A Quick Chat With Bad Party

Hailing from the Meanjin/Brisbane EDM scene, Bad Party emerges with their latest single, ‘Want It’, and its accompanying music video. Blending metal and EDM, the four-piece delivers a powerful sonic experience, transitioning from trance-inducing EDM to hard-hitting rock riffs. With intense vocals, emphatic drums, crushing guitars, and aggressive bass lines, ‘Want It’ captures raw emotion and desire.
We caught up with the band’s guitarist DL to find out more.

Can you tell us what this track means to you and what you want people to take away from it?

'Want It' is all about the lust and desire for relationships, or addictions to objects or things, that can influence you to the point of being out of control. Whether it be a person or a vice, relying on something so heavily that your life revolves around your dependance on that thing can be chaotic and destructive, which is backed up in the overall energy of the music.

Who are some of your influences and why?

As individuals we have a wide variety of influences, which is what keeps us from fitting neatly into any singular genre. Ranging from Deathcore, to EDM and all the way to Hip-hop/RnB, we find ourselves listening to bands/artists like: Thy Art is Murder, Bring Me the Horizon, Thornhill, Phase One, and NF, with everything in between - it keeps the writing process interesting!

What's the creative process for you, from writing through to recording?

Henry or I will usually bring a wireframe for a new idea to the table, then gather the approval of those foundations from Cam (bass) and Lachie (drums). We'll then go deeper on the production, refining the elements that make it 'Bad Party' and also steer clear of any cut and paste ideas we may have already explored. We'll then send our demo to James Waters, our resident producer/engineer, who will bring the demo to life and give us an idea of how everything will sound as a finished product. If we all sign off on that product, we schedule in the time to make it happen!

What do you think makes a great song?

Bringing so many influences to the table from various genres, the one thing we all objectively align on is when a song just HITS. We don't aim for any one instrument, or vocal to steal the limelight - our favourite music always ends up being something with a perfect instrumental to vocal balance, it flows in dynamics emphasising hooks and melodies, it goes hard when it feels right and reels you in for 'moments' that get stuck in your head and make you want to run it back when the song's over. We're always chasing that perfect synergy that glues all the pieces together and makes music so addictive to listen to.

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?

There are so so many bands and artists that we'd love to make music with, but damn it'd be wild to collaborate with Mick Gordon. Going for that dark, heavy, energetic EDM-metal sound, Mick could really kick things up a notch further and have us on the road to writing the new 'Anthem on Entry to Hell' - BP Division.

When not working on music, what other creative outlet/s do you have?

Between work and music, we tend to find our hobbies still bleed in to the realm of being somewhat band-related just because we love being busy and why not mix business with enjoyment? Henry works on graphic design, being the sole creator of almost all of our branding and media. Cam hits the streets Friday and Saturday for a few bevvies, checking out the most hype shows of the weekend, and recovering the rest of the week. Lachie's recently become a home-owner and spends all of his spare time working on his house - or should I say; Bad Party HQ. And I tend to find myself hitting the PS5 of an evening - Elden Ring is my game of the year, 2 years in a row.

Who are some local bands we should check out?

Brisbane has some of the best local music in Australia in our (completely unbiased) opinion, it's difficult to single out just a few! But if we have to pick, we'd say you should definitely check out: Citadel, Days Like These, and Headwreck.

If you want to follow our regular recommendations, check out our TikTok where we run a series called 'Bad Party's Hottest Singles in Your Area' - showcasing some of our favourite bands and their new releases!

Winter or summer and why?

I'm living in the wrong part of the Earth to be saying this but I really love the 2 weeks of Winter we get here in Brisbane. I always say, you can put more layers on to feel snug and warm in the cold, but when it hits 40 degrees you can only take so many layers off - and you're still a hot, sweaty mess.

What else do you have planned for 2023?

BIG THINGS COMING!

That's what all the big-time bands say right? This year we're testing the waters with new music, refining our craft, making new friends and really just embedding ourselves in Brisbane's incredible heavy-music scene.

If you were at either the Banks Arcade or AM//PM shows we played this year, you may have noticed a second guitarist joining us on-stage; that's Alex Nisiriou, who will be joining us full-time moving forward and bringing with him a wealth of valuable experience. I met Alex back in 2015 when he asked me to join his band Chronolyth and head out with them for their 2nd album tour - we've been best mates ever since!

We're super hungry to play our music to new people and make as many friends as we can along the way, so if you have a band and you're vibing out to 'Want It', slip in to our DM's and let's make something happen!

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australianmusicscene12 May 2023