Live review from 21st Anniversary Festival Day 2:
Intro
Sobering up
FBI & CIA
Suicide Circle
Exxxit
Remorse Song
Racing
It was nice to see George Silver, the bassist/guitarist in Houseplants, leap on stage the second Bad Actors wrapped their late set to offer congratulations. A tactical soft-power play, perhaps – after all, its Houseplants who are appearing in The Aftermath’s Battle of the Bands final a week later on June 21, after controversially knocking Bad Actors out in the heat.
The post-punk quartet have been heavily tipped by scene insiders since their sudden unveiling to the world, less than a year ago – playing their first three gigs in just 11 days in July 2024. But steady up, no one really lands fully formed.
The instrumental intro was a cool, smart piece of intention setting: a Pixies-ish, surfy, Tarrantino-ey, hoe-down that let Josh do his very best Joey Santiago impression on guitar. New single “Sobering Up” kicked things off properly, those shimmering, reverb-laden chords quickly giving way to an edgy strut and pure grunge chorus – the old quiet/loud thing in short, trying perhaps a bit too hard to be poppy yet punky all at once, with a commercial motivation. The purer, powerful attack of “FBI & CIA” was what they should be doing – edgy, raw, wild, wonderful. The worryingly titled headbanger “Suicide Circle” did, perhaps as destined, get a circle going, before things calmed for the almost-Blondie, 80s-esque “Exxxit”.
It was refreshing to see a band where the guitarist was the least important member – this is unsubtle, primal music of regular rhythm, built on the driving force of Roger’s bass, riding Rocky’s drums. Of course the real weapon – the thing Bad Actors success will depend on – is vocalist Ming, whose charisma, message and mystique are the necessary ingredient of any captivating front-person. This not-so-secret weapon is also the reason we have no doubt Bad Actors will succeed – Ming’s cathartic scream in the climax of “Remorse Song” hit the heady heights of emotional expression the band aspires to, and marked the clear set highlight. Closer “Racing” got another pit going; but this was a nice, indie-kid pit – not the violence and rage witnessed in front of Qiu Hong 秋紅, in the same spot, an hour earlier.
We still think the hype may be a bit premature for a young band so clearly still evolving in front of our eyes, but Bad Actors have all the elements – the sound, look, presence and passion – to grow into a major contender on the scene. Clockenflap surely beckons.
-Rob Garratt
