The considerable sway of sophomoric humor is not lost on Nuclear Tourism—and neither is a great hook. Both are in full effect on “No Never!” and its accompanying video, which documents the guitar-shredding exploits of a singing can of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
“We definitely went for a Stooges vibe,” says frontman Parker Allen, who’s a dead ringer for Fast Times At Ridgemont High’s Jeff Spicoli when he wears his hair long. “The song is about answering to yourself and doing whatever it is you want to do.”
“No Never!” is the first single from the band’s self-titled second LP, out now on Baby Robot Records and produced by Jesse Mangum (Elf Power, Meth Wax) at his Glow Recording Studio outside Athens, Ga. Founded when its members were still in their teens, Nuclear Tourism initially took a back seat to the skate park. That changed for good when “Subatomic,” a hyper-catchy garage/punk ditty marked by Parker’s nimble guitar work, started picking up traction on streaming services. Fresh out of high school, Nuclear Tourism bought a van and hit the road behind its 2018 debut, Scraping By. The band’s maiden tour was a blur of impromptu skate sessions and sweaty gigs, peaking with an opening spot for surf/punk legend Agent Orange in Los Angeles. “Subatomic,” meanwhile, racked up more than a million plays on Spotify.
Not that Nuclear Tourism is taking itself any more seriously these days. Just have look at the video below. “We make all the videos ourselves over at my place with help from my roommates,” says Parker. “Our homie films for Paltas Skate Company. He has a bunch of dope cameras we use primarily for skate videos—but the old-school look works great for music videos, too. We’ve always wanted to do a music video with a puppet or something like that, but the video ended up being me fucking around and making the beer can rock out.”
At least they’re doing their best to avoid serious injury since the recent recovery of drummer Brennan Murphy, who took out both wrists in separate skating mishaps. After all, it’s tough to play an instrument without hands—unless you’re a can of PBR in a Nuclear Tourism video.
MAGNET is proud to premiere the video for “No Never!”
—Hobart Rowland
