By Keith Walsh
There’s nothing typical about Orange County’s “Good Luck, Ugly.” Apart from having their own brand of upbeat ska and pop punk, GLU is a Christian band in a genre that often features controversial or aggressive lyrics.
But as Alvarez, who has an M.A in Music and teaches the subject at a So Cal high school, pointed out in a phone interview on Friday, there are other ways to reach out to those who might benefit from the kindness in the Bible’s message. I asked him what the band’s mission is. “If we had mission,” he said, “it would be just to be good people, so I think Ephesians runs really deep in my heart — don’t have any issues with anyone. Just kind of have a quiet life. And I don’t think that means don’t play loud music, but I think that means ‘can we go out in the world and not make a fuss with everyone and not be an issue with everyone?’”
Good Luck, Ugly is very loud, and their latest album, “Fighting The Urge To Waste Away” features the same positive message about overcoming negative feelings that their first album, 2018’s “Back Stabs And Side Hugs” does. As these works show, being a Christian band doesn’t necessarily mean singing explicit praise and worship songs or trying to get heard on Christian radio, which Alvarez told me is not a personal goal. “I think I go with the Jon Foreman kind of mindset that it’s music for everyone,” he told me. “So I’m not going to necessarily try to alienate anyone. And also I have my own life that I speak into people’s lives, encourage people, evangelize in my own life. And I want to use music to encourage people and reach people that normally wouldn’t be reached by the music. I’ve never aimed to be explicit but I’ve never turned away from the fact that that’s what’s behind the music.”
In addition to Alvarez’ facility on multiple instruments, GLU features a sound that draws from classic rock, but mostly in the form of pop punk and fast tempo ska that goes back to the genre’s second wave in the early 80s and took hold with the third wave of ska at the end of the 80s and into the 90s. Chris Benner’s driving bass lays the foundation live and on the first album, though due to the restrictions of the pandemic as well as Alvarez’ parental responsibilities, the latest album features work almost exclusively by Alvarez. As Benner wrote to me yesterday in a text exchange: “Other than some mixing advice from me, and a few backing vocals by a mutual friend Jeff Schlieder, and mastering by Sef Idle, Mike literally did this whole album himself.”
Alvarez sheds more light on this. “Well, the pandemic making it where other people can’t kind of come in was difficult in itself. So I wrote probably 17-18 songs during the pandemic and picked ….” At this point Alvarez and I were temporarily disconnected. He says he started recording “Fighting The Urge To Waste Away”, which he calls a pandemic project, in September until it was released in early December.
The album is somewhat primal and spare, a solid D.I.Y. effort that seeks to uplift with its memorable melodies. Songs about alienation and disappointment become their opposite, with the implication that things will work out alright, that one’s path can be changed. “I Need To Believe” and “Save Me” point to the hope that can be found in the midst of despair, while “No More” is an anthem about self-improvement. In a chaotic world, we need more songs like “Little Loves (You’ll Be Okay)” that although it might be a message to Alvarez’ children (or students?), can be taken to heart by the rest of us as well.
The friendship between Alvarez and Benner, who met at church where they were in the same small group and played in the worship band together, seems strong. As Alvarez explains: “I was making music, and had an EP kind of going on Bandcamp, and I wanted to find band members and try to build this up. And then I found Chris at church, and he was totally stoked to do it, and then I found Eric on Craigslist.” Eric is Eric Mattson, the drummer for Makeshift3 and Good Luck, Ugly up till May 2020, when Eric and GLU parted ways.
I asked Alvarez about a story I first heard from Mattson about how the band’s name came about, and he confirmed that the name “Good Luck, Ugly” was about countering negative feelings aggravated by harassment, bullying or bad parenting. “”I always love the irony of kind of making self-deprecation not so negative,” Alvarez said, “or to be picked on and not necessarily affected by it. So I wanted to name that—and when you hear it it’s kind of like and odd name and it sticks with you anyway.”
The fun album art on “Fighting The Urge To Waste Away” is by Justin Gray, who can be found at www.burntobuild.com
Good Luck, Ugly, On Facebook
Good Luck, Ugly on Bandcamp
finis