Meet the band defining Atlanta’s punk scene with ‘freedom of defiance’
At 7 p.m. on New Year’s Eve at the EARL in East Atlanta, punk band Upchuck is finishing sound check for what will be its 70th (and final) show of 2025.
But the five-piece act doesn’t look exhausted at all.
Rather, the band reflects on a busy year, with a sharp focus on the future.
“It’s crazy to think about how fast time goes, from playing house shows to going to Australia in a couple months. … It’s insane that we even still like each other,” guitarist Mikey Durham said.
For nearly a decade, Upchuck has evolved into one of Atlanta’s most electric punk bands, with an angst rooted in power and protest. After releasing their first album on a U.K. label last year, the band is charting fresh terrain, including touring in new countries and, of course, preparing new music.
Or, as drummer Chris Salado puts it: “We don’t want to lose that momentum.”
‘Island of misfits’
Upchuck — featuring Salado, Durham, frontwoman/lead vocalist Kaila “KT” Thompson, bassist Ausar Ward and guitarist Hoff (who prefers to go by one name) — formed in 2018. Ward, a longtime Upchuck fan and collaborator, is the latest to join the outfit, replacing former bassist Armando Arrieta after he left the group three years ago.
The collective of late-20-somethings met while frequenting and performing in Atlanta’s DIY scene. They shared common interests in skateboarding and talking about systemic oppression, which laid the foundation to make music together.
“Before we would ever envision that we were going to be in a band, we would hang out and have long conversations about what’s going on in the world,” Hoff said. “I think we were like if an island of misfits were a band.”
Indeed, the band is fueled by amplifying social issues just as much as they’re driven by a penchant to rage.
For example, “Sense Yourself,” the band’s 2022 debut album, has cover art of a bloody KT. The image was taken at a show where she got hit by a shopping cart during a mosh pit but continued performing.
“I feel like being punk kind of coincides with the freedom of defiance,” KT said.
The 10-track EP features an eponymous opening song referencing police brutality against Black people: “See my kind/We’re not safe/Someone save us,” KT sings on the track.
The song eventually inspired the band’s name.
“Upchuck is ultimately just purging whatever … we need to get out: negativity, poison,” KT said. “We are constantly purging the evils that exist and reside.”
Those evils, according to the band? “ICE, Trump,” KT added.
In 2023, Upchuck released another album, “Bite the Hand that Feeds” and toured with fellow Atlantan Faye Webster. The following year, the band performed at Coachella, toured with Webster again and signed with U.K. label Domino. They immediately worked on what would be their third album, “I’m Nice Now.”
The music for the LP, released last October, was recorded nearly a year ago. Upchuck traveled to El Paso County, Texas, to make the album at Sonic Ranch Studios, a favorite of their producer, Ty Segall. They spent 10 days there, recording all the music live to tape to duplicate the raw fervor of their live shows.
“(‘I’m Nice Now’) is really a preservation,” KT said. “I chose to be nice to preserve my own happiness. As (Black people), we have to preserve our energy especially dealing with 2025 and the year we’ve had in America. We have to know our worth.”
The 13-track album includes “Forgotten Token,” on which KT addresses being undervalued as a Black woman. There’s also “Homenaje,” the Spanish word for “homage.” Salado, who’s Mexican American, sings it entirely in Spanish. The song is about the Israel-Hamas war that’s yielded a death toll of over 70,000 Palestinians.
“The bombings, families being separated, kids being blown to pieces — I got a son, so seeing all the videos and hearing all the stuff on the news struck home for me,” Salado said.
“Slow Down,” the penultimate track on the album, best encapsulates the album’s central thesis of understanding your worth — underscoring the need to relax in an often chaotic world: “I need a new plan of action/Been productive to exhaustion,” KT sings.
Those words are quite literal for Upchuck, which toured behind the album for four months last year, including an extended stay in the U.K. The hectic schedule often tested their patience, according to Hoff.
“There were times last year where we’ve left somewhere at 6 a.m., before the sun goes up, and we don’t get there till 10 p.m., and we have maybe eight hours to get turned around to keep driving the next day and go play a show,” Hoff said. “It was a lot of just keeping it together.”
Starting this spring, Upchuck will hit the road again, performing in three new countries: Australia, New Zealand and Spain. They’re also planning to write new music for an upcoming album, which doesn’t have an official release date. The band shows no signs of slowing down, determined to constantly build the loyal fan base that helped them rule Atlanta’s punk scene as young adults.
For Upchuck, there’s still a slight shock that they’ve made it this far, but a shared understanding of why.
“The energy was there from the first show,” Ward said.
Heat Check is a monthly music column where AJC culture reporter DeAsia Paige explores the temperature of Georgia’s buzzing, expansive music scene — via the people and places within it. The column includes music news, trends and any Georgia-related music that DeAsia is listening to. If you’re a Georgia artist and have music you want to be considered for this column — or if you just want to talk music — feel free to send an email to deasia.paige@ajc.com. If you’d like to receive Heat Check via email, sign up here. Below is a January playlist.
About the Author
DeAsia is a music and culture reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She focuses on the intersection of arts, culture and diverse communities, as well as how emerging social trends are being expressed through the lens of the Atlanta aesthetic. DeAsia's work can be seen in Pitchfork, Essence, Teen Vogue, Elle and more.
