Ultra Q are ready to play stadiums, frontman Jakob Armstrong told Today Radio, as the indie rock band launches their second album.
In a conversation with Stephen 'Steps' Lowe of The LunchBox on Today Radio, Jakob Armstrong, the frontman of indie rock band Ultra Q, spoke about the development and creation of the band's new album "My Guardian Angel," the legendary producer Chris Cody, the skew towards genre-less music, and what it's like to have a famous dad.
Ultra Q's sound has changed a lot in their debut album. "My Guardian Angel," which came out 9 June 2023, is a far cry from the garage rock with punk tendencies the band had previously been producing. This album is big with lots of vintage synths, and suited for a stadium. The change in sound wasn't planned, but the band didn't want to say no to anything, instead choosing to be as creative as possible.
When Jakob recorded the demos, the songs already had their own identity. Chris Cody, a former producer for TV on the Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "took the lid off" the demos and could see the end product "from far away."
Ultra Q - Saturday
This dramatic change in sound and style does't concern Jakob much when it comes to finding a bigger audience. Now, more than ever, people aren't tied to a specific genre. They can find elements of music they already love in any genre since the advent of streaming. However, streaming also requires an artist to label their music, as Spotify creates genre-based playlists, and in order for anyone to stumble on a song, a song has to fit on the playlist. Jakob says "people like to know what they're gonna get before they get it." So while a musician can make genre-less music, it still helps them to define their sound in some way.
Jakob's father, Billie Joe Armstrong (the lead singer of Green Day) has always been supportive of his son's music career, but never forced music on him. Until the age of twelve, Jakob wasn't interested in playing music. He discovered it on his own, and at fifteen years old he showed his dad the first song he ever wrote, to Billie Joe's complete surprise. It was necessary for Jakob to fall in love with music independently of his father's influence.
Now he can't imagine his life without playing and writing music. Jakob would be happy to play weekend gigs at small clubs for the rest of his life as long as he could continue to make music. He understands why people might be hesitant about his art because of his father, but their hesitancy does not matter because “when you love something…you make it work, and it becomes something that you just HAVE to do, I’m going to be writing music for the rest of my life.”
To listen to the whole interview, click to listen to part 1 and part 2, or listen via the players below.
