Release Date: 27th April 2015
Genre: Rock
Album Recorded, mixed and mastered at ‘FOEL STUDIOS’
Line up:
Stevie – Lead vocals/Harmonica
G – Lead/slide/acoustic guitar/backing vocals
Seeks – Guitars/acoustic guitar/backing vocals
Bailey – Lead bass/Backing vocals
George – Drums/Percussion/Backing Vocals/keyboard
Track Listing:
1. 0 Wise Water
2.0 Waste my time
3.0 New day
4. 0 Half way home
5.0 Motherload
6.0 Preacher
7.0 Something someone
8.0 Sweet little secret
9.0 No excuse
10.0 Good on me (Jeans song)
11.0 Words I never said
‘Bad Touch’ are here with a brand new original material debut album entitled ‘Half Way Home’. Forming five years ago this young Rock band have had many live experiences playing huge festivals such as Download, Steelhouse, legends of Rock and 2012’s Hard Rock hell. In this short period of time the band has achieved all of this as well as now supporting Rock Band ‘The Answer’ on their UK tour 2015. Now getting ready to release their debut album late April this year, I have been fortunate enough to get my hands on it early.
Track 1 entitled ‘Wise Water’ strikes me immediately with a Southern country Rock vibe. This is then what I expect throughout the album as it continues. This track features an awesome breakdown guitar solo by Rob. G and a repetitive lyrical chorus that’s nothing less than catchy. It becomes obvious from this track that ‘Bad Touch’ certainly are capable of reaching new and exciting levels of satisfaction with their instruments. Lead vocalist Stevie appears to have many different influences and similarities of Kiss lead singer Paul Stanley and this is something that caught my attention from the offset.
Then I progress onto Track 2, ‘Waste My Time’ with a relatively short but sweet instrumental introduction. This allows me to hear what the band can do when playing to the softer side of Rock rather than the hard hitting power house Rock popular at the minute. The rhythm section throughout works perfectly with the backing vocals and come to think of it they also harmonise very well too.
Moving onto ‘New Day’ (Track 3) I know that this is very similar to the previous tracks with very repetitive lyrics, this is all good and well in terms of being memorable however it would be a shame to let the predictability defer away from the excitement of the song. This is later justified with the guitar shredding solo speeding up the tempo of this track and I can’t deny it had my foot tapping along.
Title track also listed track 4 on the album is much more melodic. This shows ‘Bad Touch’ have a diverse musical capability reminding me sound wise of early Kings of Leon. Exposed vocals and similar layout and song structure means that this isn’t anything we haven’t heard before but I’m still impressed with the quality of this album.
Track 5 is ‘Motherload’; a song that I believe allows vocalist Stevie to experiment and show an audience what he can do. I feel the grit and attitude in his voice during this track that is yet to be heard as the album is progressing. It’s these kinds of aspects that a great Rock album really looks for. Again we are treated to catchy guitar riffs and drum beats that complete this track and give it its overall appeal.
‘Preacher’ (Track 6) featuring vocalist Stevie on Harmonica provides the audience with an AOR led blues Rock feel. The harmonica and guitar sections are obvious stand outs for me during this track separating itself from the previous cliché songs. When analysing this album as a whole it really evidences the musicality and versatility of this band. Vocals on this track aren’t traditional or stereotypical and I think that works really well. This gives ‘Bad Touch’ the opportunity to stand alone individually and not follow and get lost within a crowd.
‘Something someone’ (Track 7) was one of the songs that really grabbed my attention on this album. I can hear influence from the mighty Led Zeppelin and this is never a bad thing. With this track I noticed a similar sounding chord progression to that of former band California Breed’s song ‘All Falls Down’. The relaxed feel to ‘Bad Touch’s’ somewhat satisfying album allows the band to be on par with their own obvious influences and similar genres like well-established Rock bands Black Stone Cherry and The Answer.
Again moving on and deeper into the album we reach track 8 entitled ‘Sweet Little Secret’. After about 20 seconds of listening to this tune I decided it was a personal favourite of mine from the whole album so far. I feel this one has the power to really impress the fans and show off a little something different in terms of structure with awesome hooks that are guaranteed to keep you on board.
Disappointingly Track 9 had a different effect on me to the latter track. Ironically entitled ‘No excuse’ I feel this one has gone astray within the album compared to the other songs that made the cut. I think relatively speaking; more could’ve been done to this track in terms of vocals as it appears to be something that could unfortunately get lost in the background. There really isn’t an excuse when you want an album to wow continuously start to finish. However with that being said, the track is still enjoyable for an audience that doesn’t want anything too in your face therefore preferably this could be classed as a Soft Rock song.
On another note turning the album back around and bringing back the spark is track 10 named ‘Good on Me (Jean’s song)’ which seems to be the right choice after track 9’s softer approach. This allows the listener to be reengaged with the album and even though the lyrics on this song don’t over excite me the togetherness of this band musically can be appreciated through this track and override the previous statement.
Finally, bringing this album to a close is track 11 entitled ‘Words I Never Said’. Much like tracks 4 and 7 I can hear the influences shine through but I believe it is a good thing to be inspired and take that inspiration and make it your own. It would’ve been nice to have this album finish with a track that offers an even bigger bang and leaves fans wanting more but I guess ‘Bad Touch’ knew the approach they were after and this allowed them to produce an album that flowed.
Overall this band seems to have a lot of potential and the album really is a great listen. If you’re into bands such as those mentioned before i.e. Led Zeppelin, Black Stone Cherry and former band California Breed then this definitely is the album choice for you. It’s also apparent that these guys really strive in live performances too and you can catch them on tour throughout March with Rock Band ‘The Answer’ providing various dates around the UK.
‘Half Way Home’ is a yes from me.
Written by: Alex Alicia Firth
RATINGS: ALEX ALICIA 7/10
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