Guy Keltner and Ian Cunningham are busy guys. As co-founders (with Skyler Locatelli) of Freakout Records, they boast one of the best stables of artists at a local indie label.
By extent, that means they’ve also had a strong hand in unleashing the label’s successful Freakout Festival, an annual hullabaloo that showcases a consistently terrific lineup of local and national artists (including a few Freakout acts).
Somehow, even with all of that going on, Keltner and Cunningham find time to make music as Acid Tongue, and we’re all richer for it. Artist Home is proud to premiere the band’s latest single, “Bullies.” It’s the sophomore single from the album of the same name (due out March 13 and available for preorder here).
Bullies, the album, is Acid Tongue’s shot at a full-on classic rock record. It’s a masterful blend of glam rock, epic balladry, power pop, and ’70s AM radio warmth that finds Keltner and Cunningham at the top of their songwriting game. The album’s stuffed with songs that deserve to be universally-embraced anthems, none more so than “Bullies,” the single.
The track deploys a rubbery synth hook that somehow elegantly intertwines with an austere string section, as Keltner’s clipped, deadpan croon delivers some hard universal truths: “Rich kids and bullies, they’re always out to get you/They’re always out to get you/They’ll swallow you whole.” And good luck dislodging that insanely catchy, cathartic sing-along chorus from your gray matter. Not that you’ll want to, by a damn stretch.
