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
Plank
Meatbodies Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Til theres nothing to reach
She's the one that got it all
Except moving feet
Walking forward
Walking back
And I walk right down the plank
Walking back
And I feel my body sink
Do you want to come with me
Do you see me in your eyes
I believed in your name
I believed in your lies
I can't feel your hands on me
This will never be the same
And I walk right down the plank
And I feel my body sink
The lyrics of "Plank" by Meatbodies describe a sense of being trapped and powerless, symbolized by the act of standing with one's hands against a wall. The lyrics suggest a yearning for something more, but the subject is hindered by a sense of inertia ("except moving feet"). The chorus repeats the lines "Walking forward / Walking back / And I walk right down the plank / And I feel my body sink," conveying a sense of being pulled in opposite directions and ultimately succumbing to a feeling of defeat.
The second verse introduces a theme of deception and betrayal, with lines like "I believed in your name / I believed in your lies." The subject is left feeling isolated and disconnected, unable to regain what has been lost. The final repetition of the chorus doubles down on the sense of inevitability and loss of control, with the imagery of walking off a plank and sinking.
Overall, the lyrics of "Plank" speak to a sense of disillusionment and powerlessness, with a focus on the ways in which we can be trapped by our own fears and uncertainties.
Line by Line Meaning
Put your hands up on the wall
Til theres nothing to reach
The person is stuck in a difficult situation with no escape.
She's the one that got it all
Except moving feet
The person has everything except the ability to move forward.
Walking forward
Walking back
And I walk right down the plank
The person is stuck in a repetitive cycle and feels like they are on the edge of something dangerous.
Walking forward
Walking back
And I feel my body sink
The person is slowly losing hope as they continue to repeat the same cycle.
Do you want to come with me
Do you see me in your eyes
I believed in your name
I believed in your lies
The person is questioning their relationship with someone they trusted but who turned out to be unreliable.
I can't feel your hands on me
This will never be the same
The person realizes that the relationship is over and will never be the same again.
And I walk right down the plank
And I feel my body sink
The person feels like they are falling deeper into despair with no way out.
Writer(s): CHAD ANTHONY UBOVICH
Contributed by Christian R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.