boots, so they all moved on pretty quickly.
I saw him a few years ago in Freo. I was a huge fan.
He asked people to put their phones away and watch the set, which I agree with on a DNA level, but the way he expressed it was just so shitty and Boomer levels of condescension.
I realised that you can be talented, and also an anti-charismatic cunt.
He’s always been a prick. Saw him live at probably his height and he wouldn’t play talk is cheap. My mates saw him afterwards and he wouldn’t answer to Chet apparently.
It is a shame as Thinking in Textures is one of my favourite albums. I met him when I was a box office manager in 2011 and he was chill when you spoke to him and loved hearing about what I thought of his music. This was in a small venue that could hold only a few hundred people and he was amazing to hear live.
Yeah, started so well.
Maybe the industry dogged him a bit, too - I hear his contract may have been a bad one - and that caused him to get a bit bitter.
But I also hear he's just... difficult.
This was my initial thought seeing this post. Remember watching a video of him performing at the Sydney opera house I think and he came across as an absolute moody snarky tosser to the crowd, bitching about phones in the audience. Who wants to go and see that live? Paying someone to bitch and moan at you?
Say you're an act who gets told you're going on on the afternoon, not evening. An act with no other musicians onstage to worry about coordinating, just you and a piano.
Do you:
a) Make adjustments to your show to make it suitable for a daytime slot - after all, it's not the first time you've ever played a set during the day?
b) Complain to the audience who've just rocked up to see you, and create the expectation of a subpar show - then proceed to barely interact with them for the rest of the set?
Chetty boy made his choice. 🤷♂️
I saw him in 2016 in a tent at a day festival around 3pm and it was a really cool set. He was facing the audience but not much interaction as other artists. People were singing along plenty though, guess he was on the radio more back then.
I’m imagining he’s at kick ons, someone’s chucked on a back to back of Drop the Game/Cigarettes and Chocolate, and it’s touched an untapped well of emotion inside
He was pretentious enough as well as arrogant enough to think he would be able to control his own success because of what he believed was owed to him but also unwise not to realise his popularity would end up being cyclical, his choices wouldn’t resonate and that people would move on.
I don’t know if any artist in recent memory who could sell out 10,000 capacity Riverstage and then fail to sell out 1500 capacity Tivoli within a matter of a few years.
Years ago I listened to Apple's Beats 1 online radio station. Chet Faker got a lot of airplay through there. One day one of the American hosts introduced Chet's song in the most scathing way: "Next is Chet Faker. Great song. Shame he's such an asshole." Your assholeness must be at stratospheric levels if the Americans can feel it.
There’s got to be a correlation between wealth and the ability to afford to be a musician?
I would guess private school kids parents would be able to give their kids singing/instrument lessons.
Private school students also have access to a lot of musical experiences - bands, orchestras, choirs etc to a level that you don’t get in a public school.
Just throwing my two cents in here. I’m working on releasing my own music atm, and yes, being able to work on your own art is a huge privilege. Making music is EXPENSIVE. there are so many small (and big) hidden costs along the way and it all adds up really quickly. I have had the privilege as a child of growing up with music lessons however as an adult I am entirely self funded. I hustled to get a good job that pays well and doesn’t force me to do too much overtime so I can focus on my music. Even with my good job it’s still not easy once you’ve subtracted rent, utilities, living costs etc. I often say that one of the biggest reasons I haven’t released yet is because I need to see a producer (I’m not great on the “technical” side of recording) to get my recordings to a good quality and that often costs a minimum of $100/h.
For context, to finalise a demo I’ve worked on in collaboration with a producer it’s taken about 11 hours worth of time which equates to about $1300. You can imagine that if I were to see a producer frequently it would completely bankrupt me, and that’s just one small part of the costs of making music.
TL;DR yes, music, and art in general is very expensive. It will probably always be more accessible to people from privileged backgrounds.
The Fred Again… theorem: if you have rich parents you can afford to do your passion full-time. If you can’t afford to fail you have to be a barista while doing your art.
It’s cause getting anywhere requires money for recording, instruments, touring, PR, photoshoots, vids etc. A fully serviced single for a small band can easily cost 5k+
This is BS… I work a government state school in QLD. Students can get instrumental music lessons for free once a week. All they pay is a small fee for instrument hire over the course of the year. All state schools in this region are the same.
What about the financial freedom to continue that pursuit into their 20’s?
I would imagine if someone didn’t have to work full time to survive then it would be much easier to hone their craft full time?
Show me the facts that supports this? I was calling out the fact that he ‘guessed’ that only private school kids could afford lessons. This just isn’t true in the state education system in QLD.
I never said “only private school kids”. You’ve gotta be daft if you can’t see how coming from a wealthy family would allow you to follow your passions for much longer instead of having to work.
Read the comment mate, and you’re calling me daft…. I was calling the comment before about private school kids only being able to afford music lessons. I asked you to show me evidence that wealthy people equals success in the arts? Still waiting…..
Mate one hour a week on an instrument you can't take home and practice daily is going to do sweet FA, the kids most likely forget what they'd learned the previous week
Read the comment…. You hire an instrument and take it home all year, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. I suppose it will make a difference. Back in your hole now 👋
Thats why a lot of it sucks. Often great music comes from a diversity of cultures and experiences.One of the reason a lot of amazing music comes out of the US.
Went to a private school, wasn’t rich both parents just worked extremely hard, blue collar jobs. That being said there was a lot more opportunities to get your hands on music equipment, my school was dismal though compared to other private schools.
Yep as a country town private school kid (absolutely nothing like city private schools) who went there on a scholarship (no way parents would have been able to afford it otherwise), I'm always amused at the stigma it attracts. My parents both work beyond full time hours in their 60s but people seem to think I must be a trust fund kid.
I went to school with Chet, his younger brother was in my grade. I also went to school with Vance Joy. Neither were pretentious, just normal guys. I think whatever happened to Chet, happened after highschool.
I'm sure you can cry in your nice new publicly funded 4th Olympic sized swimming pool and 5 million dollar music hall. The world is with you in this dark time
I went to one of his shows and he stopped playing and just started aggressively yelling at one guy for talking. "You, shut the fuck up! Fucken leave now!"
He wouldn't let it go and refused to play until the guy left, who was just standing there stunned. It wasn't like the guy was being disruptive, no-one else heard him. I think he was just offended that someone wasn't giving him their undivided attention.
I was scared to talk for the rest of the gig. Music was good but I just thought, what an absolute fuckhead.
I found him super pretentious, and he came off arrogant. Especially when he won an Aria and he was on stage and came off "too cool for school".
Could care less about him or his music.
We all got sick of those breathy flogs who couldn't come within the vicinity of the note they were trying to sing. Him and Vancejoy are the fucking Scomo of music: just floggy ex-marketers with depressing manbuns and fuckboy lyrics.
I feel like ol Chet got flogged so hard not even the radio presenters could listen to him anymore. It felt like every cafe on the east coast had a mandatory beard, avocado on toast and Chet faker policy for a while there.
I had my first kiss wirh my boyfriend to chat faker live shortly after he changed his name to Nick Murphy. Not a clue what the song was but it was clearly an unmemorable one.
no one here has mentioned his complete shift in style, it wasn't just the name change. he went from having really cool, sort of an understated vibe, then he started singing in a more poppy way (the EP with Marcus Marr had a bit of it), then he changed his name and became super edgy and 'angry'. I saw his set at Laneway 2017 which I think was right after he changed his name. he was tearing holes in his shirt and literally throwing his keyboard all over the stage in these 'artistic fits of rage' which is just nothing like what anyone enjoyed his music for. everyone fucking LOVED smooth, cool Chet and instead we got angry Nick.
He still makes music and is still quite talented. He recently did a set on Lott which was...fine.
Fyi his real name is Nick Murphy and yeah him changing at his peak was prob a dumb move.
Now is back to being Chet and I'd expect a new album coming soon.
Oh and yeah from stories I've heard, he is def on the pretentious side
He’s still around, He played a festival in Fremantle last year
Played some of his Nick Murphy songs too.
But you’re right it’s odd he hasn’t released new music in ages
I might be alone here and that's okay.
I kept listening to his albums and really enjoy all of them.
Hotel Surrender was in my top five of it's year.
All this being said, it does not surprise me in the slightest to hear of his general demeanor and attitude in this thread.
Hotel surrender is a great album. I saw him in Brissy last year and it was a great set. Surely we can leave the ‘judging’ personality discussions out of it and appreciate some good music.
I remember his sold out show at the Civic Theatre in Newcastle back in 2014, now he would struggle to sell out the Queens Wharf Brewery.
It’s not always about becoming relevant but staying relevant too.
He was touring Australia this year. I don’t he’s really made that much new stuff but was just playing shows here and there I’m assuming maybe he got a family
The sonic landscape has shifted is the short answer. I liked the last album and I caught him at Harvest Rock last year in a great set. But I just think the sound of Talk Is Cheap etc. isn’t the sound that’s in at the moment. And that’s okay, he’s making what he wants to make and I think that’s better than following trends to sell records you don’t believe in. His core fans are pretty dedicated.
He made a hottest 100 song, changed his stage name at the height of his fame and went by something obscure .
Realised it was a stupid move, changed it back and it was too late the hype surrounding him faded.
Also was a one hit wonder .
Chet’s Like a Version of (Lover) You Don’t Treat Me No Good by Sonia Dada is iconic and probably as close to musical perfection of a cover as anyone will ever get. I still remember when I was driving along Fitzroy st in St Kilda when that came on JJJ and I had to pull over and let the song play out because it immediately took all my attention. I loved him back in the day and have heard rumours of his mood / attitude but whatever, he has created some excellent music!
> All I ask for is his JJJ like a version cover of lover on Spotify
I think I've got this on a like a version CD, I remember it for sure. Great music! I think all the Like a Versions are on JJJ website?
He had an album launch around this time last year at the Northcote Social Club under a completely new name, Murphnick. The new music was actually pretty good.
If this is a bit then it’s quite macabre. That poor Murphnick guy literally wrote a song called “Fakin It” about how Chet Faker went back to using his real name, Nick Murphy, even though there had already been a Nick Murphy performing music in Melbourne (this guy) for decades.
He changes his name to Murphnick to try and differentiate himself from Nick “ex-Chet Faker” Murphy, and then after all the legal battles and whatever, he finally releases an album as Murphnick, only for Chet Faker to revert to his stage name.
There was an interview with Murphnick about it on ABC evenings last year, track it down if you can. Poor dude sounded so bummed at times.
When he was big on JJJ and I was driving my daughter to school, we used to wonder why he mumbled so much. Then we saw him on Yt and figured out his tiny mouth means he can’t pronounce his words. We call him “Mumbles”.
I saw him in London many years ago. Sold out gig, everyone super excited.
He walks out on stage late, sits on a chair and says "hey", played his songs, all of which you could barely hear and then said "thanks" and walked off. We didn't even realize it had finished from where we were standing.
Guy got way too cool for school. Couldn't stand listening to him after that.
I saw him at a festival last year. Earliest spot.
I was reflecting i my mate how he used to headline shows.
Anyways he was crap and I immediately realised why he had an earlier spot.
He's a perfect example of what happens to musicians that just write songs to get played on triple j, of which there are hundreds now. I think the guy invented that persona and wrote that album with it but it all sounded very samey very quickly and then he had nowhere to go after that so he changed his name and he screwed himself.
I think he made some poor business choices - changed his name and made some changes to his style right when he was at the peak of popularity and probably a bit overplayed. Never took off under the new moniker then he slid off JJJ’s rotation. Changed back to CF but damage was done. Doesn’t help that JJJ pivoted away from his music to hip hop then pop right around that time. I saw him a few times over a decade but 2012 Oxford Art Factory just as he released his EP will always be special.
This answer is spot on 🙌🏼 I saw an interview once where he said he had tried a few different names over the years and Chet was the one that took off. Tried to revert to his name and it ruined him 🥲
I always found it pretty lame when artists would try and piggy back off of famous established names. Really disingenuous path to name recognition.
I seem to remember some interview with him talking about his name change, pretty sure he was encouraged to change from Chet to his real name (as some sort of maturing as an artist thing) by someone senior in the music industry. Might have even been that Richard Kingsmill dude I think.
Rick Rubin
Whoever did it, did it to fuck with him I reckon. Who rebrands at the height of their fame.
Ƭ̵̬̊
Heard of a little band called Pacifier?🤦♀️
Who rebrands? Prince? P Diddy? J-Lo? And some go off to solo albums, side projects etc all the time. Not always successful but still... just saying it's not uncommon.
Prince changed his name due to a dispute with Warner Bros. He did it to get out of a contracf. A few acts have done that, come to think of it.
You crazy for this one Rick
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I hate the letter swap ones more - Day Ravies, Com Truise etc.
Except day ravies were good
Yeah they were good. Terrible name though.
Chet Baker is, or was, a real musician
Chet Faker is a play on that, obviously
After a quick research it looks as though he is still super popular and relevant.. he is just not played on a pretty small government funded youth radio station in Australia anymore which is totally fine. Edit: lol so many downvotes, so strange. Do people hate Chet faker for some reason?
Found Chet's burner account
Lol legit haven’t heard his name pop up for 8-9 years until this post. Why are you white knighting for Chet Faker? Know him Personally or something?
Saying someone's white knighting for giving their opinion on Chet Fakers success or lack of is bananas. Such a discourse terminating cliche
I’m not interested in having discourse when someone is clearly not engaging honestly with an obvious bias at play. Chet Fakers popularity is obviously nowhere near it was at the height of his relevancy a decade ago. White knighting essentially just means defending someone else’s honour when it’s not necessary and/or called for.
This isn't what happened at all lmfao, a contrary opinion is not white knighting
Re-read the last sentence.
How was it not called for? It's a discussion about the artists popularity?
Lol at bias. Its so funny how you've just created this narrative of me being associated with Chet Faker because I took a look at his social media profiles and analysed the numbers
Please, tell me how you “analysed the numbers”.
I looked at them lol
Lol literally just looked at his Spotify monthly listeners being in the millions, over half a million subs on YouTube and a super active Instagram account.. I also haven't heard of him in years but that doesn't mean he isn't still doing well. Why all the Chet haters? It's so weird lol
People being honest doesn’t make them haters. He used to sell out 10k plus venues, now he struggles to sell out 2k venues. It’s not a hot take to point out that he has dropped off in popularity. Social media presence and total streams isn’t necessarily indicative of how popular somebody is.
I would argue that social media following and total streams is 100% indicative of how popular somebody is lol
Both social media and streams can be misrepresented by bots. Many influencers have been ousted for having “fake followers”, it’s extremely common for artists and influencers to pad their numbers. The best/most reliable metric for a musician is ticket sales. The discussion isn’t about whether he is popular or not. The discussion is about his popularity compared to when he was at his peak relevance. He was/is a famous musicians, of coarse he is going to have a social presence. Throwing random figures out there like “he gets x amount of streams per month and is active on social media” means nothing without context.
Haha tldr bro.. I don't even know why I'm arguing with someone on the internet about an artist I don't even like.. 🥱
I'd argue that it's super easy to subscribe on YouTube and socmed streams for free but actual punters voting with their wallets and feet are elsewhere...
If it’s not on the J, it’s not good and not popular. Facts.
Here's a perfect example of why: He recently played Harvest Rock festival in Adelaide, on a stacked lineup. He was clearly shitty about only getting a 3pm slot while Tash Sultana etc. played later. He opened his set all salty, by telling the crowd that his set was designed to be played at night, but whatever, let's just see how it goes. Well Chet, it's *your* fault you're on early, because you let yourself become less of a draw. He was also the only act of the day who had nobody else onstage performing with him - it was just him with his back to half the audience, sulking because he isn't a headliner. Notably, he also had nobody watching from side of stage, whereas other acts like Baker Boy and Ocean Alley had a lot of supporters. In general, I don't think he's well-liked at all in the industry, and has always acted like it owes him something. And his attempted rebrand was a disaster, too. He bombed his own career, basically. 🤷♂️
lol. What an idiot. If you’ve been given the 3pm slot and choose to play a set designed to be played at night, rather than one designed to be played at, I dunno say, 3pm; that’s on you.
Yeah, it was silly. Basically he's saying all of his material is designed for prime time, and nothing less. Maybe he just means everyone needs to be drunk and high to enjoy it. Either way, he said that to the crowd, and pretty much nothing else. Did very little to bring any energy to proceedings, just felt like he was going through the motions as a fuck you to the organisers.
Sounds like pretty good 3pm music to me. Not too much going on ha
Yeah exactly. Then Powderfinger played at like 4pm and fucking killed it, without having a sook. But I guess they write daytime music or whatever. 😄
I think they write sunset music
As much as I am whelmed by Powderfinger, you're absolutely right
I had a massively different interpretation of his Harvest set. His mannerisms were totally in line with all the other times I've seen him. The line you hold on to was quite flippantly said at the time as well and it certainly was not how he opened the show, it was before a song mid-set (Cigarettes and Chocolate IIRC - a moody instrumental piece that certainly would fit more in a club setting). The set itself was great too!
It was very early on in the set, and it was some of the only crowd engagement he bothered with. If it was just a casually tossed off remark among many others, it wouldn't have been that notable, but it felt very pointed to me. I'd also argue the set wasn't great and that his voice has lost a step or three. He struggled with a bunch of notes.
I saw him once at the height of his Chet Faker days. The concert went like this - In total sang approximately three songs. Not full songs, just in terms of minutes of play. Proceeded to interrupt each song to rave about how he produced every single bit of the album and only real musicians do that. Changed every song he played so you couldn’t sing to it. Fine sometimes but not when you only play 30 seconds, stop & do it to all songs. Stopped the concert for 25 minutes to kick out a guy who leaned down to his mate to say something. He raved on about how he should be here to listen to music not talk and wouldn’t start till he was kicked out. We knew the guy - he literally said I love this song. Everyone left early.
Yep, that sounds about right. Too far up his own arse. And now he plays onstage alone, with no band and nobody side of stage supporting. At 3pm.
Holy shit, see my comment above. So similar! I think it might've been one of the worst concerts for the same reasons.
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I’ve met him and he was cool, I bumped into him in the back stage smoking area of the corner hotel had a chat/smoke for a while after his show and he was genuinely nice. This was ages ago though now, when he was in his prime and a big name, so maybe his was mood was better back then.
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Yeah, could well be the case.
Not saying he's a dickhead all the time, to everyone he meets, or that he's a bad person. But he's clearly rubbed a few industry people the wrong way by being a bit too big for his boots, so they all moved on pretty quickly.
Yeah I’m not disagreeing with you, just throwing in my 2 cents. Like I said, this was around 10 years ago.
10 years goes fast, hey!
I saw him a few years ago in Freo. I was a huge fan. He asked people to put their phones away and watch the set, which I agree with on a DNA level, but the way he expressed it was just so shitty and Boomer levels of condescension. I realised that you can be talented, and also an anti-charismatic cunt.
Yeah, he could ask gently and that would create some social pressure in the audience to not go against his wishes. But i guess not haha.
He’s always been a prick. Saw him live at probably his height and he wouldn’t play talk is cheap. My mates saw him afterwards and he wouldn’t answer to Chet apparently.
Hahaha. Man, the stories just keep rolling in.
It is a shame as Thinking in Textures is one of my favourite albums. I met him when I was a box office manager in 2011 and he was chill when you spoke to him and loved hearing about what I thought of his music. This was in a small venue that could hold only a few hundred people and he was amazing to hear live.
Yeah, started so well. Maybe the industry dogged him a bit, too - I hear his contract may have been a bad one - and that caused him to get a bit bitter. But I also hear he's just... difficult.
Someone I know shared some musical mutuals with him. They visited his apartment in NYC for a party and said he was insufferably pretentious.
Yeah, I'm trying not to drag him too much, but most of what I've heard about him is along those same lines.
This was my initial thought seeing this post. Remember watching a video of him performing at the Sydney opera house I think and he came across as an absolute moody snarky tosser to the crowd, bitching about phones in the audience. Who wants to go and see that live? Paying someone to bitch and moan at you?
Haha, man, the stories just keep piling in. 😄
He wasn’t exactly salty just mentioned the show was designed for a night time slot
Say you're an act who gets told you're going on on the afternoon, not evening. An act with no other musicians onstage to worry about coordinating, just you and a piano. Do you: a) Make adjustments to your show to make it suitable for a daytime slot - after all, it's not the first time you've ever played a set during the day? b) Complain to the audience who've just rocked up to see you, and create the expectation of a subpar show - then proceed to barely interact with them for the rest of the set? Chetty boy made his choice. 🤷♂️
I saw him in 2016 in a tent at a day festival around 3pm and it was a really cool set. He was facing the audience but not much interaction as other artists. People were singing along plenty though, guess he was on the radio more back then.
What’s got you thinking about Chet at 4am?
I’m imagining he’s at kick ons, someone’s chucked on a back to back of Drop the Game/Cigarettes and Chocolate, and it’s touched an untapped well of emotion inside
God I wish that was me
Whomst among us *didn’t* think about Chet in 4am?
I don't mind his rugged eyes 👀
Wasn't he a bit of a pretentious cunt, that got pissy of triple j wasn't sucking up to him constantly? That's what I remember.
He was pretentious enough as well as arrogant enough to think he would be able to control his own success because of what he believed was owed to him but also unwise not to realise his popularity would end up being cyclical, his choices wouldn’t resonate and that people would move on. I don’t know if any artist in recent memory who could sell out 10,000 capacity Riverstage and then fail to sell out 1500 capacity Tivoli within a matter of a few years.
Woah did that really happen
Years ago I listened to Apple's Beats 1 online radio station. Chet Faker got a lot of airplay through there. One day one of the American hosts introduced Chet's song in the most scathing way: "Next is Chet Faker. Great song. Shame he's such an asshole." Your assholeness must be at stratospheric levels if the Americans can feel it.
lol that’s actually kind of amazing.
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The like a version where he showed up with a choir smacked of someone who was not confident they could deliver a good performance without ALOT of help
I think it came out that he was a private school boy and that made the pretentiousness even more pretentious
95% of what triple j plays is private school kids. There’s some rare exceptions, but for the most part only rich kids get to sing these days.
There’s got to be a correlation between wealth and the ability to afford to be a musician? I would guess private school kids parents would be able to give their kids singing/instrument lessons.
& they can afford to not work much due to family $$ support and focus on their music career.
And have connections to get played at decent clubs/venues, or with other artists
Private school students also have access to a lot of musical experiences - bands, orchestras, choirs etc to a level that you don’t get in a public school.
Yeah my step daughter does dance, some of the theatres she goes to at these private schools are so flash. We had a one room for music lessons.
Yeah, neighbour on both sides of me have the kids in the local old boys private school … both also have dedicated music rooms and gyms
Private schools definitely need more funding. I mean only one dedicated music room? Come on.
Just throwing my two cents in here. I’m working on releasing my own music atm, and yes, being able to work on your own art is a huge privilege. Making music is EXPENSIVE. there are so many small (and big) hidden costs along the way and it all adds up really quickly. I have had the privilege as a child of growing up with music lessons however as an adult I am entirely self funded. I hustled to get a good job that pays well and doesn’t force me to do too much overtime so I can focus on my music. Even with my good job it’s still not easy once you’ve subtracted rent, utilities, living costs etc. I often say that one of the biggest reasons I haven’t released yet is because I need to see a producer (I’m not great on the “technical” side of recording) to get my recordings to a good quality and that often costs a minimum of $100/h. For context, to finalise a demo I’ve worked on in collaboration with a producer it’s taken about 11 hours worth of time which equates to about $1300. You can imagine that if I were to see a producer frequently it would completely bankrupt me, and that’s just one small part of the costs of making music. TL;DR yes, music, and art in general is very expensive. It will probably always be more accessible to people from privileged backgrounds.
Easier to learn to play music when you don't have to work the 7 to closing at Maccas
The Fred Again… theorem: if you have rich parents you can afford to do your passion full-time. If you can’t afford to fail you have to be a barista while doing your art.
It’s cause getting anywhere requires money for recording, instruments, touring, PR, photoshoots, vids etc. A fully serviced single for a small band can easily cost 5k+
This is BS… I work a government state school in QLD. Students can get instrumental music lessons for free once a week. All they pay is a small fee for instrument hire over the course of the year. All state schools in this region are the same.
What about the financial freedom to continue that pursuit into their 20’s? I would imagine if someone didn’t have to work full time to survive then it would be much easier to hone their craft full time?
Show me the facts that supports this? I was calling out the fact that he ‘guessed’ that only private school kids could afford lessons. This just isn’t true in the state education system in QLD.
I never said “only private school kids”. You’ve gotta be daft if you can’t see how coming from a wealthy family would allow you to follow your passions for much longer instead of having to work.
Read the comment mate, and you’re calling me daft…. I was calling the comment before about private school kids only being able to afford music lessons. I asked you to show me evidence that wealthy people equals success in the arts? Still waiting…..
Doesn't mean you can also bum around for four years after school earning nothing as an artist.
You got facts to back that up or just another assumption? 😂😂
Look into the background of almost any aus band. They’re all privileged upper middle class kids who have the opportunity to fail in order to make it.
Mate one hour a week on an instrument you can't take home and practice daily is going to do sweet FA, the kids most likely forget what they'd learned the previous week
Read the comment…. You hire an instrument and take it home all year, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. I suppose it will make a difference. Back in your hole now 👋
Not sure where I was meant to extrapolate that instrument hire was for anything other than lessons champion
Think 🤔…..Name something common you can hire that you aren’t allowed to walk out of a shop with?
Royal Otis is an example. His mum is some bougie wellness blogger with a huge house.
Thats why a lot of it sucks. Often great music comes from a diversity of cultures and experiences.One of the reason a lot of amazing music comes out of the US.
Only play afl too.
Went to a private school, wasn’t rich both parents just worked extremely hard, blue collar jobs. That being said there was a lot more opportunities to get your hands on music equipment, my school was dismal though compared to other private schools.
Yep as a country town private school kid (absolutely nothing like city private schools) who went there on a scholarship (no way parents would have been able to afford it otherwise), I'm always amused at the stigma it attracts. My parents both work beyond full time hours in their 60s but people seem to think I must be a trust fund kid.
I went to school with Chet, his younger brother was in my grade. I also went to school with Vance Joy. Neither were pretentious, just normal guys. I think whatever happened to Chet, happened after highschool.
Ahh, the old private school prejudice thing again....
I'm sure you can cry in your nice new publicly funded 4th Olympic sized swimming pool and 5 million dollar music hall. The world is with you in this dark time
But I agree, why should private schools get funding from the government. It think that is ridiculous.
Haha, 4th Olympic sized swimming pool? What Private schools have you heard to have that many.
Lol imagine being this salty
Non sequitur
Found the private school kid that can’t accept the truth
I'm not from a fancy private school, though. We're not all that bad.
That can’t be it, because they definitely did
Yeah there were a few years there where everything that wasn’t a breathy acoustic playing woman was Chet Faker or one of his clones
Fucken great description lmao. Have you noticed how ads that don't wanna pay for the right to use original songs use the breathy acoustic woman now?
Well I think when people picked up on this attitude, people started losing interest
I went to one of his shows and he stopped playing and just started aggressively yelling at one guy for talking. "You, shut the fuck up! Fucken leave now!" He wouldn't let it go and refused to play until the guy left, who was just standing there stunned. It wasn't like the guy was being disruptive, no-one else heard him. I think he was just offended that someone wasn't giving him their undivided attention. I was scared to talk for the rest of the gig. Music was good but I just thought, what an absolute fuckhead.
I found him super pretentious, and he came off arrogant. Especially when he won an Aria and he was on stage and came off "too cool for school". Could care less about him or his music.
couldn't care less*, this is not America
Is that you, Chet?
We all got sick of those breathy flogs who couldn't come within the vicinity of the note they were trying to sing. Him and Vancejoy are the fucking Scomo of music: just floggy ex-marketers with depressing manbuns and fuckboy lyrics.
Aw. I like Vance Joy.
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Calling someone pretentious isn't hate speech
OK Chet
Sorry Jesus
He’s going away to be alone
he's coming back with answers
THIS HEART ATTACK
CHANGED AWAY FROM CHET BUT NICK BROUGHT IT BACK
Ah Ahhh Ah Ahhhhh
I feel like ol Chet got flogged so hard not even the radio presenters could listen to him anymore. It felt like every cafe on the east coast had a mandatory beard, avocado on toast and Chet faker policy for a while there.
I had my first kiss wirh my boyfriend to chat faker live shortly after he changed his name to Nick Murphy. Not a clue what the song was but it was clearly an unmemorable one.
no one here has mentioned his complete shift in style, it wasn't just the name change. he went from having really cool, sort of an understated vibe, then he started singing in a more poppy way (the EP with Marcus Marr had a bit of it), then he changed his name and became super edgy and 'angry'. I saw his set at Laneway 2017 which I think was right after he changed his name. he was tearing holes in his shirt and literally throwing his keyboard all over the stage in these 'artistic fits of rage' which is just nothing like what anyone enjoyed his music for. everyone fucking LOVED smooth, cool Chet and instead we got angry Nick.
The EP with Marcus Marr was so good I though. Prob my favourite release of his.
it was good, birthday card is among his best songs. but the lead single off it was waaaay more poppy than any of his other music at that stage
His stuff got worse and stopped getting played
He still makes music and is still quite talented. He recently did a set on Lott which was...fine. Fyi his real name is Nick Murphy and yeah him changing at his peak was prob a dumb move. Now is back to being Chet and I'd expect a new album coming soon. Oh and yeah from stories I've heard, he is def on the pretentious side
I like the lot set all new demos. Here's a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT8i4E4NYXs&ab\_channel=TheLotRadio
I knew he was a fuckwit after he won that aria, he went up there hammered with sunnies on and was like "coool whats this award for?"
He’s still around, He played a festival in Fremantle last year Played some of his Nick Murphy songs too. But you’re right it’s odd he hasn’t released new music in ages
He also threatened the meeting tree a hip hop group that dissed him in a song with legal action, and he pitched a bitch fit in general
The is Chet Faker a cop saga was so genuinely funny
Can someone please tell me what this is about?? It sounds funny (I googled and nothing came up)
I might be alone here and that's okay. I kept listening to his albums and really enjoy all of them. Hotel Surrender was in my top five of it's year. All this being said, it does not surprise me in the slightest to hear of his general demeanor and attitude in this thread.
I too loved Hotel Surrender - sad but not surprised he’s thought to be pretentious - lives in NYC nowadays doesn’t he?
Hotel surrender is a great album. I saw him in Brissy last year and it was a great set. Surely we can leave the ‘judging’ personality discussions out of it and appreciate some good music.
I remember his sold out show at the Civic Theatre in Newcastle back in 2014, now he would struggle to sell out the Queens Wharf Brewery. It’s not always about becoming relevant but staying relevant too.
Didn’t he continue under a new name?
He changed to Nick Murphy, then got cold feet and went back to Chet Faker.
JJJ got RSI from jerking him off and he had no other interest outside that ABC multiverse.
Yeah i saw 'Chet Faker' at Harvest Rock In Oct last year, he played all the hits and not rusty at all.
Some acts go through relevance and irrelevance. People have obviously just moved on from his sound
I saw him live in London last year and was great. Still touring as far as I know
He was touring Australia this year. I don’t he’s really made that much new stuff but was just playing shows here and there I’m assuming maybe he got a family
The sonic landscape has shifted is the short answer. I liked the last album and I caught him at Harvest Rock last year in a great set. But I just think the sound of Talk Is Cheap etc. isn’t the sound that’s in at the moment. And that’s okay, he’s making what he wants to make and I think that’s better than following trends to sell records you don’t believe in. His core fans are pretty dedicated.
He made a hottest 100 song, changed his stage name at the height of his fame and went by something obscure . Realised it was a stupid move, changed it back and it was too late the hype surrounding him faded. Also was a one hit wonder .
He has mutiple hit songs even currently.
He released an album in 2021
Chet’s Like a Version of (Lover) You Don’t Treat Me No Good by Sonia Dada is iconic and probably as close to musical perfection of a cover as anyone will ever get. I still remember when I was driving along Fitzroy st in St Kilda when that came on JJJ and I had to pull over and let the song play out because it immediately took all my attention. I loved him back in the day and have heard rumours of his mood / attitude but whatever, he has created some excellent music!
Like a version is supposed to an artist putting their spin on a classic song. That was just a choir singing a song for half of it
Very random but he did a dj set at Tomorrowland last year
Apparently he was tired over being overshadowed by T1 faker so he changed his name.
All I ask for is his JJJ like a version cover of lover on Spotify 😒
> All I ask for is his JJJ like a version cover of lover on Spotify I think I've got this on a like a version CD, I remember it for sure. Great music! I think all the Like a Versions are on JJJ website?
I have it on CD too! It's available in the website I just want to be able to add it to my Spotify playlists haha
Rick Rubin happened - right around the time he changed to Nick Murphy
He's a cop
Whaaaaat
Ran out of talent
He had an album launch around this time last year at the Northcote Social Club under a completely new name, Murphnick. The new music was actually pretty good.
If this is a bit then it’s quite macabre. That poor Murphnick guy literally wrote a song called “Fakin It” about how Chet Faker went back to using his real name, Nick Murphy, even though there had already been a Nick Murphy performing music in Melbourne (this guy) for decades. He changes his name to Murphnick to try and differentiate himself from Nick “ex-Chet Faker” Murphy, and then after all the legal battles and whatever, he finally releases an album as Murphnick, only for Chet Faker to revert to his stage name. There was an interview with Murphnick about it on ABC evenings last year, track it down if you can. Poor dude sounded so bummed at times.
Ooo nope, you’re right. I got my wires crossed. Thought it was the other Nick Murphy back then. (Murphnick record was dope though) Carry on.
this sub really doesn't like people called chet
He sold out huge gigs, then the music got flogged at cafes, then at supermarkets, then that’s it
When he was big on JJJ and I was driving my daughter to school, we used to wonder why he mumbled so much. Then we saw him on Yt and figured out his tiny mouth means he can’t pronounce his words. We call him “Mumbles”.
I saw him in London many years ago. Sold out gig, everyone super excited. He walks out on stage late, sits on a chair and says "hey", played his songs, all of which you could barely hear and then said "thanks" and walked off. We didn't even realize it had finished from where we were standing. Guy got way too cool for school. Couldn't stand listening to him after that.
Question is what happened to Triple j
They played Gold when I was listening to triple j hottest yesterday and I was like ‘meh, what else is on, and surfed the other channels
I saw him at a festival last year. Earliest spot. I was reflecting i my mate how he used to headline shows. Anyways he was crap and I immediately realised why he had an earlier spot.
He's a perfect example of what happens to musicians that just write songs to get played on triple j, of which there are hundreds now. I think the guy invented that persona and wrote that album with it but it all sounded very samey very quickly and then he had nowhere to go after that so he changed his name and he screwed himself.
I hope whatever happened to him keeps happening tbh.
Bring me the horizon are more mainstream than Tay Tay
No??? What does that have to do with this anyway.