When Vancouver based outfit, Uncle Strut, offered us the opportunity to review their latest single, “Fucking My Friends”, we simply had to. It was just too intriguing to pass up!
You’re already laughing when you hear the lead vocalist sing “fucking my friends” but when the backing vocals repeat the line you’ll find yourself holding your sides! By the end of this relentlessly cheerful 2 1/2 minute song, you’re already singing the chorus to yourself and we warn you… you’ll be doing so ALL DAY!
The layered vocals in this track are just great. Lots of background oohs and aahs add to the overall bouncy feel of the song.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for the language, this super-catchy song has so much hit potential! Its so unique and so outrageously fun that it has wide appeal across genres.
Fucking My Friends is about living a guilt free and happy life. Great message! We love it.
We were particularly drawn into the section which is just vocals that returns back into that chorus (you’re already singing it again, aren’t you?!) with some lovely snare work and fills. There’s some nice touches on keys as well as a generally laid back reggae/ska/rock feeling to the overall track.
We couldn’t help but be reminded of Grace Kelly by Mika during this song, but there’s more to it than this – Fucking My Friends stands alone as a hilariously fun track. If it wasn’t for the stunning musicianship we’d call this a novelty song, but to be fair, all of the band members have excelled themselves on this track and we’d really like to hear more from them. We feel they have some really great commercial appeal.
Our perspective on the production of this song is that it could really use quite a large shelf boost in the top 2-3 octaves with a dip around 9kHz to avoid too much sibilance in the vocals. This would aid in bringing some more life and clarity to the song. A tiny cut around 900Hz would remove just a hint of nasality in the overall track and a boost around 50-60Hz would give some extra low end punch. It sounds as though there is no undersnare mic, leaving the snare just a touch muted in the track.
Uncle Strut’s Fucking My Friends is what would happen if Jack Johnson were to bump into the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on a Caribbean island and a heavy drinking session ensued. This is our find of the day!