Bad Sign - Exit Review

Joe Appleford – Vocals/Bass
Jon Harris – Guitars
David Smith – Drums

An email arrives in my inbox, with a link to a page for a “new” band, Bad Sign. I say “new” because, they’ve been around for a couple of years but haven’t had as much press coverage as they would have perhaps liked. The press release strikes a chord (pun possibly intended, but only if you find it funny), “The Croydon trio initially bonded over a viewpoint that too many artists were compromising their integrity for the sake of pleasing a fan base”, although I may be tempted to replace “fan base” with “marketing demographic”. What I hear from the Myspace page shows a great deal of promise, so much so, rather then listen to their work on naff pc speakers, I ask for their CD, and now a few days later, I’m glad that I did.

They cite influences as Biffy Clyro, Everytime I die and Led Zeppelin, and every so often you’ll hear that, but you’ll also recognize elements of Downer, Muse, and at one point a solo reminds me of Queensryche’s “Della Brown”. Contrary to some of the predictable wallet raiding overhyped dross we have assaulting our ever so sensitive lugs, “Bad Sign” have a knack of hitting you with some nice little unexpected hooks, but not so “over the top dramatic” that it comes across as too “try hard”.

“Bad Sign” sound natural effortlessly, and for a trio, have an amazingly full on sound. Personal favourites on the EP are “Eclipse” and “Exit”, melodic, hard hitting, well structured, with an overpowering bass line hammering the speakers in “Exit". All in all, if you get a chance to catch Bad Sign on tour, take it as they definitely show a lot of promise. Look forward to them doing a full on album.

To find out more about Bad Sign take a look at their facebook page here: www.facebook.com/badsignband