hen Jakob Armstrong decided to end Mt . Eddy , the band he formed in high school with brothers Enzo and Chris Malaspina , later joined by Kevin Judd , and regroup as Ultra Q , he wasn ’ t sure if it was the right thing to do . Weeks away from the release of

that finds them charting new territory , taking more risks , and challenging themselves to make something they are truly proud of .

Illinois Entertainer : Since the release of 2021 ’ s Get Yourself a Friend EP you guys have been touring frequently , so when did you start working on My Guardian Angel ? Jakob Armstrong : That was a while ago . We spent the road leading up to recording it . There are songs on this album that were written years and years ago , so it was a very long writing process . People say you spend your whole life writing your first album . We released music as Mt . Eddy , but it was a different thing .

IE : Last time we spoke , you mentioned having

Ultra Q

Ultra Q ’ s debut album , he still isn ’ t sure about the move . But one thing he does know is Ultra Q is who they are now and he and the rest of the band are happy about that .

For Armstrong , son of Green Day ’ s Billie Joe Armstrong , and co ., Ultra Q represents many things : getting older , accepting change , and finding their musical voice . Their debut album My Guardian Angel represents their next chapter , one

a file with lots of songs in it . So , when it came time for the album , how did you decide which songs make the final cut ? JA : I ' m constantly making demos and recordings and songs . I ' m always making stuff . I think there was a very real , I dunno if [ Kevin ] feels the same way about this , but there was a very clear switch when it went from , I was writing stuff to write to we ' re writing stuff for this album . The first demo

I made was “ Wrip ,” and I showed it to Kevin – KJ : And I was like , huh ? JA : And that was a very clear switch of having a different style than before , a different sound , aesthetic .

IE : Let ’ s talk about the new single “ Rocket .” It has this really cool , surreal video with unique visuals . It feels like one of those dreams that ’ s really colorful and action-packed , but at the same time , you don ’ t really know what ’ s going

on . As I was watching it , I caught several references to Green Day videos : “ Kill the DJ ,” “ Longview ,” and “ When I Come Around .” And thinking back to “ Klepto ,” that one referenced Evil Dead . What ’ s the story behind the videos and the references included ? KJ : We aren ' t really involved in the videos , to be honest . JA : For “ I Watched Them Go ” and “ VR Sex ,” we were very involved . The same person is making all the videos , Kevin Connor [ Kingcon2k11 ].