An Interview with Built Bad
- BuzzSlayers
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
The self-titled album release from Built Bad is most certainly one of the more experimental rock records I've heard in a while, as it blends elements of pop, cinematic drive, folk and acoustic, heavy-handed rock overtones, and this set of outside the box songs that each sort of branch off into a bit of a different direction while the album as a whole, feels very consistent.
The album starts with a track called "Walk With Me", and it's absolutely amazing in terms of introducing the record itself because you're getting such a vast undertone with this track. The song has a spacious feel, with acoustic guitars and driving, heavy electric guitar overtones. The way this is put together is very cinematic to me, simply because of the way it unfolds.
You have these melodic, almost distant-feeling vocals that come in, and the acoustic guitars are giving you the progression, while slamming chords from the electric guitars give that heavy-handed overlay. This creates a sort of impactful or explosive, intense feeling soundscape.
This is a record that definitely has rises and falls in intensity, along with plenty of that experimental approach in many different facets.
"Sirens" brings an electronic sort of beat in with augmented and distorted electric guitars, double the vocal tracks, and this very unique approach. This song takes a different direction, and that's what this record is all about. There are loads of surprises around its corners, and each one of them will hit you like a ton of bricks if you're not prepared.
Songs like "Ides of March" have some more of that expansive or vast tonality but a lot of edginess coming from those guitars, along with this haunting sensation. There's something sort of eerie about the track, and it has a lot to do with some of that guitar work, fast plucking, and creating what feels almost like cinematic strings that are sharper and more aggressive than the norm.
You get such a full-bodied feel because of all these layers that are created in a lot of the tracks.
One of my favorite tracks on the record is one called "The Space Between the Dreamer and the Light", as it comes across with a much more robust and heavy feel. This one hits pretty hard, and it's thick with its tonalities. The guitars are more in your face, and the entire thing just has an overall closed-fisted approach that you can sort of feel in your bones.
Throttle of this, again, you're still getting a lot of avant-garde style songwriting and approaches. Often bringing together beats that are digital or electronic, with these really heavy guitars, and the combination of those two, along with the vocal approach, allows the record to deliver its own atmosphere.
This whole thing is like an escape. It pulls you away from whatever you're doing and puts you in this other world for a little chunk of time, which is pretty awesome.
This is a project that you can tell took a lot of attention to detail and patience in terms of the mixes, and how the whole soundscape and aesthetic was to come across.
Obviously, the artist had a vision in hand and it really played out as the record unfolded.
It's been a while since I heard a record that had this kind of natural and forward-moving flow, but was still honest, portrayed a lot of character, and was experimental, all at once.
It is an album that is built and created with fewer boundaries than whatever you may be used to.
Again, combining the pop, electronic, and rock, all together creates a very inventive and sonically driving sound.
I really like the whole approach to the record, simply because it doesn't sit within normal walls. There are no walls built around this record at all as a matter of fact.
It's not trying to conform to any kind of genre or social norm. It is its own thing.
When you listen to it, you can tell it is a pure passion project.
Something that was created to express oneself. Something that was meant to get things off his chest and be able to focus on an art form as a form of therapy.
It's also about sound sculpting. Creating songs that are unique in their tone, edgy, but spacious, all at once.
The whole album is its own thing. It's definitely worth listening to you, but I highly suggest you listen to the record straight through, from start to finish, in one shot.
This is the way you get the full experience.
I think this was meant to give you that kind of experience, and once I listened to the whole record, I realized I wanted to have a sit-down with the artist behind it all, so that's exactly what I did.
So, while you listen to this record, have a read through of our interview with Built Bad below.
Remember where you heard it first.
Let's talk about "Walk With Me!"! This song had an amazing blend of guitar work and felt like cinematic rock to me! Where did this track come from?
This song started out as a very different idea to where it ended up. I think it actually began as a thought directed towards my children. The song speaks about the joy of spending time with people you love. But it evolved into something more than that, because now it was taken on a different meaning for me anyway. It has now become my opening track in a performance, because it has an invitational quality, where to me it's like I'm welcoming the audience into the performance and asking them to engage on a musical journey, the shared experience of allowing the joy of communal audience-ship to carry them away from the distractions of every day life. There is something spiritual in that.
I'm hearing a few different approaches to this record! Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
Neil Young is probably my biggest influence in terms of guitar interest, and artistic creativity in terms of how free he appears to be in his approach to musical projects, there is no fear in allowing himself to investigate where ever the song or musical idea takes him. I'm also a fan of the vocal styles of people like J Mascis, Jonathan Donahue, James Mercer. But I also have a love for British heavy metal and Irish folk music although I have no idea if there's any emergence of those influences in my work.
Did you record this at a home setup, or at a big studio?
This is a home studio, cobbled together over the last four years and continuing to become more sophisticated, not that that is any indication of quality.
How did this all start for you as an artist?
I've played music my whole life, but never tried to record anything. During the Covid pandemic I was lucky enough to find myself with time on my hands, possibly more than I knew what to do with. I decided not to waste it and a couple of very interesting musical adventures began. I think I realised that I had everything I needed in my home office to make a recording. So I started writing music, experimenting and a couple of songs came together none of which are on this recording. Eventually I had a series of songs that I thought were worth sharing.
Are you performing live right now?
I am in the process bring this work to a live audience. I want to launch the album as soon as I have final copies. I have been rehearsing and have a 30 minute show ready to go.
Now that this is out, what's next for you?
Next is to launch this album and get in front of a live audience. If I can survive that I will think about recording again. I already have lots of musical ideas which are the seeds of the next batch of song, so I look forward to seeing where that goes.
Who's in your headphones right now?
I never use headphones, I listen to music mainly on vinyl. My most recent purchases have been Half Light by Eamon Brady, possibly my favourite album of last year. This is a very atmospheric gentle poetic album with really interesting key changes and fantastic drumming. Second favourite of last year is Warsaw 480 km by pot pot, and then the Demise of Planet X by Sleaford Mods. I think buying physical copies of music is really important in order to support artists. Spotify can go fuck itself.
What would you tell people they can expect on this release?
Please forgive the imperfections. Please tolerate the pontification. Please realise there is hope in the darkness.
Before we go, what would you like to express to fans of the music?
Gratitude and humility.
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