Premiere: Bad Timing Share Debut EP 'Might As Well Be Cabbage' + Interview

Tāmaki Makaurau's Bad Timing have charged out of the gate with their debut collection Might As Well Be Cabbage, delivering on the promise of the emerging group's recent run of politically-focussed and environmentally-aware single releases. All those powerful earlier tunes are here – 'Day Job', '100% Pure', 'Avoca-don't' and 'Tui' – joined by by new anthems 'Human Interference', 'Complicit' and 'Cabbage'. Featuring members Chris Marshall (Miss June, Miltones), Siobhan Leilani (The Protection, Whaea and The Rumble, NahBo), Sean Martin-Buss (Dead Little Penny) and new drummer Chris Townsend (who stepped in following the departure of previous drummer Isaac Hickey), Bad Timing describe themselves as "some sad white boyz and a non-binary alien angel play loud music about ~feelings~ and how much it sucks to live under capitalism". They're celebrating with release parties throughout Aotearoa, supported by buds including Dateline, Ludus, Jaggers x Lines, Model Home and more. We caught up with Marshall and Leilani who kindly answered a few questions via email about their EP – scope out the tour details, wrap your ears around Might As Well Be Cabbage and read their words below...

Bad Timing – Might As Well Be Cabbage EP Release Tour
Friday 12th April – Whammy Backroom, Auckland, w/ Dateline, TOOMS
Saturday 13th April – Caroline, Wellington, w/ Ludus, Hybrid Rose, Ingrid and The Ministers
Friday 26th April – The Cook, Dunedin w/ Jaggers x Lines, Milpool
Saturday 27th April – Lyttelton Records, Christchurch, w/ Model Home, Nah Bo

You’ve described Bad Timing as a band that plays “loud music about ~feelings~ and how much it sucks to live under capitalism”. How does that relate to the title and cover art of your EP Might As Well Be Cabbage?

Most of our music is just about what it's like to exist these days in your 20's, so we kind of tied the aesthetic for the EP to our surroundings - the images from the EP are all shots taken from our old flat. The title comes from a conversation we had at this flat, where we were venting our frustrations about money, Chris M. came out and said "It might as well be cabbage" and it kind of stuck, became a lyric in the song 'Cabbage', and then graduated to the EP title. The image of the cabbage trees on the front is just meant to be punny.

Who and what is Bad Timing influenced / shaped by?

All of our lives are incredibly entrenched in music, so I guess you could say our inspiration comes from EVERYWHERE :o but in particular, we all love our local music whanau. Hans Pucket, Naenae Express, The Beths, Greenfog, milk – I could keep listing for aages. One thing that was important for us was to say something with this band. We're all white dudes except for Siobhan, which gives us a platform that other people might not be afforded, and we want to use that, so I guess you could say that has shaped us a lot.

Can you describe for us how Bad Timing goes about creating their songs and how the members’ different musical backgrounds come into play?

Early on we started writing our songs very collaboratively, we'd work on the chords together and then Chris would take these and flesh out some lyrics. But more recently Chris has been bringing in mostly finished songs, which we then iron out together - fixing up little bits here and there. All of us studied jazz performance together, so we can communicate our ideas pretty efficiently with each other.

How are you feeling about tackling a tour and EP release through a grieving country? Will it shape the way you approach your shows?

Obviously, recent events have been hard and we want to approach our tour carefully and respectfully, but, honestly, I don't think there's been a better time for our message to be spread across Aotearoa. We hope to help continue the valuable conversations started after the Christchurch terrorist attack. There's still so much to be done. This is no time to stop living our lives.

It’s really cool that you do unwaged ticket prices. What’s the thinking behind that? Do you see that becoming standard practice?

Tbh we're all broke as fuck and can never go to gigs and the point of this band is for people to hear it, not to make money, so why the fuck not, right? Hopefully it does become more of a standard practice because inclusivity is super cool and we're all about being super cooooooool.