How did you come up with the bands name?
We were driving to a show in Philly where we were doing an acoustic set. This was early in our timeline, we didn’t even have a name for the group yet. So on that ride we began to throw some suggestions at each other; we ended up with the bad bees. We’ve been making bee puns ever since.
What is your genre of music?
Our sound has been compared to a number of styles that span several genres. We’ve heard before that we sound like The Smashing Pumpkins. We’ve also heard that we sound like Chon. So you can see there’s a lot going on. At the end of the day however, you wouldn’t be wrong to say that it’s an alternative rock sound with a little hint of metal sprinkled in.
Give us a little bio about you as individuals and as a band.
After four years starving for performance at college, four old friends met together in a smoky basement and started the project that would become The Bad Bees. Jacob Barbadoro, Bryan Kelly, Brandon King, and JT Melvin spent youth and young manhood together, always sharing the bond of music. Forming from the ashes of a few abandoned projects, The Bad Bees are the product of a small town with a passionate music scene.
What made you go in to music?
We’ve all been jamming and playing music with each other since middle school. Thats going back over a decade now so it’s just something we’ve always loved to do since the time we all became friends. What started as a common bound of listening to and sharing music, eventually turned into us trying to create our own sounds.
Your EP has just been released ‘ Big Pretty’, tell us more about it.
Big Pretty was the beginning and ending of two different eras for us. The songs are a mixture of old tunes that we had been working with for a while along with some fresh new material. At the time we were going through a new line up change. Our drummer was leaving us to pursue a masters degree overseas. While we were upset to be losing him, we knew that Jt, our original drummer, was ready to stepback in and fill his shoes. This EP was a final farewell and a new chapter.
STREAM IT HERE
What was the recording process like?
It was a long process, a little longer than we had imagined from start to finish but certainly worth the toil. We’ve been very fortunate to have the help we’ve had. Kevin Bottenger from Blackbird Studios in Nashville tracked and mixed ‘Big Pretty’. On top of his mixing and tracking duties, Kevin has basically been a producer of sorts for us during our first two bouts in the studio. He’s got an incredible amount of knowledge and experience for such a young guy. We’ve been learning a lot about the recording process by working alongside Kevin. We’re excited to bring our accumulated experiences of the past 2 years into the studio for our 3rd round of music in 2018.
You also released the video for ‘BooWho’ , what was the inspiration behind the making.
We knew for this video we wanted to add a story element to it. It came out much more psychedelic than we expected but hey that’s pretty rad too! There’s this girl and she keeps passing through these rooms, each one radically different from the next. The rooms are supposed to be like passing emotions. We wanted their to be these underlying subliminal actions going on that left it up to the audience for interpretation. All the while presenting it in a fun, fast paced fashion.
Do you have any shows coming up or a tour next year?
We’re hanging low at the moment, working on promoting the new EP, writing, and playing out locally. This summer we will definitely be doing some touring. And after that in the fall we’re planning on entering the studio to create our 3 instalment.
Who are your influences?
We all share a common love for metal music and I think that absolutely shows in our sound. Of course there’s a vast array of other genres we’re into but the energy and feel in our songs is undeniably from a metal background. Mastodon, Gojira, Between the Buried and Me, The Black Dahlia Murder, Lamb of God. Those are just a few of the goodies.
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
Its funny how you can have thousands of thoughts running through your head everyday. Thousands of combinations of words, and expressions, put together in your mind to describe and relate to your current condition. It’s a lot to keep up with, but if you pay attention to them every once in awhile, a certain combination will pop into your view and stay there. It doesn’t have to be much. Sometimes it can be as little as three words. Something like I was right, can seem so small on the surface but can have a profound impact on the right person at the right time. I try to build lyrics off of real moments like that in my life.
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
We Haven’t quit our day jobs yet, so that obviously occupies a good bit of our time throughout the week. Brandon and Jake work together at a firewood company. Bryan works for a company that creates cream, and Jt works for a brewery. Creamy, woody, beer men by day and musicians by night.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
One thing that has always stuck with me is this, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” There’s more than one way to get to the same place. Find your own unique style. Not just in music but for life in general. Never compare yourself to others, do what works best for you.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
As we’re going about all this and growing as a band I think the biggest lesson and advice I could offer is to remain persistent. It takes a lot of effort and time without seeing anything results back your way but if you just keep pressing day in and day out eventually you’ll have a breakthrough with something. And then you build off of that positive experience and use its moment to propel you even more forward. You don’t have to have all the answers right away but as long as you keep trying to figure it out and keep a positive attitude you can never going wrong.
Your straight off tour;
1/ where do you go?
Where my heart is…..wawa.
2/ who do you see?
My lovely roommates A.K.A mom and dad.
3/what do you eat?
Two chicken bbq quesadillas with extra cheese and applewood smoked bacon.
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Words, beers, Jt’s goddam sticks, the expression on Brandon’s face when I tell him I forgot to grab his power chord, and Bryan.
If you had to give your younger self advice, what would it be?
Stop worrying so much you’re still here!
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
