By 1969, the Chipmunks had hit a creative and commercial brick wall, with the public seemingly sick of rodent-based novelty songs. The band and manager Dave Saville opted to take a much needed break. Alvin and Theodore separately dabbled in music, while Simon was a mainstay of LA’s early 70’s club scene, hobnobbing with Harry Nilsson and John Lennon during the latter’s so-called “Lost Weekend.”
“I didn’t really keep in touch with my brothers then. We all needed to find ourselves, I guess,” explained Alvin. “As for Saville, well, those hilarious ‘bits’ where he angrily screamed at us didn’t stop when the recording did. So I was glad to get away from him.”
In 1976, Alvin discovered what he thought could finally break the band’s creative slump – Punk Rock.
“You’ve got to understand, when Saville found us we were living on the streets, eating out of garbage cans, getting in fights with crazy-ass raccoons and shit. So, Punk instantly spoke to me. I couldn’t go back to recording that bubble gum shit anymore.”
Alvin pitched the idea to Simon and Theodore, who were immediately on board. But there was one big problem – Saville. In addition to owning the rights to the group, Saville maintained creative control over the band, ruling with an iron fist.
“The only thing Saville loved more than running everything was money. He lost a lot of it trying to duplicate the success of the Chipmunks on a bunch of disco gerbils, so he was desperate to get back into business with us.”
Saville eventually agreed and he, Alvin, and Theodore convened at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. Simon, the “brainy” chipmunk, was notably absent.
“The original Simon, God rest his soul, wasn’t on the record because he was in rehab. But we had to keep it a secret because no one’s buying a Chipmunk album featuring Alvin, Theodore, and studio musician Tovi Dresner.”
After the initial excitement of being back together wore off, the band began clashing with Saville over the album’s artistic direction.
“Dave wanted us to cover a Billy Joel song, which ain’t fucking punk at all. We wanted to do FEAR’s “Let’s Have a War.” So, Theodore called Joel a no-talent twat and Saville threw an ashtray at his head and threatened to drown us in a birdbath.”
Despite the Chipmunk’s best efforts, Saville ultimately wrestled creative control away from the band. Covers of Pere Ubu’s “Chinese Radiation” and Dead Kennedys’ “Holiday in Cambodia” were replaced by the Saville-selected “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “My Sharona.” Despite the turmoil, the album was a huge hit, marking a career resurgence for the band.
“It wasn’t what we wanted but without it, we never would have gotten our TV show and I never would have met my first wife Brittany Chipette. Life’s funny, you know?”
Nearly 40 years after the release of “Chipmunk Punk,” The two living Chipmunks still tour, recently playing the Iowa State Fair. Neither of them has spoken to their adopted father and manager Dave Saville in decades.
When reached for comment, the now 97-year-old Saville screamed “Alvin!!!!!” and hung up on us.