Badflower Interview with Meltdown at Riff Fest 2023
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00:00All right, here are the guys from Bad Flower backstage here at Riff Fest as we are testing the strength of this couch right here.
00:06Oh, we're not that heavy.
00:08There's all four of you on here, for God's sake.
00:10We have two ice creams.
00:11Yeah, two ice creams?
00:12Not going to lie.
00:12Yeah.
00:13Today.
00:14Well, thank you guys so much for being a part of Riff Fest.
00:17And these guys are true thespians, as we proved last time when you guys were at the station.
00:24Even the boss came up and complimented you on your Saturday Night Live skit.
00:27That's true.
00:28Yeah.
00:29Yeah.
00:30Well, I was actually a theater kid.
00:32Yeah, he was.
00:33I think I'm the only one, though, right?
00:35I went to the movie theater a lot.
00:38Different kind of theater.
00:40I learned how to read pretty good.
00:42Yeah, that's true.
00:43I never learned how to read, but I did theater.
00:45So I feel like all of our powers combined.
00:47You did do theater?
00:48Is that right?
00:48Yeah.
00:49Yeah, I did.
00:50You can't tell I did theater?
00:51Well, I don't know.
00:52You're stuffed up in this thing.
00:53I don't know.
00:54I can't.
00:54I don't know.
00:55That's because it's freezing, and you guys don't have any heat on us.
00:57Well, the sun just kind of set.
00:59We could have been in the sun.
01:00We'll put it back.
01:01I'm sorry.
01:01Next time.
01:02We'll have to do this earlier next time.
01:04Sorry about that.
01:05What's going on with Bad Flower?
01:06What's in the works?
01:08Playing Riff Fest.
01:10September 23rd.
01:122020.
01:12Sorry, I have PTSD from last time.
01:18I'm kidding.
01:19No.
01:19While we're playing this show today, we have another festival in Vegas next month, and then
01:24we're working on a record.
01:26We'll get to that in a second.
01:27How'd the old Incubus tour go?
01:29That was fantastic.
01:30Yeah.
01:31Joe?
01:32First of all, I'd like to correct Anthony.
01:33We don't have a festival in Vegas next month.
01:35It's Sacramento.
01:36And then in Vegas, November.
01:38My bad.
01:39My brain, we were already...
01:40Even though I just said it's September 23rd, I'm already in October.
01:43I'm sorry.
01:44The best month of the year, probably.
01:46Yeah.
01:47Why?
01:47Weather-wise.
01:48Because it's...
01:48Yeah, the weather.
01:49It's the fall.
01:50It's the change of the seasons.
01:51Halloween is coming up.
01:52Nice.
01:52I like the feel of October.
01:54Yeah.
01:55Outdoor rock shows.
01:56Kind of coming to a close around here, anyways.
01:59But, uh...
02:00So, you were talking about new music.
02:01Go ahead.
02:02I'll let you start.
02:03Um...
02:04Al?
02:05Oh, yeah.
02:06We got new music.
02:07We got, what, 21, 3, 5 tracks?
02:1025 tracks?
02:11You're just going to keep going up?
02:12Ready to go, yeah.
02:13Ready to go.
02:14Just look at Josh and see how far you can go.
02:15Ready to cherry-pick through and make a Greatest Hits compilation of the best new music we have.
02:21That would be awesome to do a Greatest Hits record with all new songs.
02:24Yeah.
02:25All of them are Greatest Hits.
02:26Don't say you never got a great idea from sitting here.
02:29Yeah.
02:31So, you just said you're going to do this tour and then get back in the studio.
02:34Or are you going to go into the studio?
02:36What is it?
02:36Yeah.
02:37It's going to be riding from here on out for the rest of the year.
02:40So, do you guys have anything in the...
02:42I mean, do you guys go in with a clean slate or how does it work?
02:44There's been some ideas thrown around over the last few months.
02:47And might dive into those.
02:49Might start completely fresh.
02:51Who knows?
02:51Does the thespian bring anything to the table?
02:53A little guitar riff here and there?
02:56We're just waiting for the thespian to start coming up with some words.
03:02Oh, is that right?
03:02There's plenty of music.
03:04We're never short on music.
03:05We have lots of music.
03:07We need stories.
03:08We need reasons to put out the music.
03:10And that's up to the thespian to figure out what the fuck he wants to talk about.
03:14Do you have...
03:14What do they call that when you can't write?
03:17What's that?
03:18Writer's block?
03:18Yeah, writer's block.
03:19Do you have that?
03:19Yeah, like constantly.
03:20Do you really?
03:21Yeah.
03:21Yeah.
03:22I said...
03:23Yeah, I'm freezing.
03:25Turn the sun up.
03:26I could maybe...
03:27How does that make you feel?
03:30You're on a couch.
03:31No, writing songs is hard.
03:33It's not hard because it's hard.
03:35Like the music comes pretty naturally.
03:36It's what we do.
03:37But if you want to say something meaningful and lasting and important, you can't just make
03:41something up and go, this is important now.
03:43You know, something like...
03:44Something has to hit.
03:46There has to be a reason for it.
03:47And that's...
03:47It's difficult to try to just make that happen.
03:50Yeah.
03:51It has to kind of come naturally.
03:52And so we're not very good at deadlines.
03:55This might be a stupid question from a guy who's never written a song before.
03:58When you write your lyrics, are you writing lyrics for yourself, the fans, your parents?
04:02I mean, or is it just like what you feel?
04:03Well, see, that right there is the problem.
04:06Yeah.
04:07Because when we first started, there was nobody to write for but yourself.
04:11Nobody cared.
04:12That's true, yeah.
04:12And now that people care, it's hard not to see their faces in your mind while you're writing
04:17and imagine how they might think, how they might like it or not like it.
04:21And that's not a good way to write.
04:23So it's like part of the challenge of this is kind of getting back to how you felt when
04:27nobody cared about you.
04:29That's an interesting concept.
04:30To write something good.
04:31Yeah.
04:31You know, not just to write something that you know might sell or might get radio played,
04:34but to write something that you feel is special.
04:36It's, you have to get all those, like you have to kind of get all of that out of your
04:39head.
04:40All of your success has to go away and you have to start with a clean slate like that.
04:43Now, do you, do you, do you like have a journal where you're jotting down stuff or no?
04:46Oh yeah.
04:47Yeah.
04:47Yeah.
04:47Got a lot of stuff all ready to go.
04:49I have, I have a couple, a couple analog journals and obviously the notes app on the
04:53phone's an important journal.
04:54Yeah.
04:56That's interesting.
04:56I never thought about that before in all the interviews I've ever done.
04:58It's like, yeah, your first record you're writing for nobody really.
05:00But now it's like, yeah, you can see the faces of the fans.
05:03Are they going to, are they going to resonate with this?
05:05Is this something that might be too much for them to take in or, or is this something you're
05:08just living and they won't understand?
05:10You know, that kind of thing.
05:10Right.
05:10And then sometimes it's hard to even tell the difference if you're writing for you or
05:14writing for someone else.
05:15And sometimes you get halfway into a song and you're like, wait, is this even, is this
05:19even me?
05:19You know, but do you kind of, do you have to go with it?
05:23Because I've talked to other guys that they, um, like Brent Smith calls it like the gift
05:27or something.
05:27A song will just come and almost write itself.
05:30Does that ever happen?
05:30The best songs always feel like you didn't write them.
05:33Yeah.
05:33Like if you try to, if somebody asks you like, what was it right, like writing that?
05:36You're like, I don't remember.
05:38It just happened.
05:38It just happened fast.
05:39Yeah.
05:40And I mean, sometimes the, sometimes good songs come slowly.
05:44Sometimes you get a melody or like a phrase or something small of a song.
05:48And then like 10 years later, you're able to finish it because you've lived some life
05:52experience where you're like, oh, that's what this was supposed to be the whole time.
05:55And that happens to me a lot.
05:56There's something I, something small of a song that I write and I just can't finish
06:00it every time I sit down to work on it.
06:01And then years later, something happens in my life.
06:04And I'm like, this is, this is why I waited because now, now this song is ready to be written.
06:08And now, especially, you know, obviously these guys got to play the riffs and the drums
06:11and the whole thing, but you're out there actually vocalizing.
06:13You vocalizing it every single night.
06:15So those words are super important to you.
06:17Yes.
06:17Yeah, they have to be.
06:18Yeah.
06:19It's, it, it would be really uncomfortable singing, um, something you didn't mean or at
06:24least like, or at least mean at some point.
06:25Like a lot of our songs now, they don't really resonate so much anymore, but you tap back
06:30into that feeling that you had when you wrote it and then it's pretty easy.
06:32What do you mean they don't resonate anymore just because you're older and you're kind
06:34of past that point in your life?
06:35Yeah.
06:36I mean, we are, especially our songs.
06:37There's a lot of dark stuff that I've felt throughout my life that I don't necessarily feel anymore,
06:41but you know.
06:43Do you think you don't feel that anymore because of the songs and because of the music?
06:47Yeah, because I'm rich and famous now.
06:49Well, that was going to be my next line.
06:53Rich and famous rock stars.
06:55Well, anyways, that's interesting about, uh, about writing all that stuff.
06:57So you guys have a bunch of riffs all ready to go and all that stuff?
07:00Yeah, too many, honestly.
07:01We've got to throw some out.
07:03Joe, you're going to throw some out?
07:04Yeah.
07:04You want some?
07:06Mic's off?
07:06Yeah.
07:08Is his mic off or on?
07:09No, he's got his.
07:10He's, he's, he's talking.
07:13No, that was all good stuff.
07:14We can't lose that.
07:16We got to start over.
07:17So tell me about writing songs.
07:18No, I'm just kidding.
07:19Well, thank you guys so much for, uh, being part of Riff Fest.
07:22You guys are, uh, the only band say, I think, second time.
07:25I'm not sure.
07:26I don't think the rival Suns have done this before.
07:28So yeah, second time, second go around.
07:30Yeah, I remember.
07:32No, because I think, um, Pop Evil's done two, I think.
07:36So they're.
07:37How, what, what made us so lucky?
07:39How come you had to talk to somebody with a bigger pay scale than me to figure that out.
07:42I don't know.
07:43Oh.
07:43He's like, I didn't want you.
07:45Yeah.
07:45I'm sick of your band.
07:47I just say dumb stuff on the radio and I don't just go or really tell me to go and talk to who they tell me to talk to.
07:52So does that make sense?
07:54It's like, all right, are we done?
07:56Fuck off.
07:58If this is our second time back, does that mean we can have room on the stage for a riser?
08:02Or do I talk to someone else about that?
08:04Let's not get carried away.
08:05Yeah.
08:06A riser?
08:07Come on, man.
08:08Oh, we're good?
08:09We got it?
08:09It's back on?
08:10All right.
08:11See, there you go.
08:11I guess that you come back three times.
08:14We will play a third time.
08:15You come back three times, you get the Peter Criss thing.
08:18Okay.
08:18All right.
08:19I just want to play on the roof.
08:21Are you afraid of that?
08:22Fuck yeah, I'd be afraid of that.
08:24Oh, sorry.
08:24No, you're fine.
08:25Yes.
08:25Fuck yes.
08:27Double down.
08:28Pass it down.
08:30All right.
08:30You guys have a great show.
08:31Bad Flower right here backstage at Riff Fest.
08:33Thank you guys so much.
08:34Thank you very much.
08:36Thanks.