Interview: Bad Sign [January 2015]

By Lais

We recently caught up with Croydon three-piece Bad Sign, to talk about their recently released EP ‘Destroy’, their plans to record a full-length very soon, and what else they’ve got coming up in the future. 2015 will definitely be an exciting year for Bad Sign, and deservedly so.

Hi guys! You’ve just released your new EP, ‘Destroy’. For anyone who hasn’t heard it yet, how would you describe it?

‘Destroy’ is a collection of honest songs that represent some of the negative aspects/parts of our lives so far both sonically and lyrically.

Do you have a personal favourite track off the EP? And if you had to recommend one track as a starting point for people just getting into Bad Sign, which would it be?

My personal favourite is the closing/title track ‘Destroy’ because for me it is such an honest song lyrically. The writing of that song was a real difficult but cathartic process for myself personally and the structure and changes in the music itself also fit perfectly with the lyrical content. I would say the best place to start would be the first track ‘Confession’. The EP is conceptual in nature so listening to it in order was its intended format and that way it will hopefully make sense to the listener from all angles.

How do you think the EP compares to your previous work?

I think it’s a big step forward for us as a band. We’ve found what we want to achieve as a band and I feel we have a more cohesive collection of songs this time around in every sense.

How would you describe your sound overall? Who are your influences as a band?

I think we are a band who embrace the heavier and melodic elements of music in equal measure and try to let that shine through into our own music in a cohesive way. We love big riffs, we love aggression but we also love atmospheric sounds and melody is really important, especially with the nature of our lyrical content. The vocals have to change in intensity with the lyrics for example. Our biggest influences as a collective would probably be Biffy Clyro, Every Time I Die, Muse, Refused, Glassjaw and The Mars Volta.

What have you got coming up? Any exciting plans for 2015?

We have a short UK run in January with our good friends in Canvas between January 22nd and 25th, and then straight after that we head back into the studio in February to start pre-production on our next record ‘Rebuild’, which will be a full album that conceptually follows and ties into this EP. After that we have plenty more tours and festivals to announce nearer the time so a really exciting year ahead!

What do you hope to achieve by the end of 2015? And where do you see yourselves in five years?

We would like to have toured as much as possible and built up a reputation as a live show. It is the most important part of everything to us to become better and better as a live band. We will also have our next record out by then. In general we are just looking to progress and reach more people with our music. In five years time we would like to be full time musicians, touring around the world reaching as many people as we can with our music and producing consistently good records. We want to be as big as possible but do it in the right way. We want to earn it.

LAIS MW

Try these three interviews

Interview: Greywind [Reading 2016]

Interview: Arcane Roots [Reading 2016]

Interview: Trash Boat [Reading 2016]