There’s a sense that with the acclaim afforded prairie rockers One Bad Son for their single Raging Bull over the last few months and the excitement preceding the Oct. 13 release of their new album that the band is poised to break through to much greater heights and acclaim.
Made in the Name of Rock N Roll is the Saskatoon band’s fifth studio album and first since 2014’s Black Buffalo and has generated a buzz unlike anything other in the band’s already impressive career – thanks in no small part of Raging Bull’s run at the top of the Canadian Rock Chart, peaking at number one on May 1. A tour in support of the new record starts Oct. 17 in Red Deer before winding up back in their hometown on Dec. 16. Ontario dates include at the Dominion House in Windsor on Nov. 10, The Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto on Nov. 16, the new Signal Brewery in Corbyville (Belleville) Nov. 21, and Nov. 23 at the Merchant Tap House in Kingston, among other shows.
“Raging Bull is already been opening some new doors. It’s allowed us to meet new people and getting bigger and better venues for our shows and stuff like that. It’s been 13 years coming, so it’s been a slow build which we kind of appreciate now. A lot of this new buzz has come from working with producer Gavin Brown [Tragically Hip, Billy Talent, Barenaked Ladies]. We liked working with him and really wanted to work with him. He is a next-level producer for sure and since we wanted to get to the next level it made sense,” said band co-founder and lead guitarist Adam Hicks, who said that Brown pushed he and bandmates Shane Volk (vocals), Kurt Dahl (drums) and bassist Adam Grant (who has since left the band – more about that later) as songwriters in order to bring their music to the point where it became ‘must listen’ material for fans, radio programmers and others within the industry.
“We want to stay true to ourselves and what we’re all about, and that conversation and that desire has actually come through in the music for this new record. We’re definitely feeling a good vibe for sure; we feel we’re getting bigger and feel that we have one foot through the door to big time success we just have to keep moving forward and figure out how to get all the way through that door.
“Honestly, the approach we took has played a large part of the energy of the album. It was really about being honest and becoming more collaborative than we ever have been. We all wrote more lyrics for this album, which was a change that was good. We basically said we’re going to be 100 per cent all in about who we are and who the band is, and we wrote it from that point of view. We wanted people to relate to our band more. We said, ‘how are people going to relate to us unless we’re honest about everything – honest about our personal lives and honest about our band?’”
Producer Brown, being a songwriter and recording artist himself, has developed a reputation for being able to get to the core essence of a band’s music, helping them to up their game in all aspects of the writing and recording process but also maintain the balance between artistic integrity and developing a more commercial vibe to a band’s music. Hicks said he did this, and more, for he and his bandmates in One Bad Son.
“The biggest thing he did was encourage us to be true to ourselves as a band and individuals. And I know a lot of bands say that they put the songs first before any other factor, but Gavin said something that has really stuck with me. He said as soon as you put a song out there for people to hear, it’s not your song any more. He gave the example of being a co-writer on the 3 Days Grace song I Hate Everything About You and how when you get an Instagram video of some kid screaming that song from Hawaii, that’s not your song any more – that’s his song. It was just a different perspective to looking at things,” Hicks said.
“It was about not putting yourself before anything, especially the music. And not simplifying things but streamlining – learning what’s best for the music, what’s best for the song. I love doing lead solos but if the song doesn’t require a four-minute guitar solo, I am not going to get bent out of shape over it.
“Listen, we have never denied it, we want to be a big commercial band. We want success and we want to be able to keep doing this at a high level for the rest of our lives. And any band that tells you that you can do that without making any kind of compromises, unless you’re Rush, is lying. It’s a state of mind in your head. As much as you want to be a musician because it’s fun and fulfil your 15-year-old you’s fantasy, as you get older you realize that to actually do that you have to focus on the business side and the technical stuff. So it’s a weird game, a weird balancing act because you’ve got to be true to yourself and be authentic, but you also have to be smart about it. You have to be realistic about it too.”
One Bad Son is also still of the view that a full-length album is the optimal vehicle for a band to express itself, regardless of whether it’s in digital or physical form. Made in the Name of Rock and Roll has been released digitally on all major platforms, as well as on both CD and vinyl forms.
“You want to make a killer album that represents who you are as a band, which gets more people interested in coming to see you live. For us it’s all about the live show. We say we’re always on tour. Once we get offered a show, we go, we don’t say no. It’s easy because it’s what we love to do, but it’s also what pays the bills. We’re not making money, really, off album sales,” Hicks said.
“And speaking as a rock fan, I still love the full album. I like the physical copy and these days if I like an album I get it on vinyl. I definitely think albums are still important and since people like Drake and Rihanna are still making full albums, lots of other people still think they’re important too. And I think a band’s true fans want full albums, they want to listen to more than just the radio hits, and I am that way too. I want to see what the band is all about at that point in time, and I want to hear the deep cuts and read the liner notes and check out the album artwork.
“A lot of bands are putting out singles, but for most it’s a way to generate excitement for the album and tour, and also a way to see how fans are reacting to new music. We initially recorded four songs and then put Raging Bull out as a single in the spring. We were open about the fact that this was just a teaser and that there was a lot more to come. And then we went back and recorded the last six songs and when we talked about which ones we were going to do, we said we now didn’t need another Raging Bull type song. So that sort of helped us choose which songs we needed to finish off the album.”
Hicks also said the order of the songs was an important consideration for One Bad Son and something for which they put a lot of though.
“We think of it as vinyl because we find it’s an easy way to organize the tracks. We think of it having a Side A and Side B. We have 10 songs and we put together the first five songs that we think make for a good Side A and then make sure the order for Side B makes sense too. I think that’s how we like to listen to music so that’s why we do it that way. It’s like doing a set list for a live show, right? I feel sometimes bands overlook that kind of thing, but I think it’s important to want to set the mood, and create a real emotional dynamic over the whole show.”
There’s always been a good-time vibe about the music of One Bad Son, and that’s typified by the song Flyin’ High.
“The lyrics were so fun to write and basically for me it’s a cruising song. Like you’re cruising down to Vegas or L.A. on the highway in a convertible and you’re going to meet up with some hot chicks and have some fun. And for me, it kind of represents what the true ‘American dream’ is all about. It’s about girls in tight jeans and barreling down the highway in a GTO,” he said.
The song Streets Are Red was penned primarily by Volk and is his powerful ode to the legacy of the late, great Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell.
“He brought it to us pretty much finished and we loved it, so we didn’t really mess around with it at all. It was written a day or two after Chris Cornell passed away, and he was a huge influence and inspiration on Shane. It’s not so much an overt tribute, but it captures Shane’s emotion in that certain period of his life as a frontman himself. It’s quite metaphorical and not completely straightforward. You really have to dig into the lyrics to really get the depth of what he’s saying and what he was feeling at the time he wrote it,” Hicks explained.
As for the change in membership, Grant departed the band quite recently, and Steve Adams was brought in as his replacement – although in a sense it was a reunion for Adams, Volk, Hicks and Dahl.
“Here’s a weird story about Steve. He actually jammed with us for about six months to a year when we were just starting. He was actually our second bass player, but it was so early in our career we didn’t know what was going on, so he moved on. He went back to school recently and finished his diploma in recording arts in August and heard that we were looking for a bass player. So it worked out great. He had no other commitments and still wanted to play with us after all these years. We called him up and asked if he was interested and brought him out to a few jams and we all just gelled really well,” Hicks said, adding that there was nothing acrimonious about Grant’s departure.
“There is no drama and no bad blood. He was with us for 10 years. He joined when he was 17 so he was younger than the rest of us. He wanted a change in his life and other opportunities came up for him and he took them. We still go for beers and he came to our album release party, so we’re still great friends.”
For more information on One Bad Son, the new album Made in the Name of Rock N Roll, and the forthcoming tour, visit https://www.onebadson.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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