Stereo Embers The Podcast 0450: Chip Z'nuff (Enuff Z'nuff, Adler's Appetite)

“Xtra Cherries”

An aspiring baseball player with a solid fastball, the Illinois-born Chip Znuff put down the glove in favor of the bass and he left home at 17 going west with his punk rock band D-Generation. The D Generation story is told best by Chip himself, so I’ll leave that one to him, and I’ll cover what happened after that band broke up. Licking his wounds from his first time around on the rock and roll train, Chip formed Enuff Z’Nuff in 1984. Inspired by everyone from The Rasberries to Cheap Trick to Squeeze, Enuff Z’Nuff had pop hearts filled with hooks, but they were marketed as glam metal dudes, which led them into that lane, but it was probably a misrepresentation of the band’s real chops. If you listen to the music and and ignore the image, they come across more like a tougher version of Jellyfish. Nevertheless, they made it work; in spite of their image, hits from their debut self-titled album like Fly High Michelle and “New Thing” were catchy blasts of ragged psychedelia that found the band all over MTV. Their follow-up record Strength found them looking decidedly less glam and it garnered rave reviews from Rolling Stone and the Washington Post and they absolutely crushed it on Letterman. Over the course of their career, Enuff Z’Nuff has toured all over the world, been on Howard Stern numerous times, been featured on VH-1, played on the Jenny Jones show, had Little Steven sing their praises as one of the most underrated bands on the planet and have put out close to thirty albums, including greatest hits and live recordings. Although the band has had its share of tragedies, losing members like Derek Frigo and Rickey Parent and its share of personnel changes with singer Donnie Vie stepping away from the band on two separate occasions, Enuff Z’Nuff are survivors. Chip took over vocals in 2014 and the band has never sounded better. Their new album Xtra Cherries has a deep bench, featuring Steve Stevens, Robin Zander of Cheap Trick, Donnie Vie, Gunnar Nelson and Steven Adler, who Chip played with in Adler’s Appetite. The album is a refreshing blast of gritty pop that’s played with muscle and heart, each track finding the band tearing the cover off the ball.

https://enuffznuff.bandcamp.com/album/xtra-cherries

https://www.enuffznuff.com/music
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