The crowd is chanting “cake pop!” at her in one-two rhythmic fashion and she looks down at it, the last pop sweating in her hand underneath the stage lights. Two cake pops have already been consumed and this last one stands in the way of her going home with a free LP. The band looks in anticipation as she takes a breath and knocks the last pop back, celebrating with a double fist pump and a crowd surf assisted ride over to her friends.
The Vundabar LP release was two weeks ago now and I’m still not sure if the cake pop incident mid-show was part of the set or a covert shoot for a UHF remake sans Weird Al. To be fair, if any band within city limits would pull something like that, it’d be Vundabar. On a basic level, their brand of fuzzy surf pop operates in a grey area between the Exploding In Sound-worshipping and basement-dwelling fuzz rock camps that currently dominate Allston, but Gawk, their newest LP, is the furthest thing from excluding. The fact that anyone from bright-eyed Freshmen to young professionals getting too drunk for a weeknight jump around to obtuse anthems like “Holy Toledo” and “Oulala” is a testament to their strange, but charming, nature. This week, we discuss Gawk’s leadoff single, “Chop”, the limits to Vundabar’s charm, and whether they’re serious about being “goth” or not.
#11 – “Chop” by Vundabar
Dad: I’ve been thinking about this one and, when you put it in the blog and they see it, I don’t wanna say stuff that they’re going to say, “oh, what an asshole” or anything like that.
Tim: Oh, so it’s going to be one of those weeks. I don’t know if they’d say that… I think this has all been in good fun. I think most bands I show you know that you’re not their target demographic. And you’re not, like, insulting them as humans per se. I would hope any band we talk about takes it in good fun! But was it really that bad for you?
Dad: I didn’t think anyone could do worse than Matt DeMayo or whatever the hell his name was, but this one here was one of the worst ones.
Tim: Okay, break it down for me: what was so bad about this?
Dad: It’s very redundant. I keep saying “melody” each week, but this did not have a nice and smooth melody or flow. They had a stop and go tempo; the song kept stopping and picking up again. The distorted guitars didn’t work for me in this case. And then there was some “ping”-ing noises every so often and I was like, “what the heck is that?” I do want to say that he is a good singer, don’t get me wrong, but his falsetto voice was…it was nah. It was kinda grating on me; I couldn’t understand what he was saying!
Tim: I figured that’d be your #1 complaint out of the gate actually. His voice is pretty unique and you’re the kind of listener that always want to hear lyrics, so that’s a double whammy of things you don’t like.
Dad: Yeah, I guess. And then the chorus was kinda weird. It was, like, 1960’s style surf movies or something like that. It was different, but I can see why you like these guys with how much you like that surf music. I listened to it no less than five times and…
Tim: You listened to it five times?!
Dad: I did because I kept trying to find out what you see in this. Your mother said to me, ‘Listen to his perspective, maybe he’ll point out something you didn’t realize.’ It might be like a piece of art, but you can’t see it until somebody says, ‘Look at how the colors mingle,’ and you’re like, ‘Oh, now I see it!’ I dunno, it just sounds like a roommate’s garage band.
Tim: [laughs] You know what? You bring up a great point there. They kinda sounds like they could be my roommate’s or my roommate’s buddy band in terms of being a little eccentric, but I feel like they’re at a point with this album that they could transcend our local scene and get more popular without relinquishing their uniqueness. Their songs are insanely catchy to me, but not in a very obvious way. They’re almost like a big party band around here, like a lot of college kids go to their shows.
Dad: Well they’re certainly not conforming to the typical pop recipe, that’s for sure. Like that one part where he’s singing like, “ay-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi…” over and over. Listen to it! Now that I’m telling you, you’re going to listen to it and say, “aw shit, that is annoying!” And then the “boo-wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee-ooh” part… it’s like the monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. [laughs] I’m tearing them apart and I’m sorry, but it’s not my cup of tea!
Tim: I’m sorry!
Dad: It’s okay, it probably means they’re going to make it big with kids. But… let’s talk about that video.
Tim: Oh, boy. You liked it?
Dad: To their credit, it was professionally done. It wasn’t your roommate’s handheld camera. But, when it started, it was like a horror flick! It’s an abandoned house that’s all beat up and they’re in there doing their thing. I was like, “What the heck is going on here?” I gotta tell you though… their dancing? That’s one creepy dance. Man, I could give them dancing lessons, for crying out loud!
Tim: [laughs] I don’t think they were exactly aiming to look good.
Dad: Go watch the video again! The lead guy in the dark glasses can’t dance for shit. See how he moves! He’s amazing; he just doesn’t do anything. And then the other guy who’s not the singer looks like your old roommate! He’s got those weird glasses and looks like one of those creepy beatniks who gets up in one of those smoke-filled basement rooms and does poetry. Like, “I cried, I cried some more, I cried.”
Tim: Oh man, Dad. I don’t think any of my roommates did spoken word, but that could literally be a few of my old roommates you’re describing.
Dad: But the shadow puppet cracked me up. It’s like they sat around a table and said, “let’s think of all the weirdest shit we can do.” Another thing though: they’re all dressed in black. What’s that called? Goth?
Tim: [laughs] I don’t think they’re, like, a goth band. They’re wearing turtlenecks and chains.
Dad: Yeah, well, that’s the last thing. They were kissing the religious medallions and eating the gold chains. I was trying to figure out the relevance of that versus the song, video, and lyrics. I decided there is none.
Tim: That’s because this is all very goofy, non sequitur humor. Van Halen last week was goofy and didn’t make any logical sense… think of them like a more straight faced Van Halen! They didn’t take themselves seriously at all.
Dad: Not at all, you’re right! Both were trying to be campy, but these guys don’t want to follow the pop formula. You know me; I like my formula. Wait, what was that band from the ‘80s with the “ai-ya-ya-ya” song? Haircut 100?
Tim: Are you thinking Talking Heads? “Psycho Killer”?
Dad: Yes! And those guys were kinda different and didn’t follow the typical formula either.
Tim: You’re absolutely right. They were like wacky outliers that everyone loved. Scratch what I said about Van Halen! I’m going to risk saying I think Vundabar would be the Talking Heads of this scene.
Dad: I can live with that. Weirdness is an age thing; I used to like [Talking Heads] and B-52’s then, but if I had heard them now, I’d be like, “What the hell is this?”
Tim: I can see that. I’m not sure if that day will come for me, but I won’t rule it out. Final question: if you had to give this a rating, what would you give it?
Dad: Like, A through F? I’d say a B then.
Tim: What?! After all of that, you’re giving it a B? You said this was the worst since Mac Demarco!
Dad: I’m sure there’s an F out there somewhere, like one of those bands with screaming in it. I hope you don’t give that to me.
Tim: I’ll maybe try avoiding that, but I can’t promise anything. Okay, so B, not B-, final answer?
Dad: No, I said “D” as in “dog”! They get a D! As in, you couldn’t give me a free ticket to see these guys. Well, maybe if there were free drinks involved.