Undercity Kings – “Funsucker”

Punk bands with roots going back to 1981 don’t always age well. Undercity Kings are an exception worth paying attention to. The band got started in Southern California, put a song on the 1984 compilation It Came from Slimy Valley, and then went quiet for decades. Bassist Todd Mitchell picked things back up in 2022, relocated to Hawaii, and pulled together a new lineup: Tami Mitchell on lead vocals, Dan Way on guitar, and Chris Pawling on drums. Funsucker is what came out of that.

Released in June 2023, the EP was made as a tribute to Tommy Walters, the guy who originally founded the band. The songs use lyrics he wrote but never got around to recording, which gives the whole project a sense of purpose that a lot of punk releases don’t have. It’s not nostalgia for the sake of it and it’s more like finishing something that needed to be finished. My favorite tracks are “HERE’S A BUCK”, “SOCIETY SPELL”, and “UNDERCITY KINGS’.

Personally, this is the kind of release that rewards repeat listens. The more you sit with it, the more you notice how much care went into it despite the raw energy on the surface. And make sure you follow Undercity Kings so you don’t miss what they put out for the rest of the year.