Bad Suns is an American rock band from Woodland Hills, California, formed in 2012. The band currently consists of Christo Bowman, Gavin Bennett, Miles Morris and Ray Libby. A majority of the band members are from Los Angeles, California. The group has been signed to Vagrant Records, where they released their debut albumLanguage & Perspective in 2014. The band's sound is inspired from 1970s and 1980s post-punk pioneers like The Cure and Elvis Costello. Their second album was released on September 16, 2016, titled Disappear Here. Their third and most recent album, Mystic Truth, was released on March 22, 2019. The band has since released two singles, I'm Not Having Any Fun and Unstable, which were originally intended for release on Mystic Truth but were later removed from the album.. They were released on April 24th and May 15th 2020, respectively.
Background
Bad Suns formed in early 2012. Made up of Christo Bowman, Gavin Bennett, Miles Morris and Ray Libby, aged 23–26. “I grew up with a lot of world music playing in the house. When I was 10, I started getting heavily interested in the guitar, and my dad began introducing me to his records from the 70’s and the 80’s. Initially Elvis Costello, then to The Clash, The Cure, and so on,” notes Bowman, “all of these artists and bands had a big impact on me, at a young age, as far as song composition goes.” The debut EP Transpose features angst-ridden riffs and ethereal vocals reminiscent of post-punk legends of the early 80's. “I started writing my first songs at that time," Bowman continues, “Though we can now reflect on that era of music, those artists were ahead of their time in a lot of ways. That’s what’s most inspiring.” The band released "Cardiac Arrest" online, where it went viral. The Transpose EP was recorded in the studio with producer Eric Palmquist and preceded the band's debut 2014 album, Language & Perspective. “The writing and recording process is always exciting, because it’s constantly changing and unique to each song. Inspiration comes and goes as it pleases, so a night when a song gets written is a very good night,” says Bowman. In 2014, the band opened for British indie-pop band The 1975 and later headlined a tour in small venues, such as The Troubadour in West Hollywood. The bands rising fame has led them to perform in music festivals. In 2015, they played in the Mojave Tent at Coachella, Bad Suns released their second album, Disappear Here, on September 16, 2016. Bowman came up with the name of album while reading Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, "Maybe the second or third time the 'Disappear Here' billboard appears in the narrative, it sort of just hit me like a ton of bricks. It encapsulated absolutely everything." On October 6, 2017, Bad Suns released the single "This Was a Home Once". On November 13, 2018 they announced that they had signed with Epitaph Records and released their first new music in over a year, "Away We Go". On the 14th of January Bad Suns announced their next album called Mystic Truth, which was released on March 22, 2019. The band has ventured into film and television for the first time by performing Mark Knopfler’s score from the Quibi exclusive short film which aired in June and July 2020.
Accolades
Jessica Goodman and Ryan Kistobak of The Huffington Post included the band's debut album, Language & Perspective, on their list of 2014's best releases, calling it "a rare indie release with little excess amongst its singles". The music video for "Salt" has been praised by Out magazine and MTV for its depiction of a transgender woman's struggles with her identity and transition.
