After nearly two years without live music and over a year since their last release, Oakland-based punk band Ultra Q has returned to the Bay in anticipation of their third and upcoming EP Get Yourself A Friend, set to release November 19.

I had the opportunity to interview singer-guitarist Jakob Armstrong before Ultra Q’s November 12 show at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco to chat about their upcoming EP, return to live music, and what to expect of the band in the future.

Maya Banuelos: Turning toward the show tonight, how are you feeling?

Jakob Armstrong: I feel good. I mean, we played a show on Wednesday, and it was our first time in a few years now. And I was like, “Whew!” It was definitely a lot, you know, not used to being around people. But it was fun though. It felt like everyone’s kind of getting used to it again, and I’m excited for tonight.

MB: You guys are a fairly young band, and most of your work came from performances and touring. Were you guys anxious over performing again?

JA: Yeah, absolutely. I think we were all super nervous. We all kept saying it didn’t really feel like we were playing a show. Throughout the day, we were like “Are we really playing a show tonight?” We didn’t really believe it. Because the last time we played was in 2019. So that was a long time ago at this point. We were definitely nervous all day. But it was good to finally do it. 

MB: How different was your outlook for this latest EP that’s coming out next week compared to In a Cave In A Video Game — something that was at the beginning of the pandemic? 

JA: It’s definitely a lot different. [In A Cave In a Video Game] is not the first EP, but In A Cave is almost like a hardcore EP, in some ways. At the time, we were really listening to Minor Threat and Bad Brains — I was really into those bands at the time. So I wanted to make something like that. And then also we were very limited because we couldn’t practice — we couldn’t really meet up. So it was really just me making that. And it was super fast. We recorded it and released it in a couple of weeks. But this thing that’s coming out next week, we recorded that back in April, and some of those songs were written before the pandemic. So some of those songs are super old to us now. So it’s nice to have it finally come out. It was fun to record in an actual studio and make it sound all pretty. So they’re definitely very different. I feel like it’s gonna be cool to look back on it and be like “these are such different things.”

MB: I read that your song “Bowman” was originally written by you and Enzo in 2019. But you revisited and finished it with the help of Stefan Babcock from Pup. What was it like working with someone outside the band for it?

JA: That was awesome because we’re such big fans of Pup. I remember being in high school when the second Pup album came out. And we all were so obsessed with that album for so long. And we had that song and had been in a circle with it. We didn’t really love it that much. We’d kind of hit a dead-end with it. And then Stefan came along and was like “Hey, I’ll help you guys do some stuff.” So then he helped us finish writing it. And I was like, “This is like a dream come true.” It’s this guy that I freakin’ loved, and I love his music. So it was really cool. It was a dream. And I think the songs turned out great because of it. It was really cool. 

MB: That’s my favorite of the singles, so I’m glad you guys revisited it.

JA: Thank you!

Jakob Armstrong, courtesy of Dorothy Eck

MB: I was looking at your Instagram, and you have a bunch of videos with video synthesizers, using different movie clips, and you did covers too. How did this come about? Was this a pandemic hobby that got used in your music videos?

JA: Yeah, it was definitely something that was a hobby. At first I started using an app on my computer that I was using to make them. And I was just having fun with them, like making little videos and stuff, because I really like making videos. Up until the most recent ones, I had made all the Ultra Q videos. It’s something I’m really interested in. I found that and went further down the rabbit hole and found that you can get actual hardware ones — things that you can turn knobs and change the way videos look and stuff. So I bought one of those over the pandemic and was making them. The video for “It’s Permanent” was made with one of those. It was kind of a hobby that I got really interested in and started to kind of see how I could use it with music and branching different things that I like. 

MB: When I listen to your guys’ music, I can see that it’s evolved a lot from when We’re Starting to Get Along to now. [Is this the direction] you always wanted with the band?

JA: I don’t know if at the time of making We’re Starting To Get Along I knew that we would end up in this spot. I think in hindsight, though, it makes sense. Because this is just the type of music that I like to listen to. I just try to make stuff that I like. Whatever I’m into right now is what I’m making. So at the time of making the [Get Yourself A Friend] for example, I was really into Bloc Party, Interpol and The Strokes. I was listening to those bands a lot when I was making this one that’s coming out. One thing that I’m really excited about is how when you look back on Ultra Q’s music so far, it’s a pretty cool series of events. It’s pretty fun to listen all the way through — all three [EPs] in a row. Because it’s a pretty cool growth — a cool change. Going from here, though, I don’t really know. I make a lot of songs. So we’ll see how it turns out. I think it’s always changing. It’s gonna be different every time And that’s something that’s really cool, because I feel like we’re not really locked into a certain [sound]. I feel like no one expects a certain sound from us at this point. Because we’ve done a lot of different things, which is fun.

MB: Back [when you were Mt. Eddy], your sound was very different. And your live performances as a result were very different. How are you guys adapting to this in live music?

JA: Yeah, it’s hard to prepare for it. Even last night our setlist, more than half [the] songs we had never played live before. Because before the pandemic, we only had that one EP — or five songs out. So we only had five songs that people knew at the time. But even now, something we noticed is like, we were playing all those [songs] for the first time. And it was just like a totally different experience live. So we’re still, I think, trying to figure out what those performances are going to be like. We try to plan and create the best setlist we can, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned from touring so much is that you can never really plan for it. It’s always gonna be people who react in different ways to things, but it’s definitely a different experience than when we played as Mt. Eddy, for sure. It’s a different vibe, in a cool way. There was one thing we noticed too, [there were] a lot of new people last night. A lot of people, I think, were seeing us for the first time which was really cool, too. Even though we’ve been a band for — in my opinion — so long at this point.

MB: Having new people in the audience must have been surreal because over the pandemic a lot of artists, I feel, were anxious about losing fans, or people forgetting.

JA: Yeah. Well, we had done the math a little bit. And we realized even when we were Mt. Eddy, the youngest fans were 13 at those shows, maybe 14 years old. Those kids now are off in college, and they’re away. We were worried, like, “oh, man, no one’s gonna be here,” because all our fans moved away — they’re doing something else. They lost interest, maybe, you know? So there were definitely a lot of new people. And it was cool. I definitely saw some faces I knew, which was also great. With the pandemic, and all these other things, it’s like, “Oh, yeah, new crowd.” New fans. Which was fun. It was cool to see.

MB: Yeah. The thirteen-year-old fans that were there for Mt. Eddy — that was me, actually. I wrote about In A Cave In A Video Game in my application for B-Side. So, well, I’m still listening.

Photo by Dorothy Eck

JA: That’s awesome. That’s so cool. Yeah. That’s cool to hear. Thank you.

MB: So with this new EP, is there a common theme you have for it? With In A Cave in A Video Game, I feel like that’s [very] much a pandemic kind of EP — with In A Cave [being like in a cave — your room — in a pandemic] So what do you have to say about this upcoming EP in terms of a theme? 

JA: I think a lot of it has to do with, you know, kind of, like what I was saying before, like, we’ve been a band for, for a pretty significant amount of time now. And I think we’re starting to grow up, you know, like, Chris and Enzo and Kevin, they all work nine to five and they hate their jobs, and they’re ready to not do that anymore. I think a lot of the theme is growing up in a bittersweet way. Saying goodbye to our youth in a way. We’re not really kids anymore which is crazy because I feel like we’d always been the kid band. We’d always been the youngest at the show, the youngest band on the bill. And that’s just not the case anymore. It’s weird to think about that. I think that this EP is definitely in some ways speaking to that. It’s kind of like saying “goodbye” to being kids in a way, which is I guess kind of a cliché. But I feel like it felt right, though. It made sense for how we were feeling. I think that’s the general theme overall. 

MB: Yeah like, I mean you guys are headlining tonight, and you have openers. In the past, you were the opener.

JA: Yeah, that’s very true. Yeah. Definitely growing up, you know. We’re becoming adults, which is crazy.

MB: But that’s exciting, though. That must be surreal, especially after the pandemic.

JA: Yeah, it’s our first time really on a label. We’re on Royal Mountain Records now, which is totally a new experience for us. We’ve never had that type of support before, which is really cool. You know, like we just talked about with Stefan from Pup, our first time working with someone on the songs like that. He just did two of them, but still, it was our first time doing that. It’s a lot of firsts. A lot of new people are hearing our band for the first time. We just need to put an album out now. But that’ll be down the road a little bit. 

MB: I was looking at videos from your show in LA on Wednesday. Enzo’s liberty spikes made an appearance. Is your Robert Smith hair gonna make an appearance?

JA: Haha, yeah, I mean, I don’t know if I’m gonna do it every time, you know. I learned [how to do it] because our friend Mari, who did our hair when we took our photos like that, kind of taught me how to do it. It’s called back-combing — I think that’s what it’s called. You take a comb and comb backwards and it makes it poof up, it makes like a rat’s nest in your head. So I was doing a little bit of that, but I don’t know if I’m gonna go quite all the way, you know, every time but I’m definitely you know, I’m rocking long hair. I’m gonna make it big, poofy and fun — really find my own look, you know?

MB: So, Get Yourself a Friend comes out next week. What should we expect moving forward? 

JA: We made a video for the title track, Get Yourself a Friend, which I’m so excited about. It comes out next week with the whole EP and it’s my favorite video we’ve ever made, it’s so cool. I’ve written a lot of songs, and we’re going to go record them really soon, I hope. And I think the next thing we do is going to be an album. That’s going to be the next thing that we have to give. We just announced yesterday that we’re playing Shaky Knees Fest in Atlanta, which I’m so excited to play. Hopefully, we’ll have some music to put out around then. I think that’s kind of the real goal. But things change all the time. A lot of plans that we made in the last two years have changed drastically. So you never know. But I think an album is the next thing we’re gonna try and do.

 

Article by Maya Banuelos

Photography by Dorothy Eck

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.