EMQ’s With Bad Earth – M2TM Edition
Hi everyone. Welcome to another special Bloostock Metal 2 The Masses edition of our EMQs interview. This time it’s with North Wales based Heavy Rock/ Rockcore band, Bad Earth. Huge thanks to their drummer, Ben Burke, for taking part.
What’s your name, what instrument do you play, and can you tell us a little about the history of the band?
I’m Ben “Sor” Burke, I play Drums for Bad Earth. Bad Earth are a 3-piece Hard Rock band from North Wales and have been going for a few years (about 8) with a few different members coming and going, but founding member Steve “Geordie” Coxon has been the main guy doing vocals and guitar from the start. I’ve been with the band about 2 years with Karl “Jagerbomb” Ditcher coming in the same time to fill in on bass duties. Over the last 2 years the band have been involved in some big gigs – Bloodstock, Hammerfest, Sophiefest and supporting Black Spiders. Hopefully we can continue with these big gigs.
What genre of Metal do you play?
We have a bit of all sorts going on, can play on Metal shows, Biker rallies and Rock shows. So, we’re not Metalcore or Hard Rock… We’re Rockcore!!
How did you come up with your band name?
There are all types of stories going around about how BAD EARTH got their name but the simplest way to say is it’s about a dodgy lead / cable…
Where are you based and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We’re based in North Wales (2 Wrexham and 1 Denbigh) and I’d say the scene in both towns are a bit dismal. Wrexham over the years have tried their hardest to keep live music going but finding it hard to maintain people coming to shows. And I don’t think Denbigh has any “scene”!
What’s your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
We’re in the middle of recording an album now. We have a few recordings from previous members, but with this line up there is a few live videos, a live practice video and a new song released last year called ‘Shallow Man’.
Who have been your greatest influences?
We have many different influences in the band. Geordie likes Clutch, Motorhead & Orange Goblin. Ben likes Lamb Of God, Killswitch Engage & Metallica. Karl likes Tool, Nine Inch Nails & Dillinger Escape Plan. So a real mix in the band.
What first got you into music?
I (Ben) Come from a musical family, my uncle is a bit older than me and plays guitar and was into Skid Row & Slayer bands like that when we were younger and every time I went round to my Nan’s house, he’d be in his bedroom thrashing out on his guitar and I wanted to play music so got into the bands he was into. There is a few of my family members play guitar so I wanted to break the mould and wanted to play the drums.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician, who would it be?
As all 3 of us are into different bands we’d all pick someone different. We’ve also talked about a second guitarist coming in but think we’re happy as a 3 piece, a lot less politics and bullshit!
What does Bloodstock Festival represent to you?
I think it’s about how friendly the festival is, how they cater for the fans and even how they look after up and coming bands and give them the chance to play a major festival. It’s probably the best organised one and it’s nice and compact. Not like other festivals where you need a 3 day camel ride between the tent and arena.
Have you been to Bloodstock, and if so, what’s your favourite memory from the festival?
I have been twice to Bloodstock and I was very lucky to play it both times too, on 2 different stages, 2019 I won North Wales M2TM with my then band Scars of Remembrance and played the New Blood Stage and in 2021 on the Jägermeister Stage with Bad Earth, we forwarded our EPK on to Simon Hall and luckily he asked us to play that stage. I think 2021 was my favourite memory because we played on the Thursday and then partied like rockstars for 3 days solid, having a right good laugh and made loads of new friends. We’re hoping to get on the New Blood Stage with this band or even better the Sophie Lancaster stage……
What are you going to bring to M2TM that you think will earn you a place on the New Blood Stage?
Just a great energetic hard rockcore set with no bullshit or gimmicks, just straight to the point, fast pace, this is what we’re about, there’s only 3 of us and we do carry a big sound as a 3 piece. We love what we do on stage, people can see that and we all fill in on vocals (well try) so people are not just fixed on the “vocalist”.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Go and like our fucking Facebook page!!
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I’ve been playing drums for 25+ years, so I’ve been about but just to be on a stage playing music in front of a nice big crowd and everyone enjoying it and having band members that love it too is what I enjoy. I hate travelling to shows and there’s no one there and you’re just playing to band members and bar staff, that seems a waste of time to me. And over charging people for shows, I hate that too!
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
There are loads of things that need changing but the big one has to be the selling or steaming of music, Artist can’t seem to make much money anymore from their music and you have these streaming sites that earn millions from band’s music with the band seeing next to nothing from it… unless your massive like Metallica that is!!!
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
I have 100’s of albums and I love listening to music so to narrow it down to an all-time favourite album is impossible for me, so I’ll say the album I’m listening to at the moment – Jinjer, “Macro”.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs, or Downloads?
I’m a massive CD collector, I have 100’s of them.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
I have played loads of good gigs over the years and so many to choose a best gig, we’ve played Bloodstock, Sophiefest, Pentrefest, but our last one was a special one as we weren’t even meant to be on the bill and got asked the day before, it was this year’s Hammerfest 13, we had a very good reception and loads of good comments off people after it.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I have a full-time job as I’m not a rockstar and this band pays shit money!! LOL.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
No one as I’m as chef by day job, they’d get me to cook so it’ll only be “Which four people would you invite to a dinner party? Fuck that!!! Ha ha!
What’s next for the band?
We’re in the middle of recording an album, we’re doing that ourselves, we have Pentrefest coming up along with Smoke on Trent Fest and M2TM North Wales to compete in.
Where can people find you online? Drop us your links below:
E:mail – bad.earth@hotmail.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/BADEARTH
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bad.earth
Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/bad-earth-1
Youtube – Bad Earth
Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?
Is it a “Jaffa Cake” or “Jaffa Biscuit”?????
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thanks to everyone for checking us out, we have some merch so please buy it as Karl is running out of “Jager bomb” funds!!! We’re in the process of recording new material and will look at getting them on CD’s “YES FUCKING CDS!! HOW OLD ARE WE????” We look forward to seeing you at a gig in the near future. If you are bored go and check some of our interviews from Bloodstock and Pentrefest as we don’t half utter bollocks, but it’s fun. Cheers! Bad-Earth-N.
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