Under The Radar 1/17/2022 by Caleb Campbell
The Bad Signs are a new outfit from Nat and Rob Rufus, the duo behind punk band Blacklist Royals, along with alt country songstress Samantha Harlow. The band was first envisioned as a tribute to the beatniks, bikers, and dusty rock stylings of 1960s Americana, mixed with a healthy dose of gothic country. Over time, that tribute coalesced into the band’s upcoming debut record, Go BAD with The Bad Signs. Today, the band have shared the latest single from the record, “Knew It Was A Bad Sign,” premiering with Under the Radar.
“Knew It Was A Bad Sign” is somewhat of a statement of intent for the band and the record. With its sweeping vocal melodies, echoing guitars, and hints of Americana grit, the band bring their outlaw style to life. The result feels like Rebel Without a Causemeets dusty alt country and rumbling punk aesthetics, all united by howling and emphatic performances from the trio. It’s an alluring throwback seen through a haze of memory, distorted and recontextualized into something new.
The band says of the track, “‘Knew It Was A Bad Sign’ was in the first batch of songs written for our upcoming full-length Go BAD with The Bad Signs and would go on to define the record’s sound. Written in one of those rare moments where heartbreak meets inspiration, I penned the song front to back in one sitting the night I moved out of my ex’s pad. Over the next year of recording it was this song we kept going back to, we were almost writing the record around ‘Knew It Was A Bad Sign,’ something in the song just encapsulates everything The Bad Signs are about.
The video is taken from The Bad Sign Go BAD… Live!, a long-form multi-camera b-movie rock’n’roll extravaganza complete with switchblade wielding backup singers and a rumble with the audience that must be seen to be believed! Filmed in one take, the audio is straight off the board, it’s as live as it gets and as BAD as it gets… almost as BAD as the real thing”
Check out the song and accompanying video below. Go BAD with The Bad Signs is due out later this year.