The Bad Flowers are just about to release what might well be a contender for the album of the year 2018! We caught up with Tom Leighton to get the lowdown on ‘Starting Gun’…
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to The Rockpit today, what can we say? Your upcoming album ‘Starting Gun’ has to be one of the best albums we’ve heard in quite a while.
Well that’s very kind of you to say. We’ve worked really hard on the album so it’s great to hear people are enjoying it.
How would you describe your sound? There’s a Blues Rock base it but I get snatches of so many classic and contemporary influences in the mix – how do you view yourselves?
Describing our sound has always been a funny one for me. I like to say it’s just rock, straight up rock! Yeah, we do take some stuff from the blues and we’re always going to have a tip of the cap back to those Midlands rock heroes because it’s in our blood, but honestly, we just like to write music that we connect with on the first few plays round. If we connect with it then hopefully the audience will, too. So, it manifests itself as this riff heavy, hard, blues rock that is The Bad Flowers.
Is there a story behind the band name, or is it just a very cool name?
It’s not much of a story really. We had a song in a previous band and it was a lyric in that. When we started this band we only had a week until our first show so we had to think quickly, it was always a working title but, it stuck!
You’re from the birthplace of the legendary Glenn Hughes, do you have any stories about the great man? Was he an inspiration? And what is it about the Black Country that has seen so much great music emerge?
That’s right, we’re fellow Cannock natives. Personally I’ve never met Mr Hughes, I’d love to though as my Uncle and Father are both musicians, too, so they were around at the same time as Trapeze. It’s hard for Glenn’s voice not to be and inspiration for any singer in a rock band. I love Trapeze and one of my favourite albums is actually ‘Storm Bringer’ by Deep Purple.
‘Starting Gun’ (out Friday 16th February) sound like an album by a very confident and mature band, how long has it been in the making? And why does it sound so damned good?
We’ve really been concentrating on our song writing for a while now and testing A LOT of stuff out live. 2016 was a great year for us and 2017 even better still, so I think the confidence comes from that. It’s probably been about a year in the making as we all have full time jobs, too, and we’re on the road so much, so we’ve crammed recording in when we can. We managed to get into a local studio that we know well (Vigo Studios, Aldridge) and a long-time friend of the band, Adam Beddow, produced it. He knows our sound really well, so it’s been great to work with him and he’s taken a more live approach to mixing it because we wanted to capture as much energy as possible.
The first single taken from the new album, “Thunder Child”, was released last September and received a lot of attention on rock radio stations in the UK, are you pleased with how its ben received?
We really are, it was so unexpected to be honest. We thought being a fairly new band that we may get a small piece of airplay to start with but to get all of these stations picking it up and playing it every day was incredible. We’re so grateful for the support that we’ve been given so far.
The next single “Secrets” will be released in early January, it’s a song that really stood out for us – it boasts a deep groove and when those guitars kick in at two and a half minutes in you just feel like punching the air!
Thank you! Yeah, we wanted to put this out next as it’s a different feel to ‘Thunder Child’. It shows off another part of what we do. The groove in this really is my favourite thing about it, Dale and Karl really lock in well together.
There’s a refreshing amount of variety on display on the album too from the all-out rockers to the subtleties of ‘I Hope’ and I think you’ve got the balance just right.
Thank you, we really wanted to show that we have more than one trick up our sleeves on this record. As we’ve been doing so many support slots over the last couple of years we’ve been putting all of the all-out rockers into the sets so I wanted to put a couple of tracks on here that might surprise people.
Take us inside the process of making the album, where do you start? How do the songs evolve?
This album has been a long time coming so some of the songs we’ve been playing live for a year or so but all but two songs were specifically written for this record. So, we spent A LOT of time in the rehearsal room coming up with new ideas and making crude recordings of them. We then went into the studio and chose the best ones. All the drums get recorded first, then Bass, then guitars and finally vocals. Although, if I’m honest, I went into the studio with only minimal vocal ideas, I like to be in the spur of the moment, it really works for me.
Do you enjoy the process of creating? Are you someone who continually writes or does the best come out under a little gentle pressure?
Yeah I love it, I love being in the studio and playing with the sounds you can create. I’m always writing riffs and chorus lines, I think I have four or five ideas for the next album already which is a good sign!
What does it feel like as an artist waiting for the songs you’ve lived with for some time to get released to the fans? Is there a sense of excitement or a little panic in there too?
It’s really exciting, I think we’re confident with the finished product as we’ve put a lot of hard work into it so we really just want to get it out there for people to hear! I must admit though with the confidence, I do have some nerves as it’s our debut album and our first real statement on the music world.
I must admit my greatest struggle with ‘Starting Gun’ is picking a favourite song, it’s so solid from the first to the last: you must have your favourite moments on the album?
My favourite track on this is ‘Let’s Misbehave’, it’s something so different for us, but it’s full of feeling in the vocal and I love the freedom I had with the guitar parts. There’s a lot of space in this track and I think it shows how far we’ve come in the last few years in terms of song writing.
The songs really shine, what was it like working with producer Adam Beddow? What did he bring to the mix?
He’s a really good friend of ours so he knows the sound we were looking for before we do! He has a great ear and coming from being in a band, too, he has a creative side that really helps the production. We really wanted to capture as much of the live energy as possible and he really has helped us to do that.
You’re on tour in the UK with Stone Broken and Jared James Nichols from February 22nd until March 7th. It’s not a bad triple bill at all!
We were over the moon when we saw this line up, having toured with Jared last year we became good friends and he’s an incredible guitarist and always inspires me to up my game whenever he’s around. Stone Broken are from the Midlands, too, so we know them pretty well. I imagine it’s going to be a really fun tour and I think the balance between the bands musical styles is perfect.
You also play the 2018 instalment of the Steelhouse Festival – that must be the best line up to date? And before that there’s the Planet Rock Winters End show in February.
Festivals are something we really wanted to concentrate on this year and when we got asked to do both of these it really was amazing. The line ups for both are awesome, so to be asked to be a part of them is an honour for us. We’ll just go out there and do our thing to the best of our ability.
The UK has a wonderful rock scene at the moment and there are a number of great new bands playing the sort of music we love. Does it feel like a special time at the moment? Can you feel Rock rising again?
It really does, everywhere you turn there’s great new bands out there, and even better is, they’re all getting an audience! People are really loving live rock music again, and it’s awesome! The good thing about that is, it gives you that extra push to up your game at every show.
What are your plans for the remainder of 2018 aside from the tour, are there plans to take the show outside the UK?
We’re going to promote the hell out of this record, hopefully a small headline tour and another support slot or two. We’re working on things all the time. I think 2018 will see us concentrate on the UK then on to Europe in 2019.
What music moves you? Has it changed over the years?
Anything that’s done with meaning and feeling, there’s nothing better than seeing someone pour their heart and soul into the music they perform. That’s when you know it’s real.
Are there any artists that you just can’t go without? Who created that spark and who continues to inspire you?
Led Zep we’re the first band that made me say “this is what I want to do”. The first album I ever bought was ‘Led Zep 2’, I just love that album. It’s still one of the most played in my record collection.
Take it all the way back for us – what was it that made you realise that music was going to be your life? Was there a defining moment or a gradual realisation? Thinking back to your early memories of music, what was it that first made you decide you needed to be in a Rock and Roll band?
My Dad is a guitarist and I remember seeing his Les Paul and thinking I’ve got to have one of those! I probably didn’t even realise what it was back then either! I remember finding an old monster of rock cassette tape once and listening to it on my Walkman, this strange song came on with pan pipes and a guitar sound I’d not heard before. I think I must have been 13 at this point? It turned out to be ‘Stairway To Heaven’ and I know it’s probably cliché but when those drums and guitars kicked in… That was the moment for me, that’s when I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
If we had to put you on the spot and ask you to name one single song that really exemplified your feelings about music, it’s power and emotion what would that be today?
Any song in the world? ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’. I love the rawness of that song, I love that you can hear the squeak of the kick drum pedal and that every single note is played like they meant it.
If you could have been a fly on the wall for the creation of any great album just to see how the magic happened what would it be and why? What’s the album that still resonates with you?
I think any Foo Fighters album, I’d love to see how they work in the studio. I’m a huge fan of Dave Grohl and the stuff he’s done, he seems to have the golden touch! I think the ‘Sonic Highways’ album was such a great idea and how the lyrics were transcribed from interviews with the music legends from the cities they were in.
What is the meaning of life?
Dale Tonks’ Bass Playing.
The Bad Flowers’ debut album “Starting Gun” is released on Friday 16th February. They tour the UK with Stone Broken and Jared James Nichols from Thursday 22nd February. www.thebadflowers.uk
