Takin' A Ride

I first discovered Death By Unga Bunga when they played at the Belly Up Tavern back in 2017, opening for Stiff Little Fingers. I was blown away by their sense of humor and just fantastic rockin’ songs, and their spunk even though hardly everyone was there because San Diego can be like that sometimes. I loved them so much I bought every single album they had at the merch table. While they started out as a pure garage punk band, they eventually evolved into a perfect meld of Thin Lizzy meets Weezer meets the Sonics. And I say that because you got the loud twin guitar leads, strong melodies and catchiness, and a punk attitude. And don’t forget a great sense of humor. In reality though, they have their own sound which fell in line when they released their 4th album with the controversial title “Pineapple Pizza”. And they REALLY fell into perfection of their own sound when they released “Heavy Male Insecurity” back in 2021. I always tell anyone who will listen that “Heavy Male Insecurity” is one of the best albums of this millennium. But I don’t know if that’s exactly true. I mean it is true, but the more I listen to it, I think it’s actually one of the best albums of ALL TIME!

So how do you follow up and album like that? It’s practically impossible. Probably the smartest thing to do is to just keep what you’re doing and don’t think about it. And that’s what Death By Unga Bunga did with “Raw Muscular Power”. 10 songs and it’s really hard to pick any that stand out. Why? Because they ALL stand out! But in the interest of trying to convince you to pick this up, here’s some examples:

“I’m Really Old”: lyrically, this song is about obsessing about getting old and your own mortality, even though being in your early 30s. Musically this is exactly what I’m talking about when I describe Death By Unga Bunga. Check it out:

“Starchild”: this is about Paul Stanley from KISS. The Hellacopters also have a song called “Paul Stanley”. I wonder how many other songs are written about him? This is a solid love song to the KISS frontman featuring guest vocals from Haley from Slotface.

“Camouflage”: According to their bandcamp, this is about a “person who camouflages himself, with varying degrees of success, hiding in plain sight. He’s not entirely in touch with his feelings. He pretends to be fine, but behind his false smile, he’s very lonely.”

Before putting me under for oral surgery a couple years back, the dentist asked me what I wanted to hear. The dentist/surgeon told me he likes to put on music the patient likes so that when they come out of it, they’re in a good mood and relaxed. I told him to put on “Heavy Male Insecurity”. When I came back out of it, the album was cranking and they all commented on how much they loved it. They also asked me “what do you call this music?” I didn’t quite know how to respond. “Heavy rock?” “Heavy hard hitting rock?” They definitely have potential for mass appeal, but you wouldn’t be ashamed or embarrassed to like them if they actually did break big. For now they can be our little secret. Highly recommended. **** 1/2