Bad Friends walk us through the lineup of this weekend's Bad Gig 4

If you've got a spare five minutes today, spend it getting acquainted with Bad Friends - a new, Perth-based three-piece who with their debut single The Trip Is Over, premiere a swirling sound that unites hefty guitar melodies with thick, brooding vocals, ending up with something along the lines of progressive-rock but with a unique, DIY spin. "The Trip Is Over is about the times you find yourself trapped at certain points in your life, where you're in a bit of a rut or in a bad place mentally," the band say on the single. "You know where you need to be in order to get out of that rut, but you're scared to initiate that change, unwilling or unable to accept help from friends because 'it won't help anyway', and it's almost impossible to be motivated enough to start the change because you're not in a great place to begin with."

However, sick debut single aside, if you're from Perth you might just be more familiar with the Bad Gig series they've created, a now four-part collection of shows which have grown from DIY house gigs to sold-out shows at Mojo's the same day as Falls Festival, with the fourth - their biggest yet - going down this weekend (Saturday to be exact) at The Rosemount. The lineup features a whole horde of WA's best and most exciting, from Bad Friends themselves to New Talk, Pat Chow and Odette Mercy right down to Pilerats favourites in Your Girl Pho, with a bunch more - all viewable below - being just the cherry on top of a wonderful lineup. In celebration of the event going down this weekend (and their new single, listen to it below), we got Bad Friends themselves to walk us through the event's hefty lineup - dive into it all below, and grab more info and those last few tickets to the show HERE.

With these Bad Gigs, we always aim to have as broad a scope as possible in terms of different kinds of music on the show, so there is a bit of something for everyone, but we also like to use it as an opportunity to broaden our own musical horizons. So, some of these acts are ones we love and have seen a bunch of times, but others we’ve just heard lots of really good things about, or a particular song has really grabbed us, and we wanna check ‘em out for ourselves. Having said that, we’ll have a go at explaining what drew us to each of them…

New Talk

Anyone who’s been going to gigs around Perth over the last few years will be familiar with this lot (even if they don’t recognise the new name). They’ve always been great to see play, but it’s also been really nice to watch their development as a band over that time, adding more and more depth to their sound. Really cool, dark, Post-Punk/Rock that manages to sound chaotic yet refined at the same time, and is a whole lot of fun to rock out to. Definitely a favourite of ours, and presumably a lot of others, so it’s awesome to have them.

Odette Mercy & Her Soul Atomics

Odette & her band are just a whole heap of fun. They’re one of those bands that are just like a bright ray of sunshine when you see them on a lineup, because as much as we love it, Perth does tend to produce more of certain types of bands, but these guys offer something completely different. Almost impossible not to have a boogie too, and not that half-assed swaying crap; a proper boogie. Amazing vocals with a really funky, dynamic and cohesive band behind them.

Pat Chow

Pat Chow are another band who have been a bit of a staple of the Perth music scene for the last few years and I think one of the coolest things about them is that even though they have quite a big range in terms of their sound, they always sound distinctly like Pat Chow. Doesn’t matter whether it’s real heavy stuff or nicer Indie Rock sorta sounds, it always sounds natural and true to them. Always sounds pretty damn good too.

RAKSHA

One of the bands we’re probably a bit less familiar with, at least in terms of live performances. I think we came across these guys looking for potential bands to book for previous Bad Gig’s but it just didn’t work out at the time. They were promoting an EP of theirs, one of us ended up having their song Possibilities stuck in our head for a good couple of weeks, so have been looking to try and book them for something ever since. Really unique & interesting blend of Rock, Pop, Psych and Jazz influences, and seem to have come pretty far pretty quickly so they’re obviously doing something right.

Your Girl Pho

Another act you can really get your boogie on to. Your Girl Pho makes really groovy & soulful Electronic/R&B music that you’ll find yourself swaying your hips to. Both the vocals and the production are very smooth and easy to get caught up in, but it’s still got that sort of bounce to keep your feet moving too. We’re real excited about hearing her with a band behind her which I’m not sure any of us have seen before, so that should be extra fun.

Noah Dillon

“I’m not usually a big folk person but this is cool” was one of the phrases thrown around when we first saw Noah & his band play. All the pleasant & disarming charms of Folk music are in there, but with a bit more of a driving, catchy Alt-Rock feel behind it as well. I think in particular his most recent song took us by surprise with just how rock-oriented it was, which was cool. We imagine there will be something for quite a few different people in this set, and it’s a nice contrast to some of the heavier rock acts we have on the lineup.

Kopano

You could probably just call Kopano pop but that wouldn’t really be doing the music justice. Another act who we haven’t seen as much of live as we’d like, but found ourselves really captivated by her EP from last year. I feel like when you’re listening to it you’re reminded of a whole bunch of different electronic, pop/synth pop and even sorta disco artists & songs, without ever being able to pinpoint exactly who, because the influences have all been blended together in such an interesting way. We’re really looking forward to a full set.

Heavy Flow

Heavy Flow we actually booked before we’d ever seen them play live – they were just getting booked for all sorts of shows at the time and we figured the must be a good reason and wanted to get on that bandwagon. Having seen them since then, can safely say we have no regrets whatsoever in that regard. They’ve found this awesome spot in between punk, garage and rock to sit in where it takes a lot of the best bits of each. Chugs along nice and quickly without being repetitive, has some sick riffs without being obnoxious, and just the right amount of messiness.

Ghost Care

Self-described as “soft rock, but not dad rock”, Ghost Care have a very pleasant and groovy sound with lots of nice melodies and rich harmonies that are bound to reel you in and get you hooked sooner or later. Mixed with some grittier guitar for a bit of crunch, this lot give nostalgia with their catchy songs. Not all of us have seen Ghost Care play before, but the one of us that has was really keen on getting them on the lineup because of how good their live show was. Their bass player Tanaya also played a set at the last Bad Gig we put on, so it was nice to be able to keep her involved too.

NOD

NOD are 100% on the lineup to satisfy all our stoner, sludge and doom sensibilities. Great, relatively new Stoner Rock band - not sure if as many people have heard of them as they should have yet to be honest. They put out a cool little EP or demo tape or something called ‘The Demonstration Of Al Azif’ at the end of last year which we all thought was sick (definitely listen to it if you haven’t), but you really gotta see them live to get the full feel of the band and how big and enveloping they can sound. Expect to see all 3 of us front and centre for that set.

Sonnenmasse

I don’t think any of us had ever heard of this guy until very recently to be honest, which in hindsight is incredibly disappointing. While we were brainstorming potential acts for this event, a friend happened to show us some footage of the ‘Intra Harena’ Fringe show that Sonnenmasse did at the Perth Arena, and as soon as we saw it we were all like “Holy shit we gotta get this guy!”. The amazing concept of playing to a ‘sold out’ audience of just a couple of people at Perth Arena aside, it was incredible what kinds of tones and atmospheric sounds he was managing to get just out of a bass guitar. Can’t wait to see it in person.

CHIP HAZARD (Chris Young)

Chris is an amazing guitarist who has been playing around Perth for various different acts including some pretty big ones, but has only a bit more recently started doing his own solo stuff which we’re really happy to see. As you’d expect it’s pretty great as well. He uses a bunch of loops and effects to create these really rich and vivid soundscapes with his guitar that are almost like a soundtrack to a bunch of different scenes and landscapes you’ve never seen before, but can still somehow picture perfectly.

TASHI (Tashi Hall)

Tashi has actually played at a Bad Gig with us once before, back before we made the switch from private locations to actual venues, and literally everyone we spoke to after that set couldn’t speak more highly of her. It was genuinely amazing how Tashi and her acoustic guitar, sitting in the middle of what was essentially a giant driveway, had managed to captivate so many people, ourselves included, with her music. Some very well written and catchy songs to keep an ear out for.

Final Announcement - TBA

We’re not able to announce who these guys are just yet but they make really cool, progressive instrumental music and have been a big fave of ours for a while.

Bad Friends present Bad Gig 4:

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