SPILL NEW MUSIC: THE CHOVIES (NYC/INDIEROCK/POWERPOP/JEFF BERNER) DEBUT LP + FOCUS TRACK OUT MAY 15

THE CHOVIES (NYC/INDIEROCK/POWERPOP/JEFF BERNER) DEBUT LP + FOCUS TRACK OUT MAY 15

INDEPENDENT

The Chovies – the NYC-based rock project helmed by writer, producer, and guitarist Brendan McLaughlin – are out with their debut album, Chovy Supernovy, alongside focus track “You’d Do It Again.”

The record is the product of a deliberately collaborative process, with McLaughlin assembling a rotating cast of musicians to bring his latest batch of songs to life. Work began at engineer and bassist Shane O’Connell’s (EZTV) Brooklyn basement studio, where the two tracked four songs across a series of daylong sessions, with McLaughlin on guitars and vocals and O’Connell handling recording, bass, and drum programming. McLaughlin then moved the project to Studio G in Brooklyn, where he joined forces with producer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Berner (Psychic TV) and recruited longtime friend and drummer Alex Russek to cut the remaining six tracks. Overdubs, backing vocals, and finishing touches followed, before Berner mixed the record and Scott Anthony of Storybook Sound handled mastering.

McLaughlin brings an eclectic creative background to The Chovies. A veteran TV writer and producer, his credits include VH1’s Best Week Ever, MTV’s Nikki & Sara Live, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, and projects for PeopleTV and IFC. His former band Goodness Gracious released two albums, and his Twitter parody account @TrumpComedyNerd — co-created with Daily Show writer Matt Koff — was named one of Vulture’s Unforgettable Comedy Moments From the 2010s.

Chovy Supernovy is out now. Below, McLaughlin walks us through the album track by track.

1. “Lili Taylor”
The music and some of the lyrics came to me in a dream after watching “Say Anything” and “Mystic Pizza” during Covid. I woke up and found that main riff on the guitar. When it came to finishing the song, I tried to think as little as possible and use words that came naturally. Then, Alex Russek’s drums, Zach DiLanzo and Emma Jane Gonzalez’s backing vocals, and Jeff Berner’s bass and mix gave it enough extra juice for it to be deemed Track 1, Side1.

2. “Radio Station”
All four tracks recorded with Shane O’Connell in his home studio were finished in a day (each). He got me a rough mix of this before I even left his place, so I was able to listen to it repeatedly on my trip home. I had sort of a “That Thing You Do!” moment while blasting it, and driving through Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. The movie about this drive would be called “That Thing You Do the Right Thing!”

3. “I Find You”
A while back, I was watching the movie “After Hours” with a guitar on my lap, and started trying to play along with the punk music in the nightclub scene. I failed at that, but came up with the verse and chorus to this song, but got stuck there. Then, last year, I took a School of Song workshop with the super talented Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak and Flock of Dimes. I decided to dust this off for one of the homework assignments, and ended up coming up with a bridge and all new lyrics. I also thought the album could use a snappier track, so I swapped a midtempo song out and replaced it with this. Alex and I had to do stretches before tackling it together.

4. “You’d Do It Again”
I had this guitar riff for years and never knew what to do with it. The two chords that were implied to go underneath it were a 1 to 4 thing, which seemed boring. Then one day I thought, “What if I added two more chords to it?” Some of the changes interacted with the riff in a way that reminded me slightly of “Brass In Pocket” by The Pretenders. Now, I was cooking with gas (and brass), and decided that, somewhere in there was a song worth writing. The recording was finished in a day with Shane (who added tons of great arrangement ideas), except for my friend Jess MacGregor’s backing vocals. She came up with her parts and sent them from Colorado, where she performs with the band Grass Ceiling. It was the final, Jesus and Mary Chain touch that the track needed.

5. “See Myself Out”
This was the first song written for the album. Finding and liking those riffs in the verses really got the ball rolling. I’m thankful that my friend Colin McFadden was able to find time to lay the lead guitars down, because he’s very busy running the greatest bar/restaurant in Philadelphia, Meetinghouse.

6. “Sorry All Around”
I was in a cover band in high school and we did the Tommy Tutone classic, “867-5309/Jenny.” More recently, my friend Matt Koff (whose new stand-up special “Cat Man” is out now) has been nailing that chestnut at karaoke. I can’t help but think having this song on my mind inspired me to find an arpeggiated riff that kicks off the first verse, and then reappears throughout the song. Another inspiration was Johnny Marr, as evidenced by the “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” ending. Alex really nailed the drums on this one. I’m glad I got his number on the wall.

7. “Just Plateau”
This was the first song recorded for the album. I wanted to try to get a Peter Buck guitar sound on it, and my friend David Nagler was nice enough to lend me his Rickenbacker 325. But at first, I didn’t record anything. Then, after months of pretending to be John Lennon at Shea Stadium, it dawned on me that I couldn’t keep David’s guitar forever. So, I asked Shane O’Connell if he could help me record this song so I could give my friend his guitar back. As a half Irish person, I can’t start doing something difficult unless I feel guilt.

8. “Won’t Stay Gone”
Another one where a riff kicks things off and then the verse starts up around it. Since this is a staple of some of the great Guided By Voices songs that I love so much, I decided to follow their template by putting a Telecaster on one side and a black Les Paul on the other. Did I mention that recording an album is a really fun excuse to play a bunch of different guitars? It’s the most fun a 40-year-old man can have without derailing his life.

9. “Out In a Sigh”
Shane O’Connell had the idea to mix things up here and record to tape. I came up with that ending piano line on guitar and had Shane play it on piano. He also added the ambient keyboard parts.

10. “In a Long Time”
I love a lot of bands that formed in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. When I was first dating my wife, we went to a concert of my choosing. As we were waiting for it to start, she motioned to a group of fans and said, “That guy looks like Paul Giamatti.” I turned to look and – too many guys looked like Paul Giamatti for me to know who she was talking about. I told my friend Joe Pickett about this, and we came up with a game to play at events like this called “Where’s Giamatti?” It’s like “Where’s Waldo?”, but you’re at an event packed with bearded dads and have to try to find the real Paul Giamatti in the throng. Anyway, this song is about the feeling you can get sometimes that all the great things happened before you were born, and you missed out on experiencing them. That’s totally not true by the way – there are tons of great young bands right now. And, as the song mentions, I’ve seen some truly sensational reunion shows. The inspiration for one specific line was a friend who started weeping during a Jonathan Richman show.

11. “Every Time She’s In New York”
The main recording was engineered by my friend Aaron Louis, and was intended to be a demo. But when I listened to it later I thought, “That’s not bad. Why record it again?” I repeatedly asked my friend Rebekah to play violin on it. She kept dodging the question, so my brother-in-law Zach DiLanzo had to record me fumbling through some slide guitar.

Also dive into the full album:

The Chovies
Chovy Supernovy
(Independent)
Release Date: May 15, 2026

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