While 333 charts Ubovich’s journey from drug-induced darkness to clear-eyed sobriety, it also reflects how the world he re-entered was still pretty messed up-if not more so. But for artists like Ubovich, there were still ways to move forward. The stability of previous eras was out of reach. The period set a whole generation adrift-there were no jobs, no money, no opportunities. Ubovich founded Meatbodies in 2011, when a new generation of outfits rose from the ashes of the previous decade’s geopolitical tumult. After subjecting them to some mixing-board freakery, Ubovich fast-tracked the songs into becoming Meatbodies’ third release, 333.īut while the new record diverts sharply from the evolution established by the punk rippers of Meatbodies’ 2014’s self-titled debut and the fuzz-metal fantasias of Alice, it’s born of the same econo spirit that birthed the band in the first place. “It sounded gross, like a scary Magical Mystery Tour,” he recalls proudly.

In contrast to Meatbodies’ typical full-band attack, it was deliriously disordered. During that idle time, Ubovich discovered a cache of demos that he and Fujioka had recorded in a bedroom back in the summer of 2018, and he really liked what he heard. But when COVID hit, the band, like so many other artists, put their release on hold as they rode out the pandemic’s first wave. By mid to late 2019, Meatbodies-Ubovich and drummer Dylan Fujioka-had a new album in the can, ready to be mixed. Things just didn't feel right, and I went down a dark path.”įortunately, Ubovich was able to pull himself back from the brink and, upon getting sober, began writing and recording at a furious pace. “There was also a feeling in the air that everything was changing, politically. “I’d been touring for eight years straight with all these bands, and just couldn't do it anymore,” he says. Because the downside to maintaining such a prolific work rate is that the threat of burnout becomes a looming occupational hazard, and after touring behind Meatbodies’ second album, 2017’s Alice, Ubovich finally hit his breaking point. That acidic mix didn’t come from nowhere. That recently dormant noise-damaged freak-rock outfit now returns with 333, a corrosive stew of guitar scuzz, raw acoustic rave-ups, and primitive electronics. Over the course of the decade, the Los Angeles native could be seen peeling off guitar solos in Mikal Cronin’s backing band, supplying the Sabbath-sized low end for Ty Segall and Charlie Moothart as the bassist for Fuzz, and, of course, fronting his own Meatbodies.

Within the fertile West Coast rock scene of the 2010s, Meatbodies’ Chad Ubovich was a perennial candidate for MVP.

Doom born like this zip