Meatbodies is an American
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
band, formed in 2011 in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...
by Chad Ubovich. The band is currently composed of Chad Ubovich, Dylan Fujioka, Noah Guevara, and Casey Hanson.
History
Formation and ''Meatbodies'' (2011–2014)
Prior to forming Meatbodies, Chad Ubovich occupied the role of bass guitarist for the
Mikal Cronin
Michael "Mikal" Patrick Cronin (born 1985) is an American musician and songwriter. He has released four solo albums and several singles. Cronin was a member of the bands Okie Dokie, Epsilons, Party Fowl and Moonhearts, and is a regular and long ...
band and went on tour with
Ty Segall
Ty (stylized as ty) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. It was founded by Ty Warner in 1986. It designs, develops and sells products, most notably Beanie Babies, exclusively to spec ...
as he toured his studio album, ''
Goodbye Bread
''Goodbye Bread'' is the fourth album by San Francisco garage rock singer-songwriter Ty Segall. '' Pitchfork'' placed the album at number 31 on its list of the "Top 50 albums of 2011". The album presented a much more melodic, sappy energy relati ...
'' (2011).
Ubovich soon switched to guitar within the band and toured with Cronin for the next 5 years.
While touring, Ubovich began working on the songs that would become the band's debut album, ''Meatbodies'' (2014).
Going under the moniker Chad and the Meatbodies, he supported different acts around Los Angeles including Ty Segall and
Charles Moothart's hard rock band
Fuzz, which he would later join. Segall subsequently encouraged Ubovich to record his music and offered to release it on his label, God? Records. The resultant self-titled cassette, ''Chad and the Meatbodies'', sold out its initial run.
Very soon after, the band caught the attention of
In the Red Records, and was sent out to record their debut studio album with producer Eric Bauer.
Ubovich, brought on a plethora of musicians to record the album including: Ty Segall,
Cory Hanson,
Erik Jiminez, and Ryley Youngdahl. All of whom had previously performed at one point as the Chad and The Meatbodies band.
The album was mixed by producer/engineer
Chris Woodhouse, and the band changed their name simply to Meatbodies. The album was released in 2014.
''Alice'' (2015–2017)
After touring their debut album, Chad Ubovich began writing and touring with
Fuzz. During this time he began creating material for Meatbodies’ second album ''Alice'' (2017) ''.'' Ubovich stated : “A lot of the concepts on this album started while I was on the road with Fuzz, and there was a lot of crazy stuff going on at the time.” “I’m talking politically, socially, and worldly. There were a lot of things going on when we made that album, and then when we went on the road with that album, there was even ''more'' going on. It was crazy, just watching the news all the time. I just wanted to say ''something'' about it, and started conceptualizing this story. I knew I wanted to make a ''story,'' or a loose story at least.”
Ubovich utilized some of the members of the rotating live band at the time to write and record these concepts including : Patrick Nolan, Kevin Boog, and once again, Erik Jiminez. The album was recorded for a second time at The Bauer Mansion with Eric Bauer in San Francisco. This time being self produced and mixed by Ubovich himself.
''Alice'' is described as a “loose concept album.” Ubovich has stated: “Alice is a theory. It's a made-up concept. It's almost like made-up scripture.” The album was released in 2017, although was recorded a year prior, but the release was pushed back due to technical discrepancies with the length of the vinyl. Resulting in the opening track The Burning Fields being left off the vinyl and kept only online and on CD.
''333'' (2018 - Current)
''333'' is the third album from Meatbodies. It is technically an
EP. The recordings were done in Chad Ubovich’s bedroom with long time friend and drummer Dylan Fujioka, best known for work with
Upsilon Acrux, and
Chelsea Wolfe
Chelsea Joy Wolfe (born November 14, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Her work has blended elements of gothic rock, doom metal, and folk music.
Raised in Northern California with a country musician father, Wolfe began writi ...
. The songs were part of a batch of
demos
Demos may refer to:
Computing
* DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system
* DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR
* Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems
* plural for Demo (computer programming ...
for an unreleased album that got its production halted due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
. In its place, ''333'' was released until further production could be made. Regarding the recording process Ubovich stated : “We were actually demoing for another album.” “We had a drum kit set up in my room with my tape machine and a lot of the songs that are on ''333'' are those songs. They were kind of put off to the side, and I didn’t listen back until the pandemic was going on. I found them and was like, oh shit, this is pretty cool; let’s make this something.”
Discography
Studio albums
*''Meatbodies'' (2014)
*''Alice'' (2017)
*''333'' (2021)
Singles
* ''Chad and The Meatbodies'' (2013, Cassette)
* ''Wahoo / Steps'' (2014)
* ''Meatbodies / Wand'' - Void (2014)
* ''Mud Gals'' (2014)
* ''Valley Girl / Hibernation'' (2016)
References
{{Authority control
Garage rock groups from California
2013 establishments in California
In the Red artists