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Jan 10, 2012 The Chap By Under the Radar Staff

For Under the Radar’s 9th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2011. Pick up a copy of Under the Radar’s Best of 2011 Issue for Artist Survey responses from !!!, Acid House Kings, The Antlers, Art Brut, Beirut, Blonde Redhead, Camera Obscura, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., The Dears, Rose Elinor Dougall, The Drums, The Duke Spirit, Elbow, EMA, The Horrors, I Break Horses, Islands, Little Dragon, My Brightest Diamond, Nada Surf, Marissa Nadler, of Montreal, Okkervil River, Peter Bjorn and John, The Rapture, The Rosebuds, SBTRKT, S.C.U.M, and Vivian Girls.

There are even more survey responses in the digital version of the issue and we are also posting more surveys on our website. Here’s a survey from The Chap.

Keith Duncan, Panos Ghikas, Claire Hope, Berit Immig, and Johannes von Weizsäcker

The Chap

Top 8 Albums of 2011

1. John Zorn: A Dreamers Christmas

2. Adam Bohman & If, Bwana: Adhesives and Grout

3. Bohman Brothers: Back on the Streets

4. Various Artists: Migrosound (Migro Records)

5. The Chap: We Are the Best

6. Adam Bohman & Adrian Northover: Granite, Silk & Soldering

7. Gablé: Cute Horse Cut

8. La Batterie: Firemen’s Parade on Main Street

What was the highlight of 2011 for you and/or your band?

Band: The sound design on Thor 3D.

What was the low point of 2011 for you?

Band: Being let down by the sound design on Transformers 3.

What are your hopes and plans for 2012?

Band: Move house, have kid, release Chap album number 5 (We Are Nobody), and tour.

What are your thoughts on the Occupy Wall Street protests? Do you stand with them? Are they accomplishing anything?

Band: We went to the St. Paul’s occupation in London. It was very cold. Everyone was very nice and very organized. Great idea but won’t accomplish anything since it has by now been endorsed by most mainstream opposition politicians.

Several stages collapsed in 2011. Are you worried about festival safety? What else can be done to make stages and festivals safer?

Band: It is paramount that things should be done to ensure that stage safety is improved.

Has it become less financially viable to survive as an independent band this year?

Band: Probably. We wouldn’t know because we still got filthy rich off of our band. That’s why we’re still together.

Which album would you like to see a band play in its entirety?

Band: Metallica and Lou Reed, whatever that album is called. It’s just so amazingly bad. I would give anything to see that.

Which song do you wish was being played in the delivery room while you were being born?

Johannes von Weizsäcker and Panos Ghikas: “Tannhäuser Overture” by Richard Wagner, as recorded by the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan.

What’s been the best day of your life so far and what’s been the worst?

Band: The release of Mac OSX Snow Leopard and the release of Mac OSX Lion.

Who has better taste in music, your mom or your dad?

Johannes: My mum is a trained violin teacher so she tells my dad what to listen to.

What’s the smartest decision you’ve ever made in your life?

Johannes: All my decisions have been disastrous.

What would be the title of your autobiography?

Johannes: All My Decisions Have Been Disastrous.

Which two artists, not including yourself, would you like to see collaborate with each other?

Band: James Blake and James Blunt.

Which band, besides your own, has the best name?

Band: Minor Threat.

What is the biggest hindrance to your creativity?

Band: Having to make money.

(www.thechap.org)