Sunshine: The Ugliest Bone in Punk Written by: Matt Drummond

” Sunshine: The Ugliest Bone in Punk ”

Written by: Matt Drummond

“This new, reactionary music was called punk. It tossed the dominant rock culture into the garbage can. The only rule was to break the rules.”

          –Steven Blush (American Hardcore)

Whatever album you have playing on August 15th, stop it. Do like Steven says, and throw it in the garbage can because the new album by Chicago’s UGLYBoNES, is the summer behemoth you’ve been chomping at the bit for.

I’m a tad ashamed to admit this, but up until a few days ago, I had never actually heard UGLYBoNES. As ‘Sunshine’ began to play, the first impression it left on me was, “holy shit, where have I been?” 

As the intro creeps in, consider it your final warning to get to a safe place. Once UGLYBoNES fires up, it’s every man for himself. For a younger band, it’s impressive to hear the punk/hardcore pedigree that this band is bred from. 

Filip (guitar), Lev (vocals), Viaj (bass), and Tony (drums) embody everything this style of music has represented proudly for decades. UGLYBoNES doesn’t seem interested in tweaking the formula for punk, what they do is carry on traditions most people don’t even know about anymore. I wondered how they got that way, so I asked Viaj for an explanation. 

“I don’t have an explanation for that. There’s just been this DIY mentality, and the whole hardcore mentality since we started. We try to keep the same mentality as the punk bands had 20-30 years ago. We don’t care about money, we just wanted to do it. Honestly, I don’t know what drives us to do it, but we’re very ambitious. This album is the hardest we’ve ever worked, and the most serious we’ve ever taken in putting an album together. In my opinion, I think the album came out really well. It shows our hard work, and devotion.”

          –Viaj 

I agree with Viaj, the album is a blueprint of how to play punk. The songs that really stood out to me, were all of them! ‘Sunshine’ is a phenomenal album. It’s definitely a play straight through kind of record. I will say, that ‘Sunshine’ does hold back a few punches, but that’s only so they can hit you with a lead pipe instead. If I was forced to choose a favorite track, i suppose I would choose track 5, ‘Short One’. 

Still trying to comprehend how these guys are capable of such deep rooted heritage, and asked Viaj, what was the first song that he can remember that grabbed him? With his answer, came a clearer picture.

“For me, it was Black Flags 1978 offering, ‘Nervous Breakdown’. We all come from different musical interests. One of the things that inspired me, was listening to bands like Rage Against the Machine. For me, that was the sound I always really liked. Just one guitar, and one bass, always sounded cool to me.”

UGLYBoNES also puts huge importance on supporting local music, and fellow musicians. They’re all pursuing the same dream, so supporting each other is part of the deal. The flawless way that the band braids itself together is a key component to their success as well.

“The 4 of us believe in one another, and the vision for the band. If those feelings weren’t there, we wouldn’t have bothered making the new record.”

          –Viaj 

The official release date for ‘Sunshine’, is August 15th. The release show will be held in Chicago, on August 17th, at Galxie 2.0. The album absolutely kills, and so will the release show on the 17th. My only advice is to not ask UGLYBoNES to hold back punches, because we all know the lead pipe awaits the cowards.