| Bad Times Session | |
| Violitionist Sessions |
Session Date: September 1, 2012
Posting Date: September 17, 2012
Artist Hometown: Denton, TX
Links: Facebook, Bandcamp
Recorded by: Michael Briggs
3 QUESTIONS
ONE: What are your plans for Bad Times over the next year?
Alex Atchley: Well…I personally don’t have anything specific in mind, except to continue writing songs, and making more records and playing more shows. And maybe, at some point, we’ll get out on the road…
Donovan Ford: We’ll put out that album…
Alex: Yeah. We’re going to finish our first full-length shortly…as in today…
Donovan: We’ve got plans to maybe write an EP. Tentatively titled.
Alex: Yeah. Tentatively titled. So, write now, we’re finishing the album, which is called Why Are All The Kids Crying? And then, at some point, we’re going to throw five songs together and call it The Cradle of Filth VHS EP, pending any legal action.
DJ: How does your new album differ from Post-Punk Depression?
Alex: Performance-wise, it’s a lot tighter. Umm…It’s going to have more songs?
Donovan: It sounds nice.
Alex: Yeah. Our EP sounds nice, too!
Donovan: It’s a lot sparser, though, and it really— When I go back and listen to it, it really does sound like we were a band for about a week beforehand, and that the recording took about three hours. Like, I hear— and it’s great for what it is, but this one has a whole lot more work involved in it.
Alex: We started recording it this time last year, but we still have only put like a week’s worth of work into it.
Donovan: That’s because you just jet-set in, teach us two songs and then bail.
Alex: ‘Hey, I’m in town! Let’s record!’ and you’re like, ‘Oh, what? No..’
Donovan Ford: We’ll put out that album…
Alex: Yeah. We’re going to finish our first full-length shortly…as in today…
Donovan: We’ve got plans to maybe write an EP. Tentatively titled.
Alex: Yeah. Tentatively titled. So, write now, we’re finishing the album, which is called Why Are All The Kids Crying? And then, at some point, we’re going to throw five songs together and call it The Cradle of Filth VHS EP, pending any legal action.
DJ: How does your new album differ from Post-Punk Depression?
Alex: Performance-wise, it’s a lot tighter. Umm…It’s going to have more songs?
Donovan: It sounds nice.
Alex: Yeah. Our EP sounds nice, too!
Donovan: It’s a lot sparser, though, and it really— When I go back and listen to it, it really does sound like we were a band for about a week beforehand, and that the recording took about three hours. Like, I hear— and it’s great for what it is, but this one has a whole lot more work involved in it.
Alex: We started recording it this time last year, but we still have only put like a week’s worth of work into it.
Donovan: That’s because you just jet-set in, teach us two songs and then bail.
Alex: ‘Hey, I’m in town! Let’s record!’ and you’re like, ‘Oh, what? No..’
TWO: What impression would you like to leave with first-time listeners?
Alex: I don’t know. I don’t really have anything in mind for the listener. Just…for them to enjoy it, I guess.
DJ: You’re self-described as ‘dad rock,’ right?
Alex: Only in passing, in jokes…only in jokes. Only in the land of the joke do I call it ‘dad rock.’
Donovan: We all dress nice…
Alex: Yes, we do dress nice.
Donovan: …and we have children.
Alex: We have many children with our many wives.
DJ: So, you wouldn’t want ‘dad rock’ to be the impression that they get?
Alex: I don’t care if that is someone’s…if someone actually listened to it, and they have some kind of negative reaction—
Donovan: Or a positive reaction. They might really like ‘dad rock.’
Ryan Schefsky: If the cap fits, let them wear it.
Donovan: …What?
DJ: You’re self-described as ‘dad rock,’ right?
Alex: Only in passing, in jokes…only in jokes. Only in the land of the joke do I call it ‘dad rock.’
Donovan: We all dress nice…
Alex: Yes, we do dress nice.
Donovan: …and we have children.
Alex: We have many children with our many wives.
DJ: So, you wouldn’t want ‘dad rock’ to be the impression that they get?
Alex: I don’t care if that is someone’s…if someone actually listened to it, and they have some kind of negative reaction—
Donovan: Or a positive reaction. They might really like ‘dad rock.’
Ryan Schefsky: If the cap fits, let them wear it.
Donovan: …What?
THREE: If Peter Hook came to a Bad Times show, would you play “Fuck Peter Hook” for him?
Alex: We’ll play it two times.
Donovan: We would just skip ‘Legs,’ start with ‘Fuck Peter Hook,’ and then play it again at the very end.
DJ: What is the story behind that song?
Alex: OK. Me and my friend Jason Lacker, who was in the band the Hack and Slashers with me…in about 2009, we went to the goth club, the local goth club known as The Church, where Peter Hook, member of Joy Division and New Order was set to do a DJ set. The cover was like 6 bucks, so we decided to go down there and check it out, and he was absolutely the worst DJ I’ve ever seen in my life. Basically…he used CD turntables, like CD-based turntables, and he had stuff that was pre-mixed, like songs that already went into other songs, so he didn’t have to go through the trouble of doing it live, and he would put those in, and he would stand in the DJ booth and sign records most of the time while songs transitioned into other things, and most of what he played were really, really, really, really bad remixes of Joy Division and New Order songs, and shit like The Killers remixes that he did. He was really pompous about doing nothing, like, he’s just riding the coattails of his former bands—
Donovan: Man! So—
Alex: So, fuck him. That’s pretty much it. Also, in interviews, he’s kind of a dick, and they kicked him out of New Order anyway, so whatever. I still really like his bass playing, though.
Donovan: All that being said…
Alex: All that being said, he’s a good bass player. However, he needs to move on.
DJ: All right.
Alex: Yeah. I remember a particularly bad trance-esque remix of the song “Atmosphere,” which is one of the most powerful and most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard in my life. Just the original version. But this version was like [mimics loud drums] and had little arpeggios going ‘doodlydoodlydoodly,’ and it was the most ghastly and unholy thing I had ever heard in my life. I’m not precious about most bands. I don’t think there are any holy or sacred bands, but that was…that made me just fucking sick to my stomach. It was really bad.
DJ: Bad enough to write a song about it.
Alex: Enough to write a very short song about, which I wrote completely in my head while waiting for jury duty. I was sitting in the Ft. Worth courthouse and I was so bored, I started thinking of little riffs and stringing them together in my head. I had my little notebook with me, and I wrote down some lyrics, and then later, when I got home, I recorded it all in like an hour.
DJ: Do you think that putting yourself in that negative mindset affected your thoughts about the case?
Alex: Of the what?
DJ: Of the case that you were serving on the jury for.
Alex: I didn’t get called in. It was a drug case, and I didn’t want to be there anyway, so basically, when they were asking me questions, I told them how much I love drugs, and in the questionnaire I was basically like ‘Fuck the Police! Get high everyday!’ I didn’t have to go in.
DJ: OK, the interview is over.
Alex: Could you please leave in ‘OK, the interview is over?’
Donovan: We would just skip ‘Legs,’ start with ‘Fuck Peter Hook,’ and then play it again at the very end.
DJ: What is the story behind that song?
Alex: OK. Me and my friend Jason Lacker, who was in the band the Hack and Slashers with me…in about 2009, we went to the goth club, the local goth club known as The Church, where Peter Hook, member of Joy Division and New Order was set to do a DJ set. The cover was like 6 bucks, so we decided to go down there and check it out, and he was absolutely the worst DJ I’ve ever seen in my life. Basically…he used CD turntables, like CD-based turntables, and he had stuff that was pre-mixed, like songs that already went into other songs, so he didn’t have to go through the trouble of doing it live, and he would put those in, and he would stand in the DJ booth and sign records most of the time while songs transitioned into other things, and most of what he played were really, really, really, really bad remixes of Joy Division and New Order songs, and shit like The Killers remixes that he did. He was really pompous about doing nothing, like, he’s just riding the coattails of his former bands—
Donovan: Man! So—
Alex: So, fuck him. That’s pretty much it. Also, in interviews, he’s kind of a dick, and they kicked him out of New Order anyway, so whatever. I still really like his bass playing, though.
Donovan: All that being said…
Alex: All that being said, he’s a good bass player. However, he needs to move on.
DJ: All right.
Alex: Yeah. I remember a particularly bad trance-esque remix of the song “Atmosphere,” which is one of the most powerful and most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard in my life. Just the original version. But this version was like [mimics loud drums] and had little arpeggios going ‘doodlydoodlydoodly,’ and it was the most ghastly and unholy thing I had ever heard in my life. I’m not precious about most bands. I don’t think there are any holy or sacred bands, but that was…that made me just fucking sick to my stomach. It was really bad.
DJ: Bad enough to write a song about it.
Alex: Enough to write a very short song about, which I wrote completely in my head while waiting for jury duty. I was sitting in the Ft. Worth courthouse and I was so bored, I started thinking of little riffs and stringing them together in my head. I had my little notebook with me, and I wrote down some lyrics, and then later, when I got home, I recorded it all in like an hour.
DJ: Do you think that putting yourself in that negative mindset affected your thoughts about the case?
Alex: Of the what?
DJ: Of the case that you were serving on the jury for.
Alex: I didn’t get called in. It was a drug case, and I didn’t want to be there anyway, so basically, when they were asking me questions, I told them how much I love drugs, and in the questionnaire I was basically like ‘Fuck the Police! Get high everyday!’ I didn’t have to go in.
DJ: OK, the interview is over.
Alex: Could you please leave in ‘OK, the interview is over?’
– Interview and transcription by Dale Jones