The Barbarians Of California unveil REALLY REALLY RAD ahead of second album Megatons
The Barbarians Of California have shared their new single REALLY REALLY RAD, alongside a deliberately loose-limbed video featuring seaside guitar playing, rollerblading and one-armed push-ups.
The track is the latest preview of the band’s second album Megatons, due for release on 21 August via Villains For Good. It finds Aaron Bruno and Eric Stenman keeping the riffs jagged and heavy before shifting into a disco-tinged closing stretch.
Bruno said: “REALLY REALLY RAD was really fun to make. REALLY REALLY RAD has really fun dynamics. REALLY REALLY RAD is really good.”
A second record without the second-album panic
Megatons follows the group’s 2024 debut And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth. Stenman said the record came together without the self-doubt often attached to making a follow-up.
“Everyone has heard of the sophomore slump,” Stenman said. “Making a second album can be a fraught process full of overthinking and self-doubt. Perhaps, the benefit of us starting this band, at this later point in our lives, relieves some of that pressure. This felt so easy, and is a seamless continuation of whatever we started with the first batch of song — just bigger and better.”
The 12-track album includes previous singles THE GNARLYCORE CLASS, VANILLA LATTE and BOMB TO A KNIFE FIGHT, alongside the newly released REALLY REALLY RAD.
The full Megatons track listing
- BACK TO THE VALLEY
- THE GNARLYCORE CLASS
- VANILLA LATTE
- BOMB TO A KNIFE FIGHT
- REALLY REALLY RAD
- MEGATONS SEGUE
- EARTHQUAKE
- THIS IS SHREDICAL
- HIDE ALL YOUR RECORDS
- MODERN FASHION
- SHARK OUT OF WATER
- I AM THE SUBMARINE
