Chavez’ new EP, ‘Cockfighters’, is three songs in nine minutes; a new chapter and a willful engagement with the masculine issues – both hidden and overt – of our time.

Chavez were an integral part of the Matador records 1990s wave of genius. With a bit more arena rock in their DNA than most of their labelmates, Chavez took the nervous structures and ruminative lyric modes of the indie rock scene but added – deeper and more effectively than their peers – an injection of glistening testosteronemaximized amperage to the mix.

Bassist Scott Marshall is a filmmaker who works and surfs in Malibu each and every day. Drummer The James Lo is ambivalent about this rock music thing. He spends his time designing sound for contemporary dance and creating bits of hardware and software for music and theatre. Guitarist, riff writer and purveyor of harmony vocals Clay Tarver is a screenwriter who has worked on all four seasons of the HBO series ‘Silicon Valley’ and he won a WGA Award in 2015. Guitarist, lyricist and lead singer Matt Sweeney is a knight errant of studio and stage who has played with everyone from Iggy Pop and Neil Diamond to Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Adele and Run The Jewels.

This is the first public utterance from Chavez since 1996. However, this isn’t a reunion because, technically, the band never broke up.