While the music industry suffers through one of its darkest periods yet, lovers of good tunes are still being catered for, with Butterfingers releasing their long-awaited third album, Bad News, this week.
First announced in January, Bad News comes 14 years after the release of the band‘s The Deeper You Dig, and three years after their eight-year hiatus finally came to an end. Needless to say, it’s been a long time coming for dedicated fans of the band.
Of course, new material hasn’t been absent from our ears. After all, tunes like ‘Big Night Out’ and ‘Bullet To The Head’ that Butterfingers have it in the studio, while recent live performances have shown them to be the electrifying outfit we’ve always loved.
In true fashion though, this record comes at a difficult time. Though the COVID-19 pandemic was around when the album was announced, few could have assumed that it would lead to the cancellation of the band’s now-postponed supporting tour.
Just last week, the bad news (look, it’s a really fitting title, it seems) kept on coming, with Evil Eddie revealing that the album was being pushed back until Wednesday, April 8th.
Now, with just a couple of days before we get to hear this instant classic of a Butterfingers album, Evil Eddie has opened up about the new record, giving us a track-by-track rundown of the “emotional journey” that’s led up to their latest opus, in a way that only he can.
Check out ‘Dancing (To Te Beat Of My Own Drum)’ by Butterfingers:
Butterfingers Bad News – The Emotional Journey of Evil Eddie Between the Band’s Last Album to Now: A Track by Track
1. ‘Dancing (To The Beat Of My Own Drum)’
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Ok, so in biopic movies like Bohemian Rhapsody the movie opens at the ‘Ultimate Boon’ or the ‘Big Win’ part of the story plot and that’s what ‘Dancing’ serves as here.
It’s like a scene that’s been taken from the part of the story when we’ve overcome all the apparent obstacles and as a band who has struggled we’re finally back and firing on all cylinders so to speak. Doing what we wanna do and doing it extremely well. :)
2. ‘Suburbia’
This is the real ‘start’ of the story. I am a washed-up rock star (you’ve gotta be one first, but whatever) and mentally, I have basically given up on life. Hate music, hate my life and all the people in it, and nothing reminds more of how far I’ve fallen than the area I live in – Suburbia.
3. ‘Dem Billz’
So this is like the call to action, and it’s the Tax Department who’ve put me in a position where I need to find some cash and quickly. The only way I know how is with the band, but clearly I hate the idea of getting the band back together initially, I decide that’s what I have to do to avoid jail.
4. ‘Long Way To The Top’
(Scene Missing) So basically, this is the negative part of the brain again just looking at this mountain I am about to climb and taking myself through how difficult it’s going to be.
5. ‘Black Cocaine’
‘Black Cocaine’ is an ode to coffee which I am heavily back into since I have all this work to do as outlined in ‘Long Way To The Top’.
6. ‘Eat A Bag Of Dix’
Now fuelled by caffeine and fear of jail time, this song marks the emotional turnaround from being lethargic and jaded to being aggressively motivated to kill it in the mission back to the top, burning every bridge along the way.
7. ‘Catch 22’
‘Catch 22’ is an unexpected turn of events when my partner decides to break up with me. As soon as I was in the right frame of mind to execute this mission, the wind gets taken out of my sails due to this heavy breakup.
8. ‘Sellin Out’
After losing all my gusto with the breakup situation I start looking for the easiest way through this whole debacle and resort to the idea of selling out for some quick cash. God (hahaha) talks me around and I end up deciding against selling out.
Check out ‘Bad News’ by Butterfingers:
9. ‘Light It Up’
Due to the rough trot I’ve had and all the confusing information bouncing around in my head, I decide the best thing to do is get wasted.
10. ‘Can’t Be Trusted’
Back to the mission at hand, I decide to start cutting ties with all the people who’ve been holding me back, including my partner and the friend she cheated on me with. Time to go it alone.
This is where dancing would be in the story if the story was perfectly linear
11. ‘Bad News’
So after having the band back and killing it, I start to reflect on those people who’d previously been holding me back while hoping that my success for them is a real pain in the ass cause they really deserve it.
12. ‘I Could Tell You’
With the resurgence in popularity I’m suddenly surrounded by more fake people who just want stuff from me, thinking I’m holding some kind of secret to success. The secret is really just hard work, but I guess I’m just playing hard to get and don’t wanna tell them anything. It’s the old ‘If you have to ask, you’ll never know’ situation.
13. ‘(I Just Wanna Play) Music’
With every good story there’s an outer journey and an inner journey and this is the end of the inner journey. It marks the transformation from being jaded by the industry and hating music back to loving it the way I did back when I first started and rediscovering that passion is really what this album is about.
Butterfingers’ Bad News is officially out on Wednesday, April 8th. Pre-order physical copies of the album from Bewilderbeats, and pre-save the digital edition now.
