This is an odd story. Ultimate Fakebook are a very, very good pop-punk band that broke up sixteen years ago. The Manhattan, Kansas based band had a short-lived deal with Sony music. My friend and drummer nonpareil Kevin Heuer introduced me to UFB back in the day. We went to see them in Atlanta and it was one of the best rock shows I’ve ever seen. Forward to sixteen years later, and UFB is back, with a new record, The Preserving Machine. Guitarist and vocalist Bill McShane, bassist Nick Colby, and drummer Eric Melin are back, still playing power-pop, but working out some different sounds and arrangements.
Starting with the single ‘We're Sharing The Same Dream Tonight,’ the tale of an all-night party with a heavenly chorus, is a pop-punk anthem of the highest order. Bashing drums, falsetto vocals, crunchy guitars: it’s insistent and undeniable, even ending with an acoustic guitar coda. ‘After Hours At Melin’s’ is the second single and another killer slice of pop-punk. The lyrics list all the UFB touchstones:
30 pack, VHS, Mr. Show, Air Guitar, Megadeth, Superdrag, I Get Wet… The Beatles or the Stones (no way) The correct answer is always Cheap Trick.
This song is what I call a head-floater. An expression our pal Joey used to denote something so good your head would detach from your body and float around the room!
On the piano driven ‘Sad Soldier’ McShane sings “I just remembered that music is my God” and tells a story about having kids during these scary, messed up times. ‘Manhattan KS’ is a harder edged rocker about their hometown, Bill McShane hitting some high falsetto vocals. This one trucks along at warp speed and is a great helping of undeniable rock. ‘Juliet’s Fools’ has strings and piano and wouldn’t be out of place on a Guided By Voices record. McShane’s vocals are very good. It’s a beautiful song and not at all pop-punk (no guitars).
‘Hey Gemini’ is powered by Eric Melin’s drums and has an amazing diminished solo progression that’s a true earworm, along with mellotron and toy piano augmenting the power chords. It’s weird and catchy as hell and I love it. ‘This Unfrozen Girl’ is classic pop-punk with a typical UFB lyric, sad and whimsical:
I saw her in the checkout line
With poster board and sharpie signs
She wrote: “Dinosaurs and dresses, princesses and weapons”
She blows up the text erasing every line
See how she describes her heart
No fear to kiss electric sparks
So wild to stop the pain and hunger
Just like you 15 years younger
She can see right through their eyes
Making all the young boys cry
No “how” or “where” or “why” will own her
This unfrozen girl
Then I saw her high school band… Sarah and the Fake-Bake Tans
She sang “Prom is not forever, but all dogs go to heaven”
My comedienne ain’t giving up her mic
See how she describes her heart
No fear to kiss electric sparks
So wild to stop the pain and hunger Just like you 15 years younger
She can see right through their eyes
Making all the young boys cry
No “how” or “where” or “why” will own her
This unfrozen girl
No one else can fathom her kingdom
No one else is here on her trip
But she couldn’t care less cuz she’s the Queen at 4AM
And her heart is her armor now
And so the fun begins
Now she’s dancing every night
Shaking off the past frostbite Exclusionaries scared of new tunes
Never realize what they lose
So she puts up Christmas lights and rainbows on her welcome sign
So inspired by her courage to be
This unfrozen girl
‘My Music Industry’ is a harder rocker, and an angry tale of UFB’s time with Sony music. It reminds me very much of Superdrag at their best. Typical lyric:
Straight to bandcamp/ sucks is my hashtag
No one gives a shit/ here comes another hit
‘(Sequel) Electric Kissing Parties pt.2’ is a nod to their first record. It’s a meditation on how hearing a song from your past can bring you back to that time in your life, kind of a three minute dissertation on aging and the healing power of rock and roll. The song is catchy and undeniable and very, very sly.
‘Fake ID’ is a slower anthem, almost six minutes long, another reminiscence about growing older:
There’s no rock and roll in my veins/ just vessels filled with songs of rage/ and those memories and a fake ID/ whose picture slowly starts to fade/ away.
Ultimate Facebook has made one of the sneakiest and satisfying comebacks in a long time. It reminds me of the recent Neighborhoods record (review at tinyurl.com/zublasthoods). UFB have embraced some new production and arrangements, they are older and they address that on The Preserving Machine, but it’s still one of the best records I’ve heard this year. As Bill McShane says, “it’s been so long, since I heard that song.” Please check this one out!
---Steve McGowan