Ultimate Fakebook’s first album of new material in 16 years, The Preserving Machine
Note to readers: Ultimate Fakebook’s first album of new material in 16 years, The Preserving Machine, contains a number of references. Before continuing, please take time to familiarize yourself with at least some of the below terms and phrases:
VHS tapes. iMacs. Neil Hamburger. Manhattan KS! “Mr. Show.” Air guitar. “I Get Wet.” “Across the Universe.” Superdrag. The decline of the American empire. “Dinosaurs and dresses, princesses and weapons.” Children. MTV and “motherfucking MP3s.” Manhattan KS! 1982. “Spring Breakers.” Hope. Paella. Despair. “The Rain Song.” Melvins. KISS “Alive” and “Alive II.” Virtual amps, virtual bands, MIDI and USB drives. Manhattan KS! “Smell the Glove.” “Freaks and Geeks.” Beatles or Stones? Manhattan KS!
Like its gymnastically explosive guitar rock songs and lyrical spins, Ultimate Fakebook in its two-and-a-half decades and five albums have leapt through a series of white-hot moments that, when experienced as whole, come off as undeniably well-plotted. That they’re back now with their fifth full-length, The Preserving Machine, feels preordained. The album, which comes out via Sonic Ritual in April, eloquently conveys both the celebratory nature of making loud, smart, hook-heavy songs, as well as the daily challenges of living during a time when so much seems at stake.
Ultimate Fakebook was born as a trio in Manhattan, Kansas through a mutual love for Guided by Voices, Cheap Trick, and the Replacements during the fertile post-grunge, pre-emo mid-1990s. Founding members Bill McShane (guitar, vocals) and Nick Colby (bass), along with longtime drummer Eric Melin, created three acclaimed albums over a six-year period starting in 1997 (including 2000’s This Will Be Laughing Week for 550/Epic Records). Along the way, the band sharpened its sound and ideals during tours with artists including At the Drive In, Fallout Boy, Motion City Soundtrack, Nada Surf, and the Get Up Kids. They broke up in 2004 but never lost touch, reuniting every now and then for a sporadic benefit concert or live show. In 2019, pop-punk legends the Descendents invited UFB on a Midwest run of dates.
To say those gigs went well is an understatement. As exhibited on The Preserving Machine, all that mileage, all those semi-regular jerks and jolts, sound precisely planned. Produced by McShane with Melin and The Stereo’s Jamie Woolford, the album was recorded by McShane with help from longtime producer and Kansas legend Ed Rose (Touche Amore, The Appleseed Cast) and Steve Squire.
McShane explains “It’s hard to believe but it’s been 16 years since we made new songs together. My goal here was to make a record that could stand on its own, knowing we wouldn’t be hitting the road and touring behind it. I wanted to make huge anthems that preserved and passed on what it was like for us being in this band, surrounded by this love of music and with all these friends of ours. And also what it’s like grappling with the reality that those dreams of rock and roll we all believed in aren’t as important as the friendships we made along the way. But I told Eric and Nick that if these songs don’t make the listener want to air drum and rock out in their living room, we’ve failed. We could not be more ecstatic and giddy about how this album turned out!”
“I’m 45 and still alive — what can I say?,” wonders McShane during “My Music Industry,” a song that’s both an indictment of a dying business and a smart-assed ode to Bandcamp: “My industry’s on fire,” he sings. Another track, “Manhattan KS,” sells the band’s hometown one local reference at a time. On the wildly catchy “After Hours at Melin’s,” UFB documents a night at drummer (and 2013 World Air Guitar Champion) Eric Melin’s place. McShane joyously sings about lessons learned during drunken binge-watches and listening sessions with their bandmate, who in 2007 competed in VH1’s “World Series of Pop Culture.”
Just because a band splits doesn’t mean the muse quits. Across these songs, McShane’s as sharp as he is observant. With him, Colby and Melin unite punk rock, power pop, post-punk, and emo with a seamless ease, each of the 11 tracks lock into a structure through a combination of sweat and divinity. One listen will hook you. By the third listen, you’ll be consumed.
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