On the forefront of Atlanta’s thriving punk community, Upchuck are bound together by a purity of intention, an organic loyalty to a thick knot of uncalculated friendships, struggles, and desires. These are songs about the joy of continuing to live, songs that find each other in the rush of a crushing reality, propelling the listener onward towards a collective release. Themes of surviving through the night, youth-blinded love and chaotic street protests are subsumed under a single unifying thread: the needs we have for one another, our shared hunger for connection. In a world saturated with arbitrary rules and paper-thin moralism, Upchuck offer freedom through sensation, a type of unserious transcendence found through the swirl of bodies melting into one another in the passion of dance.
Today they’ve announced their new album Bite The Hand That Feeds, coming October 13 via Famous Class Records. Its opener and lead single “Freaky” puts frontwoman Kaila Thompson’s (KT) self-described alter-ego on full display, riffing upon her hunger to let loose and lean into the open-ended freedom of the long, chaotic night. It’s a cry that places joy front and center, carving out a space to live loudly in the face of daily struggles. Upchuck’s signature blend of high-impact style is put on full, muscular display as the track jolts with weaving jungle-rhythms that evoke the finer side of oddball-punk forebears. “Freaky”’s accompanying video comes as an ode to Paul Reubens and Peew-ee’s Big Adventure which Upchuck and director Ian Cone filmed and created a month back.
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