Behind the scenes at this yearÔÇÖs Barn on the Farm festival, we chatted to brotherly duo Callum and Ewan, the leading-men from indie hip-hop group Bad Sounds, to see what they had been up to recently and their plans for the very near future.
Sitting on a dubious looking old armchair perched on a stack of wooden planks, Callum says
ÔÇ£Our set here was super fun, people turned out at 11.30 this morning, which was pretty magic. It was weird being that early, because our shows have a lot of energy and people at festivals donÔÇÖt have much energy at 11.30 in the morningÔÇØ.┬áEwan adds ÔÇ£I didnÔÇÖt think anyone would turn upÔÇØ.
We asked about where their niche hip-hop influenced, indie pop sound came about. Ewan explained ÔÇ£we grew up together, playing music together and Callum moved away for a year. I discovered hip-hop during the time he was gone and he was really into Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye, decent pop stuff really, so thatÔÇÖs how our sound came together.ÔÇØ While on the topic of influences, we asked where the inspo for their dance moves came from (if you have seen Bad Sounds live, you will know how magical their moves are). ÔÇ£I used to watch Michael JacksonÔÇÖs ÔÇÿHistoryÔÇÖ VHS, and hide when Thriller came on, but IÔÇÖd come out of hiding to watch the dance routinesÔÇØ. Bad SoundsÔÇÖ on-stage presence can be compared to a mixture of Darwin Deez and Jonny Pierce, from The DrumsÔÇÖ infamous moves.
The two brothers have come a long way since playing music together while growing up, ÔÇ£the biggest crowd we played was with a guy called Rat Boy a while back, but we just booked our biggest venues tour this November playing at including Scala in London and Thekla in Bristol. WeÔÇÖve only played Cardiff once, in Clwb Ifor Bach and it was so cool in there and a good crowd too.ÔÇØ
They also have gained themselves some pretty invaluable radio coverage recently. ÔÇ£Being played on the radio is pretty mad and surrealÔÇØ Ewan says. ÔÇ£Annie Mac has given us support since we released ÔÇÿAvalancheÔÇÖ. BBC introducing has really helped us progress as a band. Playlists on Spotify also help us out too, we have been on a playlist with millions of followers which can really boost a track. ItÔÇÖs sort of the new radioÔÇØ.
So whatÔÇÖs next for Bad Sounds? ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre finishing our first album and we have an EP that is coming out followed by our November tour. At the moment, weÔÇÖre just writing and getting as much material as we canÔÇØ. So watch this space!
In fact, today (8th Septemeber) the band released the track ÔÇÿHot Head ChippenhamÔÇÖ, so instead of telling people theyÔÇÖre from the Bristol/Bath sort of area, they can finally say theyÔÇÖre from Chippenham, without much confusion. This is the second track to be taken from their new EP, which they were previously telling us, at Quench about. The first track ÔÇÿLiving AloneÔÇÖ was Annie MacÔÇÖs hottest record. Ewan says ÔÇïÔÇÿLiving AloneÔÇÖ comes from a conversation about when people’s social media feeds make you feel shitty about what you’re doingÔÇØ.
You can watch the new video for ÔÇÿLiving AloneÔÇÖ here: ÔÇï https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdFThOciz1g
Charlotte Minett