Halifax’s The Royal Volts return with “Bad Thing,” a blues-inspired track that sees the band throwing a little grit into their particular brand of loud and a little ruminating on the nature of repentance.
The track has the band passing judgement on a question of ethics and, apparently, that’s not the sort of thing to stand in their way for very long.
“You can dwell on something that has happened or get on with it,” explains Jordan Pirri, The Royal Volts’ guitarist and vocalist. “Hurts more if you tear the Band-Aid off slow.”
Starting off with the hard edge of Pirri’s vocals balanced against the guitar of Wesley Thomas, “Bad Thing” isn’t quite the spartan lament Blind Willie Johnson, but once the song gets out of the gate Quenny Stevens’ drums shine through with a monstrous back beat and paired to that riff it’s easy to find comparisons to Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog.” After the song really gets rolling, we are clear into Wolfmother territory.
Despite “Bad Things” immediate qualities as a hit single, the band explain that the song didn’t immediately see the light of day.
“When we went to record our last EP, the plan was to only do four songs. As we got into it we found we had a bit more time to get a few more tracked up. ‘Bad Thing’ was a song we had written a few years ago and first pick to get added to the line up.
“Being the case of it being an older tune, it came together quick in the studio. Brady and Quenny Nailed their parts second pass through, live off the floor. We are all very proud of this song.”
The Royal Volts are currently working with producer Jon Landry (The Stanfields) and are expecting to release Hard Landings, their first EP since their 2017 debut Enough is Never Enough, later this year via Ragged Head Records. The band are currently in the process of booking a string of shows throughout the Maritimes and as far away as Toronto, but have yet to announce any specific dates.