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
Scavenger
Meatbodies Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Call me up, call it trite
You know I'm lonely, the stones keep rolling
Sisyphus had it right, tonight
Pick your teeth with my bones
Deliver me far from home
My one and only, or so you told me
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
The only one you'll know
Dash me against the stones
Leave me dead on the road
Without a warning, it's Sunday morning
Ignore the pleas on your phone, you know
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
That you're a scavenger
The only one you'll know
Violent time is marching on
The lyrics to Meatbodies's song Scavenger evokes a sense of loneliness and mistrust. The first verse calls to a person who is "dead by light," or numb to the world, and "lonely" while they keep moving through life like Sisyphus, a figure from Greek mythology who was doomed to endlessly push a boulder up a hill. The second verse speaks of being used and discarded, with lines like "pick your teeth with my bones," and "fill me with silicon, you know." It speaks of the despair of being seen as nothing more than a scavenged corpse to someone who is meant to be your one and only.
The chorus repeats the statement "that you're a scavenger" multiple times, emphasizing the sense of betrayal from being used and cast aside. The last line "the only one you'll know" speaks to the idea that being scavenged in such a way is not an isolated incident, but something that this person does habitually. The final verse speaks of being abandoned, ("leave me dead on the road") with no warning, and the request to "ignore the pleas on your phone" suggests that the singer has attempted to make contact but is being ignored.
Line by Line Meaning
Keep me up, dead by light
I want you to keep me awake during the night, even though it's exhausting and draining.
Call me up, call it trite
Even if it sounds cliche and unoriginal, please call me and talk to me because I'm lonely.
You know I'm lonely, the stones keep rolling
I am feeling isolated and alone, and nothing seems to change or improve my situation.
Sisyphus had it right, tonight
Sisyphus, the Greek mythological figure who had to endlessly push a boulder uphill, was on to something. Tonight feels like a never-ending struggle.
Pick your teeth with my bones
I feel like I am being used and abused by you, to the point where you are treating me like mere bones to be discarded.
Deliver me far from home
I want to be taken away from my current situation, which is causing me distress and pain.
My one and only, or so you told me
You claimed to be my one and only, but now I am not so sure about your true motives and intentions.
Fill me with silicon, you know.
You are treating me like a machine or robot, rather than a human being with emotions and feelings.
That you're a scavenger
You are taking advantage of me and using me for your own benefit, like a scavenger who feeds off of the remains of others.
The only one you'll know
You are the only person who truly knows the extent of your own selfish behavior, and how you are taking advantage of me.
Dash me against the stones
You are treating me with such disregard and disrespect that it feels like you are throwing me against rough, jagged rocks.
Leave me dead on the road
You are abandoning me and leaving me behind, like a lifeless body discarded on the side of a deserted road.
Without a warning, it's Sunday morning
You are doing this without any explanation or reason, and it feels like a bleak, empty Sunday morning with no hope in sight.
Ignore the pleas on your phone, you know
You are pretending not to hear or see my desperate attempts to reach out to you and ask for help.
That you're a scavenger
You are a scavenger, always looking for ways to benefit and profit from others without regard for their well-being.
The only one you'll know
You are the only person who truly knows how much of a scavenger you are, and how little regard you have for others' feelings and needs.
Violent time is marching on
The cruel passage of time is moving forward relentlessly, and there is nothing you or I can do to stop it.
Contributed by Skyler T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.