Nuclear Bubble Wrap is a psychedelic/alternative rock band from Nashville, TN. Their music is known for containing lush, multi-layered psychedelic arrangements, with catchy melodies and witty lyrics. They’re known for their sense of humor and tendency to lean towards nerdy references and subject matter.
Founded by keyboardist Jace McLain and guitarist Kyle Thorne, Nuclear Bubble Wrap began recording home-made demo albums in 2005 before switching to fully-produced studio recordings with 2010’s full-length album Exploding Head Syndrome. Using the momentum from this album as well as several popular viral music videos (such as “Avada Kedavra” and “Sharktopus”), the band has played concerts across the country. The group is filled out by guitarist Brendan Sheairs, bassist Stephen Smith, and drummer Eric Zhu. They just released their new album, Psycho Delicacy.
While the band was still in high school, they struck a viral internet hit in 2008, with “ScientLOLojyuuichi (Tom Cruise vs. The Internet).” The video, which came out on AlbinoBlackSheep, mocked Scientology and quickly earned over 300,000 views in the midst of the Tom Cruise controversy that year. This made Nuclear Bubble Wrap realize that they had something going, and paved the way for more animated music videos sponsored by AlbinoBlackSheep.
The band became known for nerdy and irreverent comedic rock songs, and for song parodies. They quickly started getting airplay on the Dr. Demento Show and became members of The Funny Music Project. In 2010, Nuclear Bubble Wrap released their first full length album recorded in an actual studio, Exploding Head Syndrome. This album spawned several hits, including the wizard rock songs “Draining the Lizard on a Dead Gay Wizard” and “Avada Kedavra,” the latter of which was a parody of “Hakuna Matata” that earned over 1.5 million views, and was their biggest hit to date. The video for the song “Sharktopus” earned over 300,000 views and remains their most popular original song. The Pokémon-pun rock song “Raichu a Song” was the #1 most requested song of the year 2010 on the Dr. Demento Show. The video for “Avada Kedavra” also won a Logan Award for Excellence in Comedy Music, with both Dr. Demento and “Weird Al” Yankovic as jurors.
As the band members went through their college years, their sound became a lot more refined and the song lyrics became more open to interpretation. In 2011, they stopped doing song parodies altogether to focus on their own particular sound and artistic voice. Influenced by bands such as Ween and The Flaming Lips, Nuclear Bubble Wrap deviated into psychedelic rock territory, becoming possibly one of the few psychedelic acts in the nerd music scene. 2014 saw the release of their immersive, 21-song album, Psycho Delicacy, after a successful Kickstarter campaign. It spawned a music video for the depressing, Brony-referencing song “Night Mare,” with more on the way.
The Flaming Lips, Ween, They Might Be Giants, Weird Al
