Photo by NUCLEAR DUDES
NUCLEAR DUDES will unleash their delightfully unhinged Truth Paste full-length on September 5th.
“Do I know where I am?” That question will likely flash through listeners’ minds during the opening track on Truth Paste, the fifth full-length from West Coast duo NUCLEAR DUDES. “Napalm Life” begins with something reminiscent of Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome To The Jungle,” but quickly shifts to the blistering industrial dance-grind that consumes you for the next twenty minutes.
Forged in 2022 by Jon Weisnewski, known best for his screams and string punishment in both Akimbo and Sandrider, NUCLEAR DUDES is a manic mix of extreme metal, synth-prog, powerviolence, and industrial noise and initially a prolific bedroom project that sated Weisnewski’s desire to write complex, bone-pureeing riffs and drum machine blasts. After a brief synthwave digression with Compression Crimes 1, the project returned with an altered version of what the band could do. And step one was recruiting a vocalist.
While third full-length Boss Blades had guest vocals from Dave Verellen of Botch and Irene Barber of Dust Moth, Truth Paste is the first record to feature vocalist Brandon Nakamura (Doomsday 1999, Cat Toy, Teen Cthulhu), who played with Weisnewski in the short-lived 2010’s grind act White Jazz. Originally brought on for live performances, Nakamura was recruited to perform most of the vocal duties for Truth Paste, with his scathing delivery and abstractly humorous lyrics punctuating the synthetic chaos and adding density to the massive riffs behind him.
Weisnewski admits that the new album was written to create an easier transition from record to live, but this move inadvertently created the band’s most impressive and memorable work yet. The mixture of noise, percussive beats, extreme metal, and movie samples makes this experience like a ‘90s rave where the candy necklaces have been replaced with bath salts.
Songs like “Juggalos For Congress,” “Death at Burning Man,” and “Concussion Protocol” take so many wild swings and left turns that it demands multiple listens to catch your breath and figure out exactly what the band pulled off. And each of those listens reveals a new breakdown or killer melody or just some weird idea out of nowhere that will then drill its way into your temporal lobe.
Elaborates Weisnewski, “Truth Paste is the chunk of songs NUCLEAR DUDES has been playing live as a two-piece. The amount of gear, wires, and headaches it takes to play this stuff to small, confused audiences is sure to pay off down the road. Collaborating on this album with my longtime friend Brandon Nakamura has been incredibly rewarding. We share a disdain for self-seriousness and are only trying to make each other laugh. That being said, we are emotionally prepared to accept a Grammy should the institution see fit.”
Adds Nakamura, “We’re here for the laughs and access to the Epstein client list. It’s an honor and privilege to have been called into service by my long-standing homeboy Jon Weisnewski on this mission. Godspeed to us both.”
In advance of the record’s release, the band offers up first single, “Pelvis Presley,” for public consumption.
“I have no idea what this song is about,” admits Weisnewski, “Even when recording Brandon’s vocals, I had no idea what he was saying because of all the FX we were pumping on the raw track. The guitar playing is intentionally stupid. It’s stupid. I’m really proud of it.”
“This is a song about *jazz hands motion* cannibals,” offers Nakamura. “It’s inspired by the hit dramedy The Bear streaming now on Hulu.”
Stream NUCLEAR DUDES’ “Pelvis Presley” HERE.
All songs on Truth Paste were written and recorded by Jon Weisnewski, mixed by Matt Bayles, and mastered by Ed Brooks, with vocals by Nakamura and Weisnewski.
The record will be released digitally. Find preorders at the official NUCLEAR DUDES Bandcamp page HERE.
Truth Paste is a band following their own deranged path, presenting music that is fun, funny and absolutely devastating. So do you know where you are? You’re hanging with the NUCLEAR DUDES, baby, and you’re still gonna die.
Truth Paste Track Listing:
- Napalm Life
- Holiday Warfare
- Truth Paste
- Dirty 20
- Sad Vicious
- Concussion Protocol
- Space Juice
- Juggalos For Congress
- Pelvis Presley
- Death At Burning Man
- Cyrus The Virus
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