Bed Wettin' Bad Boys - Rot (2017)

When they began in 2009, Australia’s Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys immediately lived up to their name. Though their music was never a joke, the band could come off as a stumbling, drunken wreck. By the time of their debut album, in 2013, they decided to grow up a bit, which is why they called it Ready for Boredom. “It seemed to indicate this exit from us being a party band,” said singer and bassist Nic Warnock. “Life is becoming more apparent, I guess. I worry about shit more.”

So how has growing up gone so far? It’s not a great sign that the quartet decided to call their follow-up album Rot, but its songs tell a more hopeful story. Many of them are about finding the maturity and patience to take life as it comes. Guitarist Joe Sukit opens the record singing about the need “to relent control,” and the rest of the way—in songs with names like “Expanding Horizons” and “Turn the Page”—the band returns to themes of acceptance and gratitude. “Well, it’s a long and lonely life,” Warnock hums on “Stunned.” “But for me that’ll do alright/Until something comes along.”

Luckily, lyrical maturation doesn’t mean turning soft musically. None of Rot’s 11 songs are a mess—the rhythms are tight and the riffs are on target—but the album is still pretty raucous. Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys remain unafraid to scrawl outside the lines and spill into the red. When Sukit strains to sing, “Try to change your life, but life changes you,” during “Device,” the rough density of the guitars makes his struggle palpable. This combination of energy and wisdom aligns Rot with their soulful Aussie brethren Royal Headache (Sukit is a former member; Warnock’s label RIP Society released that group’s first album). But Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys attack their songs with an industrious devotion that sets Rot apart. ~ review by Marc Masters

Ben: Guitar, Vocals
Doug: Drums
Joe: Guitar, Keyboard, Saxophone, Vocals
Nic: Bass, Vocals

Track List:
1. Away
2. Stunned
3. Plastic Tears
4. Expanding Horizons
5. Work Again
6. Victoria
7. Thing Called Love
8. Device
9. Company
10. Rot
11. Turn the Page

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