ALBUM REVIEW: Bad//Dreems – Hoo Ha! (Farmer & The Owl/BMG Records)
Bad//Dreems are a four-piece punk band from Adelaide in Australia who have been going since 2012. Hoo Ha! is their fourth album.
Their distinctly Antipodean sound is inspired by Aussie guitar bands of the ’70s and ’80s like The Saints and The Go-Betweens, and they have influenced contemporaries such as Amyl and the Sniffers and The Chats.
Bad//Dreems’ songs are written by vocalist Ben Marwe and guitarist Alex Cameron, who said they aimed to “strip away the veneer of comfortable Australian suburban banality” with this album, written as they emerged from lockdown.
They play a brand of literate pub rock, where high and low cultures collide to paint a vivid – and often bleak – picture of our times, as well as shining a harsh spotlight on those that brought us to where we are today.
Marwe takes on the role of several of the protagonists involved in the songs, and the first side contains some vociferous cultural critique as they tackle the whitewashing of Australia’s history.
Bad//Dreems have long voiced their disgust at mistreatment of Aboriginal people, never more evident than on excellent single Jack, where they take aim at their forebears: “No language, no treaty, no respect for the land/No problems, no solution, nowhere left to stand … What you think about that Jack?/60,000 years gotta give it back.“
Mallee continues this lyrical theme, laying bare the unpalateable truth of Australia’s early days as a prison colony. “Weighed down by ball and chain/Weakened by disease/I’ve been raised like a mongrel/I ain’t got no pedigree.“
Lead single Mansfield 6.0, with its coruscating riff, describes the events of September 2021, when construction workers rioted in Melbourne in protest at mandatory vaccination, at the exact same time an earthquake shook the city.
Shame and Desert Television are both about one of their staple subjects, their relationship with their hometown of Adelaide, or more specifically the ennui, pointlessness and sheer boredom of a smalltown life.
Another standout track, See You Tomorrow, explores the modern white Australian male psyche, and its stereotypical connotations of misogny, chauvinism and boorishness – “the octagonal Pizza Hut with cock and balls on the walls and nobody ever washes it off“.
Bad//Dreems are a new name to me, but this concept album, which delves into their native culture, slipped down a treat, and I’ll certainly be investigating their back catalogue. This is a record which bears rich fruit with repeated listens. 8/10.
- Check out the Bad//Dreems album Hoo Ha! and buy it on vinyl, CD and cassette from their Bandcamp page HERE.
