_{By Joe Vickrey}

Sandwiched between an inebriated friend and a new acquaintance I had made chatting between sets, I saw Urban Lounge come alive as Bad Luck Brigade took the stage. Every single head in the audience was bouncing in time to their opening tune. The music was deep in the pocket, the rapping was tight, and the crowd was immersed. A few days later I was lucky enough to sit down and chat with the band about their new EP, SOMETHING’S AT MY NECK, which drops on September 13th. 

Note: Some of the band’s remarks have ever-so-slightly been modified and are noted with italics for guessable reasons.

Having been together just over two years, the quintet plays a mix of what I would consider lo-fi hip hop and energetic jazz-fusion. How they can keep both of those two genres under one roof I have no idea, but my goodness it works. Bad Luck Brigade began after rapping keyboardist frontman Kyler “Kilow” Low and Ikaika Meatoga, the group’s fantastic bassist, decided to change from a rap / DJ duo to a full band lineup. “We kind of caught some internal music scene drama about having a rapper with backing tracks play at WhyFest, and I thought I don’t think these fellows know that we’re actually pretty swell musicians and I’m up here with one of the best bassists I know,” Kilow explained. 

Rather than asking or auditioning, the remaining members, Walker “Tex” Ungerman, Miles Nivison, and Forrester Lagunas, were informed they had been enlisted, and to report for duties the following week. Tex, the auxiliary percussionist recalled, “I played percussion, but never pursued it past high school… I was working at WhySound when Kilow and Ikaika said, ‘We heard you play instruments. My house. Tuesday. Pull up.’”

The vibes were good, and there was a small roar of laughter as I asked how they would describe their genre. With a smile, Kilow commented, “We thought of it as if A Tribe Called Quest was on mushrooms. We call it Shroom Bap.”

Tex added, “I tell my coworkers who don’t know genres very well it’s like if Limp Bizkit was jazz-funk.”

When I heard the band live, a few people compared the vocals to Beastie Boys and Rage Against the Machine. When asked how they felt about these comparisons, there was some positive affirmation. Though he grew up on jazz-rap like A Tribe Called Quest and Mac Miller, Kilow said he’s happy with these comparisons and was thrilled to even be called, “Elton John meets Rage Against the Machine.”

Unlike a majority of the group, drummer Miles grew up listening and playing punk rock. He mentioned how after joining the band he had to go down a rabbit hole of different genres to gain a more comfortable feel for what the group was going for. This punk rock origin gives a more raw spirit to the group and adds an extra layer of energy to the whole experience. 

Rap can feel like a bit of a rarity in the Utah music scene at large. Utah has been home to some very talented rappers, but we just don’t see it every day. I asked if they felt welcomed to the scene after their formation as a band. Kilow confirmed, “People love it. I think I say a lot stuff that goes over people’s heads… Every moment has to be intentional… What I’ve loved about being in a band is that I’ll just hear one of these guys goofing around and the flow just snaps in.” 

While he works constantly on writing and trying new things, he insisted that what gets released leans more towards the pieces that just “snapped” in place. Before I could finish asking if he freestyled at all, he responded, “NO. For the record I cannot freestyle. People figure out that I’m a dope rapper… I’ve done it, but it’s not something I really hang my hat on.”

Our conversation moved into some of his lyrics on the upcoming EP, SOMETHING’S AT MY NECK (aka SAMN). I had to ask if there was a story behind the lyric, “well I woke up late, I’m runnin’ tardy/I was actin’ a fool at Kilby Block,” from the up-tempo banger, “Why?” After a loud moment of the kind of laughter that can only be associated with an inside joke, I got my answer: “A lot of rappers are referential to the culture they grew up on, and there’s not a lot of hip hop culture here, so I definitely wanted to lean into the indie thing and mention Kilby Block,” said Kilow. “We went to Kilby Block Party drunk… I was so excited to see Run the Jewels just… faded out of my mind, having a lot of fun, and thinking, ‘this is fun to be actin’ a fool out here, but I want to be up there on stage.’ It’s kind of a crazy full circle though because we open for Killer Mike [1/2 of Run the Jewels] this week. We’re super excited.”

Another earworm lyric is in “Save”: “If I die tomorrow at least I did it today/Breath smells like Bombay and decay/So bombs away.” I had to ask, what does Bombay smell like?

“Bombay gin? I’ve had some bad nights with gin. I get drunk, I’m writing things, and I’m hanging with my homies,” Kilow explained. “If I die tomorrow, at least I lived today, and tomorrow, I’ll wake up with my breath smelling like gin. Real gin drinkers know; when your breath smells like gin it really smells like gin and it sucks.”

Laughing, Tex interjected, “What do you mean? I love it.”

Countering, Kilow added, “You might as well have the spent the night drinking lemon Pledge. On a related note, we had just played ABG’s, and ended up in some Provo underground tunnels when I wrote the lyrics to ‘Here, Take This.’ It was 4 AM, directly underneath Provo, and it just snapped in. I wrote the whole thing in like four minutes, had a session the next day, and just killed it.”

As if they weren’t already hippest kids under the block, their new EP, along with their previous releases, were all recorded at WhySound’s studio in Logan direct to analog tape. From the bass driven groove of “Reverse” to the stadium-sized energy of “Sound,” Bad Luck Brigade are paving the way for Utah’s rap scene, and they’re doing it with ample amounts of class and style. SAMN is dowsed in passion, brimming with energy, and its breath smells like lemon Pledge.

The group wanted to give several shoutouts to friends and others who have helped them along the way: Landon McDowell, Treya, S&S, WhySound, and Ryan Conger.

SOMETHING’S AT MY NECK drops on September 13th on all platforms, and you can pre-save the EP here. Be sure to follow Bad Luck Brigade on Instagram for updates and check out the lead single, “Yard Dog,” below!