Chief Frontman Chooses Scrabble Over 'Crazy Drugs' -- Exclusive Photos

Posted on Dec 9th 2010 2:00PM by Elizabeth Yun
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Ben Trivett, AOL

To label a band like Chief "up and coming" would almost trivialize what they have been doing for the last two years. Since the summer of 2008, they have lived in buses and hotel rooms -- drifting from the UK to the US, the Glastonbury Festival to Austin City Limits -- with barely a week to regroup in their home base of Santa Monica between one epic eight-month leg after another. Despite this exhaustive schedule, any fan who saw their faces crack smiles as they thrashed and swayed onstage at the Bowery Ballroom Tuesday night would say they've already arrived.

The band itself is a mish-mash of different characters. Bassist Mike Moonves and drummer Michael Fujikawa are outgoing and eager to offer tidbits about some of the stranger aspects of life on tour. Although, Moonves opts to spare his bandmates any embarrassment and tells Spinner a tame story about how he, Michael and guitarist Danny Fujikawa were accosted by a pair of crackheads who, he suspects, "were in cahoots and trying to rob us" outside of their hotel in London.

Michael is a little more forthcoming, admitting he got separated from his bandmates while partying at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk when the night devolved into one that involved "all types of weird English drugs."

"I spent the night with a girl -- this is not that crazy -- I just remember I woke up with pence, whatever the monetary coins are in England, stuck to my body because of sweat and heat," he says. "They had actually bonded with my skin -- for cab fare."

When asked where they see themselves in 10 years, Moonves' restraint for calling his bandmates out disappears. "I would be so far from these guys," he says, laughing. Meanwhile, Michael clams up, offering only, "I hope that I'm alive."

Danny and lead singer Evan Koga are stark opposites of the Mikes, shying away from the chance to divulge anything. In contrast to the rest of the band's penchant for beer, whiskey and flirting with the growing number of female admirers who greet them after shows, Koga prefers to go back to the hotel and read. Asked what his holiday plans are, he reveals, "I'm going to call everyone and tell them all to meet me for an epic game of Scrabble and we're going to play for 14 hours straight."

Scrabble. It doesn't get any more rock 'n' roll than that.