In this interview feature, we get to know the most radicalist up & coming stars on the planet.   

This time it’s the irresistibly charming Bad Sounds - and despite nominal implications to the contrary, these Bath-based rascals are something to be celebrated.

Their music is quite simply the life-and-soul of the party. At once inventive, thought-provoking and unrelentingly fun, recent singles ‘Banger’, ‘I Feel’ and ‘Avalanche’ all burst with such a vital, instantly gratifying energy that immediate replays become almost involuntary. 

An overwhelmingly mixed bag of musical references including fuzzy psych-rock, infectious Britpop, 70s-inspired aesthetics and a healthy dose of mischief, Bad Sounds evade clearly-defined genre labels in a manner that brings to mind the mad (sonic) science of Beck’s 1996 tour-de-force, Odelay.

Interestingly, Bad Sounds’ lyrical content belies the uproarious celebration preferring to explore far more worldly concerns (including social isolation and disillusionment with employment, to name a few) yet these lyrics are delivered in a way that is thoroughly relatable and comes with a glinting, Cheshire cat grin.

We caught up with Bad Sounds on the release of their sensational new single, ‘Wages’, to learn a little more about the band and their irrevocably decent sounds.

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TMR: Speaking of bad sounds, who, in your opinion, is the most criminally underrated artist/band?

Bad Sounds: I think maybe Evan Dando & the Lemonheads. His lyrics are incredible and it's totally criminal that their biggest hit was a pretty generic cover (soz Ev). Our sisters bought Car Button Cloth and our dad bought 'It's A Shame About Ray' then they swapped. Car Button Cloth is the soundtrack to being a teenager in our dad's car... I basically want every song played at my funeral... except the last one... it's a bit shit.

TMR: What would the ultimate Bad Sounds party look like?

Bad Sounds: You know the opening scene in Blade with Wesley Snipes? It's set in a secret club and there's heavy techno and it's full of vampires and there are sprinklers in the ceiling that squirt blood. The exact opposite of that. More like a classic episode of Soul Train... Especially if we can bring Curtis Mayfield back from the dead.



TMR: Your single covers, videos, and even press photos have a very distinctive visual aesthetic that’s very much in line with your music, is this something you’re involved in as well? Where did it come from?

Bad Sounds: Yeah we love doing that stuff. We basically just look at artwork that we love (primarily record sleeves) and try to inject something similar into our own. It seems to me that a lot of artwork in the music industry has very slick and clean graphics-based aesthetic... or it's a picture of someone's face. That's not really what we're about. I think it's cooler if someone draws or paints something real. You can mess around with it digitally if you want to, but it's gotta start off with something that isn't perfect. The imperfections are the things that make it cool. It’s the same story when we record too. Props for the snaps go to Charlotte Patmore. She's a gem and she only shoots on film.

TMR: It’s actually quite difficult to discern your influences, as a vast array of ideas, genres and time-periods are touched upon in your music. What are some of your greatest inspirations, musical or otherwise?

Bad Sounds: The primary influences come and go pretty quickly to be honest but the main stays are:

Beck, The Beastie Boys, Gnarls Barkley, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Gorillaz, Curtis Mayfield, Michael Jackson, Sly and the Family Stone and Margin Gaye.



TMR: Your music largely suggests a party, in fact it sounds like an unbridled celebration of life, but on closer inspection your lyrics seem to explore far more worldly concerns - social isolation on ‘I Feel’, disillusionment with employment on ‘Wages’, and the lyrics to ‘Avalanche’ read as a series of tragic stories. How did this divide between the lyrics and the music come to pass? How do you approach writing your double-edged songs?

Bad Sounds: We're pessimistic people who like funk and soul. It's just how it comes out tbh.

TMR: You’ve created a remix of ‘Avalanche’ with UK rapper ThisIsDa - an unexpected yet enjoyable surprise. How did this come about and would you like to collaborate with other artists in the future?

Bad Sounds: We listen to a lot of Hip Hop AND ThisisDA is one of our best budz AND he's a bloody genius so it was pretty much a no brainier. We want to collaborate with errrrrrverybody.



TMR: We’re a blog specializing in new music so are there any up-and-coming bands you’re really enjoying lately?

Bad Sounds: Well I would have said ThisisDA but I guess that's kind of obvious.

Cousin Kula are an incredible band. I'm not going to try and describe their sound but just trust us and check them out.

TMR: What does the rest of 2016 hold for Bad Sounds?

Bad Sounds: We're doing a UK tour supporting Rat Boy September 16th - 28th. We also have some headline shows in November Leeds 17th, Camden 29th, Bristol 30th. Come say hi!

Catch Bad Sounds on their upcoming headline dates and on tour with Rat Boy.

-Karl Jawara