Introducing Ultra Q, The Band Led By Billie Joe Armstrong's Son Jakob

Ultra Q might be the next big rock band. Led by Jakob Armstrong, the youngest son of Green Day vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong, the Californian band represent a fresh take on post-punk, shoegaze and emo music.

The group are gearing up to release their debut album, My Guardian Angel, on 9 June via Royal Mountain Records. Before the album is released, though, Ultra Q have unveiled a new track entitled VR Sex. Produced by Chris Coady (Beach House, Massive Attack, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), the song sounds as huge and powerful as it should.

"VR Sex was the last song I wrote for this album. By the end of the writing process, I really didn’t have any idea what this record was going to be," Armstrong admitted in a statement. "Stylistically, It was mostly leaning toward shoegaze/dream pop with a few outliers here and there. When you write this many songs over a long period of time, eventually your taste is going to change and your interest will wane."

The lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter added, "This is the point where I rediscovered my love for MCR, specifically the second album. I wanted so badly to have an emo ripper on the record but I didn’t really think it could fit. After some demoing, I decided that I really needed to write this song. It deals with the period of time shortly after a close friend nearly passed in a car accident. In a way, this event was the catalyst for many topics on this album and writing about it was an extremely cathartic way to end the album process."

Ultra Q released their debut EP, We’re Starting to Get Along, in 2019 and followed it up with In a Cave in a Video Game in 2020. With the band name inspired by an Ultraman prequel series, you can count on slightly-nerdy guitar music throughout their debut album. Pre-order My Guardian Angel here.

My Guardian Angel tracklist

1. Saturday
2. VR Sex
3. Rocket
4. I Watched Them Go
5. Web Web Web
6. Klepto
7. Slope
8. Wrip
9. So Very Emo
10. I Wanna Lose
11. Teether
12. Dark Green