Sea Urchin... Destroy! on Ba Da Bing Records

Sea Urchin Announces First Release: Destroy!

Phil Spector Meat Loafs In Matt Strickland’s Tribute To ‘50s Teen Death Songs

Out April 5, 2024

Put Aside 12 Minutes & Listen To:  I Beefed It (On My Motorbike)

With Guests Julian Fader (Ava Luna), Nick Jost (Wilder Maker) & Nate Mendelsohn (Market)

Co-Produced by Katie Von Schleicher

For Fans Of:  Shangri-Las, Sparks, Rocky Horror

Sea Urchin announces its debut album. Created straight from leader Matt Strickland’s painful, awful break up, and co-produced by Katie Von Schleicher, Destroy! embodies the agony, rage, love and tragedy of love gone sour. “I got really really sad. Like so sad. Like so so so sad,” Strickland says. It took rock and roll’s toolbox for him to work out his feelings. Sea Urchin makes operatic rock drama that incorporates ‘50s style garage punk, hardcore punk, pop punk, Frogwave and maybe even sad punk, as the original goal was to have “sad” in every song title.

Strickland, known for his videos for Katie Von Schleicher and Market, assembled an all-star team to back him up. Among the players are Katie Von Schleicher adding vocals and piano, Nick Jost (Baroness) on bass, Julian Fader (Ava Luna) on drums, and  Nate Mendelsohn (Market) on saxophone.

“I Beefed It (On My Motorbike)” is the epic closer to the album. It earns its long length. What would you cut?? The sax solo? No way! The track features help from by Nick Jost (Baroness), Julian Fader (Ava Luna), and Nate Mendelsohn (Market). [Katie Von Schleicher sings and plays piano on other songs. 

As Strickland describes the song:

What are we supposed to do? Live in a world with no more Jim Steinman/Meat Loaf songs? You want to live in that world? This one is my opus, a classic tale of forbidden love. The Romeo and Juliet for our generation. I feel like my entire life was leading to this song. It has everything I love. Maximalism. A little Springsteen. A little E Street Band. A protagonist that hushes his girlfriend on his deathbed. Dead Teenagers. I tried to commit as hard as I could to the silliest idea I’ve ever had. I told Baroness’s Nick Jost (bass) and Ava Luna’s Julian Fader (drums) that there was no fill that was too much. There was absolutely nothing they could do to be “over the top.” Sheena is my friend from work and has no musical aspirations, but she’s a karaoke all-star and I asked her to sing on the song. I’m 100% sure Clarence Clemons heard Nate’s sax solo from heaven and wept a tear of pride.     

10 Facts About Sea Urchin and the Album

By Matthew Strickland

I’m from New Jersey, and that’s important to know for the album.

It was recorded mostly in my closet and some in Katie Von Schleicher’s living room.

Most of the songs were written in the wake of a breakup. I got really really sad. Like so sad. Like so so so sad. Just straight up classic heartache “I’ll never be okay again” kinda shit. But at the same time I also thought there was something really funny about my histrionic sadness. So the album sort of came from me laughing at my own sadness. Then that making me feel sadder which only made it funnier to me. My original goal was to have “sad” in the title of every song.

The record includes songs from genres as diverse as Punk, Pop Punk, 50s inspired garage Punk, Hardcore Punk, Skynard Punk, Grunge Punk, Meat Loaf Punk, & Frogwave. Maybe Sad Punk is the best way to say it? 

Adam Finchler (drummer on the album) said he couldn’t tell if the album was “funny, adorable, or deeply sad.” And that sort of sums it up.

I think there’s a lot funny about heavy rock, but I love it. In the 1996 documentary Hype, Nirvana producer Jack Endino says, “Yeah we know that this is heavy rock and heavy rock is kinda stupid, but it’s fun anyways. We know that this is the cheesiest thing we can do, but we gotta do it.” And that is sort of what I've based my life around. The idea that something is stupid but I am unable to NOT do it. 

I love 1950s rock and roll, especially the dead teenager songs which is why the album culminates with two of them. Hearing Pearl Jam’s cover of “Last Kiss” at 11 was a seminal moment for me. 

I try to take very silly ideas incredibly seriously. Committing as hard as you can to the silliest idea is something I firmly believe in.

I like bands where the humor is as much in the style and production as the lyrics. I like the idea that something is funny but there aren’t jokes in it. I feel closer to bands like Mudhoney, Suicidal Tendencies, Butthole Surfers, & Ween than to Weird Al (no disrespect tho he’s a legend.) Like a more self-aware Danzig would be my favorite band of all time.   

I would love to make the greatest music video ever made for “I Beefed it (On My Motorbike).” If someone would like to lend me $100,000. I promise it will be the greatest ever made. 

Destroy! Track Listing:

01 New Guy

02 You're Whole

03 Teenage Breakdown

04 The Kids Are All Sad

05 Girls

06 Call Your Girlfriend

07 The Saddest Man 

08 Rock!

09 It’s Raining on Christmas

10 I Beefed it (On My Motorbike)