Chad Ubovich, a longtime fixture on the California garage punk and new psyc… Read Full Bio ↴Chad Ubovich, a longtime fixture on the California garage punk and new psychedelic scenes, moved from Ty Segall protege and sideman to bandleader with Meatbodies, whose guitar-heavy sound is as hard-hitting as the best punk while also brimming with bent, pop-friendly melodies. 2017's Alice is an underrated concept album that vaulted Ubovich into the same realm as his mentor, and 2021's 333 expands the group's reach into new sonic realms while retaining all the punky punch of earlier works.

The Meatbodies first came together in mid-2012, when Ubovich was playing guitar in Mikal Cronin's road band; while Cronin was in between tours, Ubovich began playing shows with a handful of friends who included Cory Hanson of Wand, Erik Jimenez, and Riley Youngdahl, using the name Chad & the Meatbodies. Ty Segall was impressed with Ubovich's new music, and released a cassette-only collection of home recordings on his label God? Records. The tape quickly sold out, and in 2013 Segall recruited Ubovich to play bass in his band Fuzz. Meatbodies' work caught the attention of the In the Red label and it released two songs from the now out of print tape on 7" in early 2014; later that year, the self-titled Meatbodies album arrived. While Hanson, Jimenez, and Youngdahl participated in sessions for the album, Ubovich put together an official lineup of the group for subsequent touring. He was joined by Patrick Nolan on guitar, Killian LeDuke on bass, and Ryan Moutinho on drums.

After the album's release and tour, Ubovich went back to his sideman duties, playing bass on Fuzz's 2015 album II and touring with Mikal Cronin. After adding new bassist Kevin Boog and releasing the "Hibernation" single in 2016, Meatbodies went back into the studio to record their second full-length, Alice, a concept album revolving around light subjects like war, sex, politics, and religion. It was released by In the Red Records in early 2017. After touring behind the record, Ubovich got off the treadmill that had pushed him to chemically fueled exhaustion and dedicated himself to a more sober lifestyle. The result was a flood of writing and recording that gave birth to an album with drummer Dylan Fujioka; it was all set to be mixed when the pandemic hit and put the project on indefinite hold. During lockdown, Ubovich happened upon a lo-fi demo he and Fujioka made in 2018 and decided that with a little mixing, the songs would make up the band's third album instead. Delving into shoegaze, spacy Stereolab territory, and gnarly hard rock, 2021's 333 is the band's most diverse effort to date.

Biography by Mark Deming

Disorder
Meatbodies Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Stuck inside here baby
Don′t know what to do
I see no way outta here
And it's gonna kill me soon

Outta my head, into the street
All the girls think I′m neat
I can't move

I can't see, I can′t breathe

Breathing in the jungle
Blowing out the hate
My legs are moving fast
But that′s okay
Flying high now baby
See the break of day
I've been here so damn long
That I′m gonna stay

Outta my head, into the street
All the girls think I'm neat

I can′t move
I can't see, I can′t breathe

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Meatbodies's song "Disorder" reflect the feelings of being trapped and unable to escape. The singer is stuck in a certain situation and doesn't know what to do. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, and this thought scares the singer as he feels as if it’s going to kill him soon.

The second stanza speaks about a lack of control. The singer is trying to escape and become someone new, to be seen as "neat" by others. But he/she feels as if they are frozen and can't seem to make any movement. Everything feels like it’s closing in, making it hard to see and breathe. This overwhelming fear of being stuck and unable to control their life is what's causing this "disorder" within the singer's head.

Line by Line Meaning

Stuck inside here baby
Trapped and unable to escape

Don't know what to do
No clear path to take

I see no way outta here
There is no obvious escape route

And it's gonna kill me soon
The situation is becoming more dire

Outta my head, into the street
Escaping reality by being in public

All the girls think I'm neat
Feeling validated by attention from others

I can't move
Feeling paralyzed by anxiety or fear

I can't see, I can't breathe
Feeling overwhelmed and unable to function

Breathing in the jungle
Feeling suffocated and surrounded by danger

Blowing out the hate
Attempting to release negative emotions

My legs are moving fast
Feeling the need to escape quickly