Bug Hunter - TV Tropes

An American Alternative Rock band based out of Seattle. Bug Hunter began as a solo project of Cody Hunter, who began writing songs in college and recording them in his closet. This led him to perform at open mics, and eventually led him to expand the project into a three-person band. Following the 2017 release of their song "Dear McCracken", which became their first song to reach a million streams on Spotify, Bug Hunter began crowdfunding to make future albums.

Most of their songs are narrative in nature, telling a short story through music. Expect lots of Mood Whiplash, wordplay, and catchy choruses. Their official website is here, and their YouTube channel is here, with a few Animated Music Videos.

Bug also has a podcast with fellow indie artist The Narcissist Cookbook, Jam Mechanics, where the two write songs together.

Members (current members in bold)

• Cody Hunter (vocals, guitar, songwriting)
• Jesse Gallaway (bass, guitar, piano, kazoo)
• Kyle Hodgkinson (percussion)
• Moe Hussein (guitar)
• Marcus Alcantara (percussion)

Discography

• Torn Between a Couple (2017)
• The Rough Draft (2018)
• Bigger Than Myself (2020)
• Happiness (Without a Catch) (2023)

Non-album singles

• "Making Up Words (Acoustic)" (2020)
• "The Key to Being Lonely (Acoustic)" (2020)
• "Disc Golf" (2024)

Tropes that apply to this band and their work:

• Aborted Declaration of Love: The woman in "Dear McCracken" writes an email her friend McCracken where she initially tells him she has feelings for him, but backs out and instead sends something more platonic.

  In the rough draft, she loved you.

• Ambiguous Ending: Does the narrator of "30 Plan" use the time machine to travel ten years back in time (thus returning to being 20 and accepting that he and his friend just aren't meant to be together), or ten years forward (thus going to being 40 and seeing if his friend is interested in him now).

  One'll take me forward, one'll take me back,
  One's another chance and one is closure

• Animated Music Video: Five of them so far, for the following songs:
  • "A Bedtime Story"
  • "2 Bed, 2 Bath (and a Ghost)"
  • "Toddler With a Slingshot"
  • "Be Glad I Love You (Go to Bed)"
  • "Platonic Best Friend"
• Ass Pull: Invoked by "Shocking Plot Twist," where the entire joke is that most of the twists come out of nowhere.

  When the unexpected wrecks you at your best
  Well, you may get up but you can't make it make sense

• Bears Are Bad News: According to "A Bedtime Story", they not only attack campers to eat them, they also strategize to they can make use of their tents and supplies.
• Break Up Song: "Fan Fiction" is about the narrator gradually realizing that his partner is no longer in love with him, signified when they no longer play along with all their inside jokes and games.
• Cannot Spit It Out: The woman writing in "Dear McCracken" can't bring herself to confess her feelings to her friend.

  I said a lot of things,
  but none of them what I meant.

• The Day the Dinosaurs Died: "Shocking Plot Twist", as revealed in the final verse. Because it's a shocking plot twist!
• Dogged Nice Guy: The narrator of "30 Plan" is in love with his friend, to the point of being willing to invent time travel so he can travel to a future where they can hopefully be together. However, this indicates that he's not picking up the increasingly-obvious hints that his friend isn't interested.
• Fallback Marriage Pact: Deconstructed in "30 Plan". The narrator confesses his feelings to his friend, and the friend says I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship, and proposes they get married if they're both still single at 30. So the narrator builds a time machine to travel ten years into the future to skip to that part... and even though they're both still single at 30, the friend still doesn't want to get married, and suggests pushing back to 40. It's pretty obvious that the friend just doesn't feel that way about them, but the Ambiguous Ending leaves it unclear if the narrator decided to go ten years back and move on with his life, or repeat his mistake and go forward to 40.

  It's too soon for "I do"s. Will you take an "I might"?

• The Gadfly: The storyteller in "A Bedtime Story". They tell a bedtime story about two bears successfully attacking and eating two campers... while they and their companion are out camping. Their companion is unamused.
• Happily Failed Suicide: "Take it Back". The narrator sends in a "job application" to God (attempted suicide), only to realize after it's already been sent that he doesn't want the "position", and wishes he could take it back. Fortunately, the application is denied, with a note saying it's not his time yet, and he's still got a lot of living to do.
• Hurricane of Puns: Many of the songs are fairly wordplay-heavy, but "A Bedtime Story" is packed full of them. You may well not catch them all on the first listen, especially given how quickly they go by.
• Insecure Love Interest: Played for Laughs in "Be Glad I Love You (Go to Bed)". The narrator makes fun of himself for being an "annoying nerd", and tells his girlfriend she's a saint for putting up with him.

  You're even kind and warm when I am getting on your nerves
  You love my quirks, my quirks
  I'm certain you deserve
  A sexy stud instead of what you've chosen
  'Cause I'm sure that
  All the girls, the girls, who hear this song and smirk
  And feel pity 'cause I sound like I'm more trouble than I'm worth...
  Are probably right!

• Lame Pun Reaction: One of the many, many puns in "A Bedtime Story" gets this reaction from the Studio Chatter.

  "We'll get our bed and breakfast... bearbnb."
  (BOOOOOOO! Unacceptable! You're not gonna leave that in.)
  (I'M LEAVIN' IT IN!)

• Love Hurts:
  • "Fan Fiction" is a somber spoken word piece about realizing your partner is no longer in love with you.
  • The narrator of "The Key to Being Lonely" specifically projects romantic fantasies onto random women he doesn't actually know to avoid being hurt by rejection or a possible future breakup.
  • The middle-aged woman in "Dear McCracken" tries to confess her love for McCracken, but backs out and sends a more casual email instead, causing the narrator to realize that "you're never too old to hurt."
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Played for Laughs in "Coward". The narrator is secretly a superhero, and is getting annoyed with his girlfriend unfavorably comparing him to said superhero.

  Do you wonder why there's so much spandex in my laundry when you wash it?
  (Please stop putting it in the dryer)
  And when I missed your birthday
  Did you catch the news that night? 'Cause if you'd watched it
  You'd note the lack of grannies dyin’ on your birthday!

• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The two-thirds of "2 Bed, 2 Bath (and a Ghost)" leaves it genuinely unclear if Robert really is dealing with a ghost or if, as his neighbor suspects, he's imagining things, either due to his age, or his grief, since he's a recent widower. The Animated Music Video emphasizes the point by showing the narrator going through Robert's house and showing him that there are rational explanations for most of what he's experienced; there are mice that could be causing the noises he's heard, his medication that's always being misplaced lists forgetfulness and confusion as potential side effects, etc. However, things falling off of shelves and Robert waking up with a pillow pressed to his face are harder to explain. Robert's right. His house is haunted.
• Mood Whiplash: Happens pretty often.
  • "Dear McCracken" starts off pretty funny, with the narrator noticing the woman next to him writing an email and saying, "I can side-eye that shit, so of course, I'm gonna read it." However, when he realizes what she's writing, the jokes stop, and the song instead becomes a quietly sad song about the fear of rejection and never knowing what might've been.
  • "2 Bed, 2 Bath (and a Ghost)" is mostly a fairly sad song, following Robert, an old man grieving the loss of his wife, who believes he's being haunted by the ghost of someone he's angered, and his neighbor, who thinks Robert may be slipping with age. Then comes the bridge, which suddenly turns creepy when the neighbor stays overnight and starts to hear weird noises, too... and then it becomes funny when we're given a Long List of all the dead people Robert may have pissed off. And then the final verse makes it sad again.

    And it wasn't the guy from the mishap at the zoo,
    or that other guy, from the other mishap at the zoo.
    No, of all the spooky specters Robert wronged in his life
    The ghost floating between us was his darling dead wife

• Motor Mouth: Cody can sing fast. "A Bedtime Story" is especially notable in this regard.
• Nice Guy: The narrator of "2 Bed, 2 Bath (and a Ghost)". He's understandably skeptical when Robert claims his house is haunted, but shows genuine sympathy, and tries to gently explain that he's probably just on-edge because his wife's recently passed away, and living alone is hard on him. He also agrees to spend the night in the downstairs room of Robert's house to see if he hears or sees anything.
• No Romantic Resolution: Discussed in "Dear McCracken". A woman seated on a plane drafts an email to the titular McCracken, revising it multiple times. The narrator, covertly reading over her shoulder, realizes that she's in love with McCracken, but she's too scared to tell him. So she rewrites her message to be less upfront with her feelings and more casual. The narrator sadly notes that he'll never know how it turns out, what McCracken said in response or if the woman ever decided to tell him how she felt.
• Outlaw Couple: Invoked by the narrator in "Robbin' a Bank", who recognizes that he and his partner are in a rut, and suggests they rob a bank together to spice things up. His partner just takes him to church.
• Overly Long Gag: The list of people Robert pissed off in "2 Bed, 2 Bath (and a Ghost)" who might now be back as a ghost to haunt him goes on so long that it quickly becomes hilarious.
• Paranoia Fuel: Invoked by the storyteller in "A Bedtime Story". The final verse reveals their story about bears attacking campers completely freaked out their companion, because they are currently camping.

  You were the best at telling stories to help me fall asleep
  You did all the silly voices, made me honestly believe
  and now I'm wide awake, mistaking every breaking branch and leaf...

• Parental Love Song: "Listen to Your Mom" is about the narrator's mother and her endless support of him, and how it took him too long to believe her words of encouragement.
• Protection Racket: A hilariously straightforward version in "A Bedtime Story", when one of the bears explains, "The local gopher owes me a favor from every day when I don't EAT HIM."
• Shout-Out:
  • "Disco! In the Panic Room" is a reference to the band Panic! at the Disco.
  • "30 Plan" has the narrator building a time machine out of a toaster, leading to this gem:
  • Three of the ghosts mentioned in "2 Bed, 2 Bath (and a Ghost)" are the ghosts of Christmas Future, Present, and Past.
• Silly Love Songs: "Be Glad I Love You (Go to Bed)" is a goofy little song about how the narrator's girlfriend loves him even when she's exasperated with him.

  With tired eyes, she stared at me.
  "It's 3 AM, " she said.
  "Bug, be glad I love you.
  You're a goober. Go to bed."

• Spoken Word in Music: Most of "Fan Fiction" is spoken over guitar backing, with only the (short) chorus being sung.
• Time Travel: "30 Plan" has the narrator traveling at 10-year intervals, to try and fix his romantic woes.
• Together in Death: Robert's wife in "2 Bed, 2 Bath (and a Ghost)" is trying to invoke this. She misses her husband and is unable to pass on, so she's returned to haunt him and hopefully scare him to death so they can be together again.
• Tomato Surprise: The final plot twist in "Shocking Plot Twist" is that the main character Harrison is a T-rex. The comet about to crash into Earth is the Chicxulub impactor.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Played for Laughs in "A Bedtime Story". The bears force a gopher to help them in their scheme to attack some humans, and then have him as a side dish when they eat said humans.
• Wham Line:
  • From "Take it Back", which uses a job application as a metaphor for a suicide attempt.
  • "2 Bed, 2 Bath (and a Ghost)", when the narrator discovers what's really been going on at Robert's house.

    The ghost floating between us was his darling, dead wife.