Adelaide rockers Bad//Dreems' latest album, aptly titled ‘Gutful’, sees the band energetically exploring new territory that moves beyond the inspiration of their hometown.
“We’ve all started stepping outside Adelaide’s insularity and broader themes have piqued our interest,” bassist James Bartold explains.
“There’s a dissatisfaction with decisions being made and people across the world are having a gutful of everything that’s going on.”
Vocalist Ben Marwe’s jaded delivery of the title track drives the point home, expressing frustration with everything from drugs to racism and Donald Trump’s presidency. However, James rejects the idea that ‘Gutful’ is a political record, insisting it hasn’t been inspired by any particular individual or series of events. “It’s just how we see the world at the moment, as 20-something Australian males.
“We’re tired of reading news reports about people doing stupid things; going out and hurting or vilifying someone for no reason. We’ve gotten to a point of asking why all that stuff is happening and what the hell everyone is doing.
"We don’t try to push a political agenda on people. Since our first record, we’ve tried to express our viewpoint on things that are happening in Australian society.”
The sentiment is reflected in the album’s striking cover art: a black and white photograph of an older Aussie pub-goer nursing a pint, his nose wrinkled in an expression best described as 'fed up-ness'. “Luke [Stevenson, photographer] and Alex [Cameron, guitarist] headed up to Darwin on Australia Day, trying to capture different people celebrating.
"We’ve spent time working up in Darwin over the last two years, so it has been like a home away from home for us and has influenced some of the solitude you hear on the record.
“So they went to this pub and met some of the locals – including our mate on the cover there – who were talking about all these things they’d had a gutful of. It was pretty fitting.”
Bad//Dreems recorded ‘Gutful’ at Melbourne’s Thirty Mill Studios across a 12-day period. This process saw the band reunited with the production team of Mark Opitz and Colin Wynne, who they collaborated together on 2015’s ‘Dogs At Bay’.
Opitz has worked previously with Australian big guns such as INXS and fellow Adelaideans Cold Chisel and The Angels. Alex convinced the band to work with Opitz after reading ‘Sophisto-punk: The Story Of Mark Opitz And Oz Rock’, a journey into the influential producer’s career. “He’s done so many iconic Aussie records," James explains.
“The way Mark and Colin record is different to a lot of other producers we’ve worked with. It’s very much about the feel of the music: putting us in a room and recreating our live sound.
"Mark comes from the old rock & roll days where you put four or five people in a room and just see what happens. It’s a really hard thing for a band to do these days, because now you’ve got so much technology on your hands.”
The focus was not only on capturing the feel and energy of the band’s live performance, but also on achieving a more low-fi, '70s sound; a step away from the cleaner sound on Bad//Dreems’ previous releases. Genre-wise, the band has been described as everything from pub rock to dolewave and punk.
However, James is understandably hesitant to pigeonhole their sound. “Aren’t all of us bands playing in pubs technically ‘pub rock?',” he chuckles.
“We made a rule when we formed the band: no bullshit. It’s always about writing a song that reflects the four of us, with no bullshit pretences. I just think it’s Australian rock & roll!”
‘Gutful’ also sees the boys refining their softer songs, with tracks such as ‘Pagan Rage’ and ‘By My Side’ presenting a change in mood from some of the album’s harder-edged moments. “When the band first started, we had a few of those slower songs in the mix,” James says.
“We never felt like we could capture them as well as we wanted or in a way that really showed what they were about. We spent quite a bit of time on this record trying to make those songs stand out and be honest to themselves.”
James laughs before adding: “It’s nice for us to be able to contain those lyrics in something that’s not a 2-minute-30 rock banger.”
The picture of Bad//Dreems that James paints is something resembling a music industry equivalent of marital bliss; free of battling egos and arguments about which direction to take. With all band members still holding down full-time jobs alongside their music, the main challenge is time. “We have to go into the studio and use our time really wisely,” James explains.
“We don’t spend hours sitting around over-thinking it. We’ve got this many days to do it and that’s what comes out.”
Rather than viewing it as a struggle, James considers this no-frills approach makes the band what it is. “It means that when we get together and play music, we do it because we love it. It’s a joy.
“We don’t have to rely on music to pay for our beer down at the pub. We don’t have any of that pressure on ourselves, which I think is really nice because bands start realising they have to be in a Pepsi commercial to keep their next record coming on. It’s a bit tricky to do it for the right reasons.”
Would a West End Draught commercial be out of the question, though? “I think we’ve done enough for their marketing department!” laughs James.
He’s referring to the band’s fan-favoured merch item: a t-shirt emblazoned with a parody of the West End logo, swapping brand name for band name. “It’s such an Adelaide thing,” James says.
“It’s a beer they only sell here [in Adelaide]. You can’t buy it anywhere else. It was just a bit of a piss-take. West End is Adelaide; we’re Adelaide. It’s kind of a nice touch.”
Bad//Dreems are, however, travelling well and truly beyond their hometown in promotion of their new release, with five tour dates taking them across the country. Joining them for the ride are Brisbane four-piece The Creases. “We’ve been friends with them [The Creases] for ages,” James says.
“Their new songs are brilliant, so I’m really looking forward to that.”
'Gutful' is available now.
Bad//Dreems Tour Dates
Thu 8 Jun - Woolly Mammoth (Brisbane)Fri 9 Jun - The Metro (Sydney)
Sat 10 Jun - The Corner (Melbourne)
Fri 16 Jun - Badlands (Perth)
Sat 17 Jun - The Gov (Adelaide)
