Ultra Q Reunites with Hockey Dad for Rickshaw Nostalgia

Australian surf rock duo Hockey Dad fathered Jakob Armstrong, Chris Malaspina, Enzo Malaspina, and Kevin Judd through their first full US tour when the boys still went by Mt. Eddy in 2018. Five years later, Jakob and friends have no doubt honed their sound from “Redwoood” off 2019’s We’re Starting to Get Along – a song that features one of my favorite intros of all time – to playing live for Audiotree and most recently shredding for the Rickshaw Stop audience last Friday.

Supporting Hockey Dad in both San Francisco and San Diego this past weekend, Ultra Q remains booked and busy. They released debut album My Guardian Angel in June, followed by tour with their dream artists Wavves and Cloud Nothings, and then immediately made their way back home to Oakland for a surprise live set at Bandcamp in July.

Jakob, Kevin, and the Malaspina brothers started playing together in high school, and their setlist Friday night certainly honored this long-standing collaboration between dear friends. We got to hear “I Luv Robert Smith” from their Mt. Eddy days of yore, as deep love for The Cure remains salient to the band’s evolution. Not only that but you can tell how much these guys enjoy playing alongside one another. They exchange wry smiles between songs and headbang en masse with mutual appreciation for the sound of each other’s instruments.

For me, their Rickshaw set was especially rewarding because Ultra Q takes the number four spot on my Receiptify list of top artists from the last six months, number three if we’re talking last month alone. If nothing else, My Guardian Angel was the bedrock of my summer, as Tracks 1, 2, and 8 persist in being hallmarks of my Spotify On Repeat playlist. After Friday, though, I feel more strongly attached to the lovelorn tempo of “So Very Emo,” during which Armstrong repeats the line “nothing I do is for you” like he’s still trying to convince himself of that fact.

The production on this record is so perfectly, cathartically all over the place. Ultra Q worked closely with producer/mixer Chris Coady, another dream come true given his previous work with major bands like TV on the Radio and Beach House, not to mention the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Although most of the album can be accredited to Coady’s home studio, they were actually able to record the drums at East West Studios in Studio 3 – birthplace of Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys (1966).

This is one of those bands that just makes sense, combining alt/rock/emo influences with doing whatever feels right together. Their chemistry was arguably most palpable during “It’s Permanent,” off Get Yourself a Friend (2021). Chris beats the skins with otherworldly focus you cannot miss, and then Kevin slaps that violent necromantic bassline with facial expressions that make clear he’s doing exactly what he loves side-by-side with the people that he loves. You get so very emo vocal moments by Jakob Danger, heightened by Enzo’s guitar solos of the enigmatic persuasion. And they’re not planning to slow up anytime soon. Ultra Q continues their fall tour from October 13th through mid-November, supporting Games We Play as well as headlining a few nearby shows of their own: 10/19 in Fresno, 10/21 in Santa Cruz, 10/22 in Sac, and 10/23 in Reno. Catch them if you can and be on the lookout for new tunes in the spring.