Megasound is the rock and roll progeny of three indie pop friends. Kerry Alexander has fronted Bad Bad Hats with Chris Hoge for more than a decade, and the duo have known Elana Carroll (aka Party Nails) even longer. While on tour together in 2018, Carroll joined Bad Bad Hats on stage for an encore performance. It was a cover of “Pretend to Be Nice”, hit single of comic book band Josie & the Pussycats, written by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger for the 2001 live action movie. This swirling musical cauldron produced a bubble of an idea: a new band. Elana on lead vocals, Kerry on guitar, Chris on drums. Songs inspired by early 2000s rock, the music of their collective youths. A fresh watch of Josie & the Pussycats sealed the deal. Megasound was officially born.

The trio began work on their first songs in November 2022, recording and writing in Kerry and Chris’s Minnesota basement, Elana’s Los Angeles studio, and across humming internet wires. Over the ensuing three years, they honed Megasound’s particular sonic palate. Their songs eschew the synths and swells of their individual projects and focus on a lean diet of drums, bass and electric guitars. Millennial musical influence looms large, in equal parts grunge angst (the cathartic rage of “Dog Leash”) and pop nonchalance (the transatlantic bounce of “Supersize”). The songwriting showcases the trio’s individual hallmarks: Alexander’s penchant for love songs (“Lemon Peel”), Carroll’s sometimes tender / sometimes brutal honesty (“Now Is All We Got”, “Speck of Dust”), and Hoge’s knack for tight arranging and tone.

Fifteen years into their careers, the members of Megasound have experienced firsthand the tumultuous gear-grinding of the music industry. It’s no wonder fear of and disdain for increasing commercialism in art is frequent subject matter in their songs. But just like in their namesake film, Josie & The Pussycats, which presciently predicted an ever entangled mess of music and advertising via an hour and a half of sparkling slapstick subversion, the overwhelming sensation of Megasound is unbothered fun. It’s about the music, man. And Megasound clearly loves making it.