Somewhere there is a circle pit where participant’s limbs appear to be violently emancipating themselves from their bodies. Across the centre of the pit two excitable people charge at each other and launch into mid air. Skin slaps as they share a high five in passing. They land with cheesy grins wrapped across their faces. On stage Chris Duke and The Royals are smashing out songs from their latest CD Music and Maniacs.

Chris Duke and The Royals claim they don’t play Ska or Punk but something they like to call Party Punk. From the CD’s title track: Music and Maniacs, that describes a rambunctious music tour, its clear that the CHATR mix horns, punk riffs and general light hearted tomfoolery in order to foster a vibe of high energetic fun.

Across the collection of songs there is a feel of old school Blink182 and NOFX that encourage the quick head nod and air guitar riffing/drumming. There is no preaching or “creative experimentalisms”, but good old tongue in cheek lyrics about the things the listener can associate with. The ability for CDATR to go between poppy punk and ska shows their dexterity in writing songs. Add to this the multiple vocals and harmonies they throw in to highlight the many hooks and you pretty much have a CD that is catchy and set for a good spin.