Live Review: Bad//Dreems

It’s been a little while between drinks for Bad//Dreems. But hey, new fatherhood (lead singer Ben Marwe) and life as a plastic surgeon (guitarist Alex Cameron) must keep you busy. 

Now, the Adelaide band are back on the airwaves with a wriggling earworm of a track - the “ooh ooh”s and breakdown of Double Dreaming stuck in our heads since it was released. To celebrate their return (with a new label to boot), they sell out The Foundry, new stains from a motley crowd seeping into the already beer-soaked carpet.

With a banner plastered with the band’s logo unfurled on stage, the noise builds to a crescendo. Marwe stares down the barrel of the audience and informs us the revolution will not be televised. He gives a shout-out to any flat-earthers in the audience with that delightful tongue-in-cheek banter that shines through their lyrics. He also - thank fuck - puts a ban on shoeys, following one increasingly fervent punter’s request. Sit down, son. Your kind are not wanted here.

Musically, they are on form, as they should be following a run in Europe supporting Midnight Oil. There’s a showing of old classics (“We’re going to do a cover now - but it’s of one of our songs”) and they tease a few unreleased tracks; we hear lyrics like “I made arrangements to kill them all”. 

Tracks like My Only Friend get a showing in the slow, pretty part of the set, as arms lock around mates and the room sways in unison. The tempo starts to ramp back up towards the end of Hume (from the excellent Dogs At Bay), the guitar-heavy outro giving us a taste of what’s to follow.

Through tracks like Gutful and Cuffed & Collared, beads of sweat flick off Marwe’s mop with every head bang. He casts a striking image front and centre, eyes wide and locking onto those thrashing in the ever-growing mosh. Commenting on the “massive dude vibe” in the audience, we chuckle at the irony of those same dudes then scream-singing along to Mob Rule.  

Bad//Dreems are a band that proudly wear their influences on their cut-off sleeves with gritty guitar, raw vocals and a penchant for saying it how they see it. There’s no concern for what’s trending, just talent and a love of music cutting through the stream wars.

They close with a cover of the enduring Australian underground classic - God’s My Pal - and we leave satiated but eager to return to the house of Bad//Dreems but good times.