Bay Area indie-punk band Shutups are proud to share the music video for “100Punk”, the third single from their forthcoming album, I can’t eat nearly as much as I want to vomit. While still delivering the propulsive energy Shutups is most known for, “100Punk” is  the poppiest and most streamlined song on the album, marrying a Strokes-y guitar riff and dance punk grooves with a baritone sax part played by Stan Zest. I can’t eat nearly as much as I want to vomit was mixed and mastered by Grammy nominated engineer / producer Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Jeff Rosenstock, King Woman), and will be released later this month via Kill Rock Stars on October 21st, 2022.

“100Punk” is the oldest song on the record, originally recorded as a demo in 2014 (from which the opening few seconds were copy/pasted directly into this album version) and now updated with new lyrics and additional musical flourishes like flute and baritone sax. Lead singer Hadely Davis cites “100Punk” as “the first song I wrote that I thought gave me a good enough reason to start a band”, with drummer Mia Wood echoing that they “have been dying to release this one for so long, but the years of refinement has really strengthened the track in this final form. It’s so different from the other singles and most of our songs generally”. Meanwhile, bassist Bud Armeinti said about the song, “This one’s a “Bud-Certified banger”.

“100Punk”, and other singles such as “Televised Hit & Run”, and “Endless Heaven” serve as a mini crash-course on the songwriting style of Shutups on this album; combining catchy indie punk melodies that share similarities with bands like Mannequin Pussy and PUP, filtered through the go-for-broke ambition of a band like Foxing and the experimental genre swirl of Spirit of The Beehive. Beginning as a duo of Hadley Davis on vocals and guitar and Mia Wood on drums, Hadley recruited childhood friends Eric Stafford (Guitar/Synth) and Bud Armienti (bass / synth) from his hometown of Livermore to round out the full band roster.  The influence of Weezer on Shutups is immediately apparent – something that Mia and Hadley bonded over early on in their friendship. Songs that contrast distorted guitar tones with disarmingly pleasant pop melodies are not exactly a reinvention of the wheel – in addition to Weezer, they cite bands like the Pixies as inspiration for their own take on the classic quiet-loud-quiet-loud 90s alt rock sound – but the way they assemble these songs is truly unique, especially on this forthcoming new album. 

“There’s also a good amount of inspiration pulled from mash-ups, as a compositional tool.” Hadley says. “I was and still am obsessed with Girl Talk’s Night Ripper. I worshiped that album in high school as it satisfied my need for non-stop hooks and changes. It also taught me the value of juxtaposition in texture. When I write now I’m thinking about cut and paste techniques more so than typical song structure. This album feels like a mashup of our songs.”

Photo Courtesy: Kristy Benjamin