Man oh man do we love ourselves some Bad//Dreems, those down-to-earth Adelaide boys have captured the hearts and minds of Australians everywhere in 2015 with the release of their debut LP Dogs At Bay back in August. They’re quite probably one of the best pure Australian rock bands we have going at the moment, a throwback to Coloured Girls-era Paul Kelly and Diesel And Dust-era Midnight Oil. They’re known for big, chugging riffs, raw and heartrending vocals and songs that will pierce your soul and make you want to crack a beer at the same time. So when they were announced as the guest act this go around on Triple J’s weekly Like A Version segment, we weren’t really sure what to expect, and it certainly wasn’t this:
Bad//Dreems taking on The Weeknd? I’ll be honest, I kind of winced a little when they said they were covering this, simply because awful mainstream Australian radio has done its very darndest to play this song a minimum of three times a day and jackhammer it into our ears until we want to murder people (or maybe it’s just me). It was a shock then to be so utterly blown away by the Baddies’ rendition of it.
Enlisting Isabella Manfredi from The Preatures (who is known for her love of the kind of Australian rock Bad//Dreems deal so masterfully in) to handle guest vocals after an 11th hour acoustic jam the night before, the boys and lady went and Oz rocked the absolute holy hell out of a poppy, soulful Weeknd smash hit. I was specifically floored by the way frontman Ben Marwe’s vocals, known for being gravel rash raw, held up so admirably in hitting notes originally created for a more traditional soul vocalist.
I’m calling it, I prefer this to the original by a country fucking mile. If you haven’t already then cop Dogs At Bay out now and catch Bad//Dreems live as they continue to trundle along on their Dogs At Bay tour around Australia. The dates left are:
Fri, Oct 16th: Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane
Sat, Oct 17th: Miami Shark Bar, Gold Coast
Sat, Oct 24th: Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Sun, Oct 25th: Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Fri, Oct 30th: The Odd Fellow, Fremantle
Sat, Oct 31st: Amplifier Bar, Perth