| The Chosen Few | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia |
| Genre: | Punk rock |
| Years Active: | –, – |
| Label: | A Few, Buckwheat Headlock/Existential Vacuum, Au Go Go, Hate |
| Associated Acts: | Deathwish, Bohdan and the Instigators |
| Past Members: |
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The Chosen Few were an Australian punk band which formed in 1978. Three founding band mates were all from an earlier hard rock band, Deathwish: Ian John Cunningham on bass guitar (later on lead vocals), Calum "Cal" McAlpine on drums and Bruce Friday on guitar.[1] They were soon joined by Iain Weaver on lead vocals (died 1995).[1] The Chosen Few formed in the Mornington Peninsula and played a combination of covers of United States-influenced punk (MC5, Stooges) and hard driven original numbers inspired by Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls and The Saints.
In 1978 The Chosen Few released a six-track extended play, The Jokes on Us.[1] It was recorded in a studio in Smith Street, Collingwood,[1] with Baron Rolls as audio engineer. The band played regularly around the Melbourne and Adelaide punk scenes but disbanded in May 1979. They joined Bohdan X (ex-JAB) as Bohdan and the Instigators but they broke up by late 1980.[2]
There was a short lived reunion of The Chosen Few in 1998 with a new line up: Cunningham, now on lead vocals, and McAlpine, were joined by Bill Blanche on bass guitar and Jeff Hussey on lead guitar. Two albums were released in that year: Do the Manic (Buckwheat Headlock Productions/Existential Vacuum Records, US) and A Root and a Beer (Au Go Go Records).[1] They were followed by a double-CD album, Really Gonna Punch You Out (Hate Records, Italy), in 2001.
The band revived briefly in 2018 with the following membership: Ian Cunningham (lead vocals), Jeff Hussey (guitar), Calum Hussey (guitar), Brad Barry (bass) and Alessandro Coco (drums). The band rehearsed for a couple of months intending to play at a punk festival but that event did not eventuate.