By Nicholas Jason Lopez
Austrian noise rock quartet BUG have released their latest album ‘Nunc Finis’ via Rock Is Hell Records and recently unveiled a music video for “Twinpeaks.”
‘Nunc Finis’ translates to “the end now” in Latin and sums up the “new normal” we all live in – global warming, the COVID-19 pandemic, etc.. The band described it in the record’s liner notes as “being one minute before midnight on the doomsday watch.”
Recorded in Late 2019/Early 2020, the album serves as a callback to the days of classic noise rock – gritty, tough and downright distorted. It was recorded, engineered and mixed by Magi Magerle and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege.
Praised for their stage presence since they started to play shows in 1997, they’ve played with acts like Flipper, Oxbow and Unsane and have now put out nine records.
The Music Bugle had the opportunity to talk with bassist Tinti, drummer Olli and vocalist Maggo about their new album and more.
Music Bugle – What was it like making your new record and what inspired its name?
Olli – The recording process was fun as always, because we got support from our friends in Innsbruck.
Tinti – We work pretty fast. The recording was done in four-five days. We set up our gear at the basement of our friend Magi, who did the recording/mixing. After mike-ing, we played the songs together, but only recorded the drums. As we know our songs quite well, there was not much editing or cutting. Then, the bass was done in one afternoon. We had more guitar tracks, so it took longer, like two-three afternoons.
Maggo – Vocals were done in 3 hours.
Tinti – The name is inspired by the times we are living in.
Maggo – “Nunc finis” means “end of time,” “end times” or “end now.”
Olli – Apparently, we are inspired by Latin or Greek headings, as our past output shows – Klotho, Lachesis, Atropos, Calamitas.
Music Bugle – What excites you the most about your particular genre?
Maggo – We play noise rock, ’cause in this genre, we are free to do whatever we like to do.
Tinti – In our music, we can make slow songs, fast ones, easy to play straightforward stuff, difficult, progressive stuff… whatever we do, in the end, it sounds like us.
Olli – Probably noise rock is still our way to express our feelings about daily madness. Musically, noise rock enables us to set our own limits.
Music Bugle – How did you guys get your band name?
Maggo – Back in the nineties, late at night after a couple of bievos, I stumbled home and was mesmerized by the show box of a seedy Eros shop. There it was, the mighty lady bug. As we are all good Tyrolian Christian soldiers, we just took “bug” for our band name.
Music Bugle – How have you guys been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Maggo – In general, Felix Austria.
Tinti – Just like everyone else. So far, we are lucky that no person that is close to us or ourselves have been infected, but we can’t play regular, we can’t tour. We’ll try to do a show on August 28, but only 40 people will be allowed and the venue will have seats. That will be a new experience.
Olli – I work as social worker mainly for homeless people. The situation for poor people has become really worse.
Music Bugle – What’s the biggest challenge of being a band with four members?
Tinti – Communication. Duos have a walk over – plug in and play. No talking necessary. Our way of working includes that. Normally, Olli and I create a basic structure. A lot of song ideas are by Olli. Pete, our guitar player, records the basic “song” and develops his ideas at home. Then, he comes back for rehearsal, we argue a little, sometimes he changes his stuff a bit.
Maggo – Finally, I do the vocals.
Music Bugle – What are you most motivated for people to discover with this new album?
Tinti – I hope they discover us – BUG. We are not as well-known as we should be! Wink, wink.
Olli – We are more or less 50-year-old guys – ‘Nunc Finis’ is the result of playing independent music in our DIY scene for more than 30 years. I hope the records shows that we have not lost power, grit and energy over the years.
Music Bugle – What makes you proud about where you come from?
Tinti – That is a difficult one. I like where I come from, but I haven`t done anything for that. It is pure luck to be born in a country where the economy is okay, no war, democracy, beautiful nature, healthcare system, etc., but there is also a lot of stuff going on in Austria that does not make me proud at all. I don’t like nationalism in any form.
Maggo – I come from the fucked-up middle class. I can only be proud of things that I have achieved on my own.
Olli – I am definitely not proud of my country. Austria’s history is stamped by fascism, absolutism and Catholicism – nothing to be proud of!
Music Bugle – What’s something people should know about the band?
Maggo – We love to play live. We enjoy rocking hard. We like it loud.
Tinti – We make this music since 1997. This is our ninth record. We have been around quite some time.
Olli – We rehearse almost every Sunday evening. After 75 minutes, we go for a beer.
Music Bugle – Who are some of your musical influences?
Tinti – Noise rock classics like Unsane, Jesus Lizard, Killdozer, Today Is The Day, Neurosis, but we have different backgrounds. I listened to heavy metal when I was a kid. Pete was more into punk rock. You may find King Crimson and Hank Williams in our music too.
Maggo – I’m a hardcore black metal warrior sometimes.
Music Bugle – What has been your biggest memory while with this band?
Olli – When we came back from our weekend tours, we often were wondering why our merch was reduced so much – until we realized that we lost some of our stuff in different clubs in the heat of the night.
Maggo – It is all about meeting and touching people. The kid who approaches you after a show and tells you that your music is his soundtrack through hard times. Having friends who do our artwork, put out our records, let us crash on their floor or check gigs for us.
Tinti – The biggest memory are the good times spend with friends playing the music I love. It was cool to play shows with Unsane, Oxbow and David Yow, but the most fun part for me is that I spent the last 21 years doing something I really, really like with people who are my friends. That is the cool thing about being in a band. The kids should know this.
Maggo – Quit your YouTube channel. Go start a band!
