Forming in 2023 from the ashes of The Dollybirds and The Graceland Conspiracy, Bad Noise Monster describe themselves as avoiding “…the predictable, the generic, the soiled pigeonhole of rock and pop cliche. So we took our musical ideas, new songs, old songs, riffs, beats and hooks, gave them a shake and added a little swagger.”
With reports that they were gearing up to record their debut album and play live again, it was time to get in touch for an interview.
Please introduce yourselves and what you do in the band?
Colin Crooks – Vocals and Guitar
Gary Taylor – Drummer
Eddy Baker – Guitar
Shane Tedford – Bass
What was the inspiration for forming Bad Noise Monster in 2023?
Colin: We were limping along under the name of The Graceland Conspiracy but that had seen several people come and go and it felt a bit too weighed down with my past and my ideas. I just wanted to freshen things up and make it more of a band than just my ideas. We wrote some new tunes and revamped some older ones that we wanted to keep and that desire to do new things keeps you going.
You’ve played a few gigs for the Time to Be Proud label. How did you meet William and how have the shows gone?
Colin: The connection with Time to be proud goes years back. Shane and I were in a band called The Dollybyrds who released some singles on the label and played some gigs. When this band started, we just picked up the relationship and fair play to William, he just keeps going. The first gig in the Pavillion went well but the gig in The Sanctuary Theatre proved that we were doing something right. We had some setbacks in our personal lives and Bob, our then drummer, had serious health issues which forced him to leave. So, momentum was lost until June this year when Gary came in.
Will you be recording an LP soon?
Colin: Our plan is to record an album’s worth of material fairly soon. It remains to be seen if it will be released as an album or a series of singles or EPs. We’ll see when it’s done. I think singles have more impact, once the albums out that’s kind of it spent.
What do you want to achieve with BNM?
Colin: In terms of achieving anything I really enjoy making the music, I love recording, working on ideas, I’ve even enjoyed the gigs we’ve done, and I really wasn’t that keen to play live, I could take it or leave it. I’ve been doing this for long enough to know that all you do is enjoy it, nothing else is guaranteed so if you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it. You can drive yourself mad trying to live up to other people’s achievements or goals. I couldn’t care less for all that stuff. It’s nice to get positive feedback and hope someone enjoys what we do but I’m under no illusions.
Gary: To get the emotion from locking into a shared wave of sound that lifts and makes us proud and carries the audience with us. That’s why I continue to do this for so many years. It still happens!
What do you intend to do differently from your time in the Dollybirds?
Colin: The Dollybyrds grew out of an idea I had writing about a fictional punk band of the same name. I needed some songs and hadn’t played in a band for a couple of years. The idea was to start with crappy predictable punk songs, which by the end of the story would be greatly improved along the lines of Rancid or Green Day.
But I started to enjoy the music aspect more than the writing side, so I kept the name, and the songs parked the story and started gigging and recording. This band is more open to ideas. Anything goes; I don’t want to be tied to genre-based crap. If it’s not fun and interesting why bother? Nothing worse than hearing the first 30 seconds of a song and you know exactly what the next 3/4 minutes are going to be
How would you describe the songwriting process?
Eddy: It’s usually a case of Colin writing and demoing a full song and presenting it to us, we then learn it and maybe make a few changes to structure during practices. I usually come up with my own lead guitar bits at that stage, but other times Colin will ask me for a specific sound or vibe. I enjoy that challenge!
I’ve also written a few songs for the band – most of mine I bring nearly fully formed as demos. Lyrics are Colin’s area except for one song which has my words. Colin and I also tend to work together fine-tuning songs a lot. It’s all a really enjoyable process overall: some tunes arriving fully formed from one of us, and others taking a longer road with a lot of collaborative changes.
Colin: The songwriting goes between me and Eddy. If someone has a complete song, we give it a try with a view to making improvements if needed. Alternatively, one of us will have a riff or a tune with no lyrics or in need of a chorus and the other one can usually bring the missing parts.
What would be the bands that all members agree on?
Colin: There aren’t many bands we all agree on. In fact, I genuinely can’t think of one band all 4 of us would agree on. Maybe REM bizarrely but probably different eras of their career.
Eddy: You know I have no idea! I think we all have really different tastes! I think all band members would agree that I need to stop playing the riff from Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like a Woman” at every practice.
What bands would the individual members revere then?
Eddy: Dinosaur Jr, Cardiacs, Beatles, Part Chimp, with those four bands respectively influencing my use of: solos, weirdness, melody, volume.
Colin: Sparklehorse, Mark Lanegan, Sigur Ros and going back The Clash.
Gary: Sorry guys – all the usual mainstream dudes. Bonham, Baker, White, and recently Thomas Lang.
In your time of playing gigs, what changes (good or bad) have you noticed?
Colin: The main changes are more from my outlook on it. I just enjoy it. I don’t have any expectations or anything to prove. We use better equipment now so that helps and I think sound engineers now know their stuff; they’ve all been very good at their job. Venue and audience wise not much has changed really in the past few decades.
Eddy: Can’t say I’ve noticed any changes. Gigs are gigs. Some are good, some are bad. Usually, you get what you put into it.
Gary: 70’s and 80’s – fantastic music scene. Live bands all over. Every pub and club, every night. Technology comes along – pubs pay very little for a guy with a guitar and electronics who can sound a little like a band. The music scene dies. Today – very little paying work. We play for exposure…
What would be the long-term goals for BNM?
Colin: Long term I’d like to keep creating, going forward musically. Like I said if it’s not enjoyable, don’t do it, so my only goal is to keep it interesting and fun. I don’t need likes, streams or followers that’s all bollocks.
Gary: Stay alive. Keep playing – even to ourselves – as long as the body allows.
