Bad Motivator

Reviews

Bad Motivator / Woolly Bandits split 7″

This is a two-song split with each band leaning in with their best. BAD MOTIVATOR’s is a jerky ’70s punk tune that lyrically pulls you into themes of “turn on, tune in, drop out.” “Information Overload” is budding with nervous energy that keeps you learning forward anxiously for the entire song. The flip with WOOLLY BANDITS caught me completely off guard. With an aural garage attack that blends the fierce lyrics of Christa Collins and the raw guitar energy of Rik Collins. “A.I. Must Die” balances between unharnessed Paisley Underground, a wall of ’60s proto-punk, and a ’70s punk sound, while managing to be on-topic and present. It takes guts to do a two-sider split but this wins. I’m gonna go check their other offerings.

Bad Motivator Not an Album LP

Swampy, fuzzy, KINKS-like rock’n’roll. Seems a little too produced to call it garage music. Tons of energy, for sure, but it seems sort of put-on to me. It’s also got this herky-jerky thing going on that I almost always find annoying. Other than a nice cover of the GUN CLUB’s “Sex Beat,” this is mostly forgettable for me.

Bad Motivator Bad Motivator cassette

Three thrashy garage noise psych tracts that sound like something In The Red would have put out in the early ’00s. I was initially thinking this was the glam-adjacent band BAD MOTIVATOR from Spokane, but this outfit is from Los Angeles and only has a few releases out, leaving me excited for a full-length sometime in the future. Guitar-driven tunes with just the right keyboard accents in the vein of USELESS EATERS and GOGGS. Party tunes for deranged misanthropes.