Meatbodies Drop New Single “Move”

Meatbodies Press Photo By Amanda Adam

Meatbodies have dropped new single “Move.” The track is off the band’s forthcoming album Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom and is accompanied by a video directed by The Erickas. “I wanted to make a hypnotic driving song that felt kind of dangerous. There’s an energy to it that is undeniable” comments frontman Chad Ubovich. Meatbodies hit the road on a North American run that kicks off with a hometown release show at LA’s Lodge Room. More dates including Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Phoenix and more.

From Chad Ubovich:

“The last record was more of a cartoon version of who we were– simple and fun without delving into heavy concepts.” “The whole thing before with Meatbodies was never sit down, next part, next part, but I wanted to make something with more depth. After everything that had happened, and my personal life, I was left with this feeling of emptiness and loss. So I wanted to make music that was absent from things– songs that were more about conveying feeling.”

By 2017, Meatbodies’ Ubovich had reached a crossroads. After years of increasingly insane shows playing to heaving crowds with an ever-evolving and rotating door of personnel, fatigue had taken its toll and he realized another change was on the horizon. “It was like the car had run out of gas in the middle of the road, and I knew I had a long walk ahead of me.” Retreating to the seedy Los Angeles underbelly– in search of meaning and a reset. Ubovich escaped into that world, ignoring his own well being, trying to forget his successes. “I was living like a 90’s vampire out of a comic book. Stumbling around LA with the socialites, partying away my sorrows, trying to forget.”

It was at this point that Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom began to take shape—a project built by a man searching for new beginnings and his own sense of self. After sobering up, writing sessions began at Ubovich’s home and various studios with longtime collaborator Dylan Fujioka. Eventually, the official production for Flora began in 2019, but it was a story left on the editing table. Due to discrepancies with the studio, tensions were high and the plug was pulled. Left with an album only half baked, it seemed like Flora had been put to rest. After the fires cooled and many discussions about the future of the album. Ubovich finally got the green light to finish production for Flora in 2020 when he hit another snag– the pandemic. And as the world took a back seat, so did the idea of Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom.

Not wanting to sit still at home, Ubovich began to comb through his previous demos with Fujioka while writing for Flora. And with that, 333 was born, the now de facto third Meatbodies LP. Yet Flora was never far from Ubovich’s mind and once again he revisited the idea of completing the now fabled album. As restrictions started to lift, Ubovich headed to Gold Diggers Sound in Los Angeles, backed by engineer Ed McEntee and a team of colleagues and friends, Ubovich completed the final act to the album, but he still wasn’t quite out of the woods just yet. He now faced a new crisis, one that proved to be more terrifying than any before: his home that he had spent the last 8 years in had been deemed uninhabitable and he wound up in a hospital bed where he spent the next month of his life.

Having to not only learn to walk again but also learn to play again, Ubovich used an upcoming tour with his band FUZZ as a motivating factor and hit the road for a year trying to regain a sense of normalcy. By the time Ubovich returned from tour he was centered and energized, ready to conquer his white whale – Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom. The mission was finally a success. Armed with a new home and a new studio – The Secret Garden, Ubovich mixed the album himself, looped in Brian Lucey at Magic Garden to handle mastering, and Flora was completed, five years after those fateful demos with Fujioka. “A lot happened with this record – it took me five years, I was out of a band, I had a drug problem, the album almost didn’t happen, the pandemic made it almost not happen again, and then in the end I almost died in the hospital, lost my house, and had to learn to walk again. It’s been quite a road, but I could not be more thrilled with the final output. I guess the juice was worth the squeeze?” laughs the Meatbodies frontman.

Meatbodies
Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom
Tracklisting
In The Red Records

01. The Assignment
02. HOLE
03. Silly Cybin
04. Billow
05. They Came Down
06. Trapped?
07. Move
08. I believe in pink (interlude)
09. Criminal Minds
10. ICNNVR2
11. Psychic Garden
12. (Return of) Ecstasy
13. Gate

Meatbodies 2024 tour Dates:

Mar 23: Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room

Apr 11: Seattle, WA – Barboza

Apr 13: Vancouver, BC – The Pearl

Apr 15: Boise, ID – Neurolux

Apr 16: Salt Lake City, UT – International Artists Lounge

Apr 19: Minneapolis, MN – 7th St. Entry

Apr 21: Chicago, IL – Schubas

Apr 23: Toronto, ON – The Garrison

Apr 24: Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop

Apr 25: Troy, NY – No Fun

Apr 26: Philadelphia, PA – PhilaMoca