California-based four-piece band Ultra Q have released their new single and video Bowman. Fronted by Jakob Armstrong and featuring brothers Enzo and Chris Malaspina as well as Kevin Judd, the new track marks Ultra Q’s first as a signed band to Royal Mountain Records (Mac DeMarco, Alvvays, Orville Peck). The band also announced their new EP ‘Get Yourself A Friend’ which is set for release on November 19, 2021. Click here to buy/stream Bowman.
Ultra Q has also released a video for Bowman. Directed by Will Tooke (Psycho FIlms) and Zoe Hazlett, the Wes Anderson-esque visual features friend of the band Noah Urrera frantically running through the canyons of Malibu. Watch the video clip for Bowman via YouTube below.
Bowman features guitars like cats getting into a scratch-fight while an astoundingly metronomic drumbeat is played live rather than punched out on a beat pad. Armstrong and bandmate Enzo wrote the song in 2019 before revisiting it this year with Stefan Babcock of PUP, who helped finish off the track. Says Armstrong about the track, “Lyrically the song is about how I romanticise online relationships and the way in which I grew up more connected to technology than people. Most of it is sort of surreal and vague, but I think that it works well with the nature / vibe of the song. The name of the song is in reference to the character “David Bowman” from 2001 Space Odyssey. We had been using samples from the movie in a lot of our demos and we thought it would be funny to be literally connected to it.”
Produced by Martin Cooke (Of Monsters And Men, Death Cab For Cutie, Destroy Boys, etc), ‘Get Yourself A Friend’ will be Ultra Q’s third EP release; their previous two, In a Cave in a Video Game and We’re Starting To Get Along, saw the band gain praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, NME, and Vice, in addition to leading to tours with The Regrettes, Hockey Dad, and Bad Suns. Jakob Armstrong—youngest son of Green Day frontman Billie Joe—began playing guitar at seven years old and honed his craft privately until about sixteen, playing in bands in and around Oakland after meeting friends with like-minded tastes in music. Soon enough, with the memories of Ultraman action figures fighting in his mind, he and a group of friends he cultivated from those years playing around and pouring over records, formed Ultra Q.
‘Get Yourself A Friend’ tracklist
1. Pupkin
2. It’s Permanent
3. Bowman
4. Straight Jacket
5. Handheld
6. Get Yourself A Friend
Ultra Q’s ‘Get Yourself A Friend’ will be released on November 19th via Royal Mountain Records. It is available for preorder here.
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