Vundabar is an American indie rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band consists of Brandon Hagen (vocals, guitar), Drew McDonald (drums, synthesizer), and Zack Abramo (bass).
Vundabar released their first full-length album in 2013 titled Antics.[2] In 2015, they released their second full-length album titled Gawk.[3][4] In February 2018, Vundabar released their third full-length album titled Smell Smoke which was recorded by Keith Abrams at Headroom Studios in Philadelphia.[5][6][7] In Their fourth album Either Light was released in 2020.[8] Vundabar released their fifth full-length album Devil for the Fire on 15 April 2022.[9]
On September 16, 2022 they released a musical compilation entitled Good Old, which consisted of seven songs recorded between the releases of Gawk and Smell Smoke and four acoustic versions of previously released songs. On May 5, 2023 they released the singles Digital Forest and Sugar Pill.
There have been four singles released by Vundabar since, which are titled I Got Cracked, Life Is A Movie, Spades, and I Need You, respectfully. These singles were preludes to the album Surgery And Pleasure, the band’s sixth full-length album, which was released by Loma Vista Recordings on March 7th, 2025. [10]
Band history
Before Vundabar, Brandon Hagen and Drew McDonald were in a band called No Nada with a few school friends.[11][12] The band lasted from around 2009-2012, when they separated because multiple members were leaving for college. Some of the old songs have been found by fans through Hagen's now retired SoundCloud[13] and through other sources. Vundabar was originally just Hagen and McDonald, with fluctuating bassists. While McDonald was attending Lesley University, he met Zack Abramo. McDonald introduced him to Hagen and they soon incoorporated Abramo fully as bassist. In 2013 they released their debut full-length album titled Antics.[2] In 2014, Vundabar went on their first tour, which took place in France.[14] They adopted a more gritty tone on their second album Gawk in 2015, which added a more post-punk sound to the mix.[1]
In June-2016, a new member of the band was present in an interview.[15] The former bassist, Zack Abramo, left the band to work on his own music group, being the lead vocalist and guitarist for Crag Mask. Vundabar's new bass player was Grayson Kirtland. He continued to appear in live shows and interviews until late 2018, when the band tweeted about their next show, in which Abramo would be joining them again.[16]
In 2018 their third studio-album was released titled “Smell Smoke” originally titled “Crack Mask” according to an interview with Audiotree. For their fourth album Either Light they changed their style and their songwriting technique. Hagen revealed in an interview with Allston Pudding that they wrote much of the songs on piano or synthesizer instead of guitar.[17] The album featured jangle elements on a few songs and different instrumentation such as synths, vibraphone or acoustic guitar. In 2021 their song "Alien Blues" off Gawk went viral on TikTok and has since been streamed almost 600 million times on Spotify. In 2022 Vundabar released their fifth album titled Devil for the Fire and their sixth album, Good Old, was released in September of the same year. Good Old was a compilation of songs that were originally created between Gawk and Smell Smoke.
On May 5, 2023, they released two new singles, Digital Forest and Sugar Pill.
On June 25, 2024, the single I Got Cracked would be released, and on October 10th, 2024, a second single titled Life Is A Movie came out.
On January 16, 2025, they announced their next studio album Surgery and Pleasure, and released the single Spades.
On February 7, 2025, they released another single, I Need You.
Musical style
Their musical style is described as indie rock with elements of post-punk, jangle pop and surf rock.[1]Allmusic describes their style as "jangly, fuzzed-out math- and surf-tinged indie rock shot through with plenty of post-punk spirit".[18]
As influences, the band named Dick Dale, singer Brandon Hagen also named the Osees, bassist Zack Abramo named electronic music such as Burial, and drummer Drew McDonald named Tame Impala.[19]
On their first three albums, Vundabar mainly played their music on guitar, bass and drums. On their albums Either Light and Devil for the Fire, they also used synthesizers, electronic drum sounds and other instruments like piano or Omnichord.[20]
Gawk Records
In an interview with Sound of Boston, McDonald explains that the band started a cassette label named Gawk Records in order to avoid financial pressures of signing to a label and to foster a community of artists.[21] The record label has also released a self-titled EP by the Philadelphia band Straw Hats in 2016, and co-released the self titled album by the band Horse Jumper of Love in 2016. Both of these releases are on the label's Bandcamp. [22] Every album except for their first album, Antics, has been under Gawk Records, but Vundabar's upcoming album, Surgery and Pleasure, will be released by Loma Vista Recordings.
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