Chains by DLT (featuring Che Fu)

Every New Zealand #1 single…

9

Chains

Topped the NZ chart: from 4 August 1996 for 5 weeks

‘Chains’ is like New Zealand hip-hop and soul’s equivalent to Queen and Bowie’s ‘Under Pressure’. Two musicians from different bands quickly improvised together, and came up with some magic.

Darryl Thompson, aka DLT, was a DJ for Upper Hutt Posse. The group were pioneers who released New Zealand’s first hip-hop single, and mixed reggae with rap.

Meanwhile, Che Fu was part of Supergroove, an eclectic funk/rock/soul band that seemed everywhere in the summer of 1994. Catchy and surprisingly cerebral, with some great musicians, they deserved worldwide success. Instead they fractured – Che Fu left, and without his soulful vocals they became a one-dimensional rock band.

DLT toured in support of Supergroove, and quickly decided that he wanted to work with Che Fu.

DLT says he was constantly looking for someone to feature on his tracks – in particular, “someone crossed between Bob Marley and KRS-1, my favourite kind of vibe that would help people feel good about themselves”.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/music101/audio/2018891819/it-was-just-heavenly-stuff-dlt-talks-chains-and-che-fu

The pair recorded ‘Chains’ just after Che Fu left Supergroove. Che Fu turned up at the studio, unaware that he needed to write a chorus. He came up with “Come break my chains come help me out, living in the city ain’t so bad” on the spot.

Like ‘Under Pressure’, the lyric isn’t particularly coherent. The first verse addresses French nuclear testing in the Pacific, while the third verse is a tribute to women. But it works anyway, a life-affirming slice of sunny hip-hop, over a driving reggae bassline and a pretty piano hook.

The other local number one from New Zealand, ‘How Bizarre’ broke through in the US, reaching number two. ‘Chains’ didn’t enjoy the same success, even though it holds up much better to repeated plays. The arty music video fits the song, but isn’t geared to stateside success.

The success of ‘Chains’ established Che Fu as a solo star. He enjoyed success with his first two records in particular. He hasn’t recorded an album since 2005. He now organises New Zealand’s largest sneaker swap meets.

DLT became disillusioned with the music industry in the early 21st century, and has become a visual artist.

“Shit got rough with downloading and the war against downloading and all that shit and I got disheartened by the machine crying foul as it sunk, so to speak,” he says.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/music101/audio/2018891819/it-was-just-heavenly-stuff-dlt-talks-chains-and-che-fu

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