“We are a feel-good, good-time rock’n’roll band.” So says Daniel “Seeks” Seekings, guitarist for Norfolk blues-rockers Bad Touch, and really, why does it need to be more complicated than that? Their new, fifth album, Bittersweet Satisfaction, is a ray of positive energy, a celebration of living in the moment and leaving your troubles at the door. It’s been recorded and finished for half a year, and – with a more polished, mainstream sound than they’ve explored before, but still with its roots in the classic rock of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and The Black Crowes – the band are bursting to let it loose on the world.
“We've never sat on anything that long because we're like kids in a candy shop, as soon as we write something, we want to get out there and play stuff,” says frontman Stevie Westwood. “So, it's very exciting. It's slightly more mature. I love every song. It's a different sound for Bad Touch. It's less balls-to-the-wall rock, and the songs seem a bit more thoughtful rather than just kind of exploded out of a tin can.”
The band formed as teenagers in Seeks’s small hometown of Dereham, back in 2010, when he and lead guitarist Rob Glandinning teamed up with drummer George Drewry and recruited bassist Michael Bailey from the thriving local school-age rock scene. Westwood came on board later, and they threw themselves into the live circuit, often playing three gigs across the town’s pubs in a single weekend. They quickly gained a reputation for their electrifying live shows, and in 2013 things started to take off when they self-released their debut album, Down And Out, snagged a national support slot with The Quireboys and won the Marshall Ultimate Band accolade.
They’ve been honing their craft in the decade that has followed, going on breakout tours with Skid Row and The Kentucky Headhunters (“The nicest and kindest people,” says Seeks) and blasting through a lifechanging set at Download festival, which took them to a whole new audience.
Bittersweet Satisfaction finds them with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. Recorded at The Marshall Studio in Milton Keynes, it was self-produced by the band, engineered by Marshall’s Adam Beer and Ollie Brightman, then mixed in Wales by Motörhead/Bring Me The Horizon producer Romesh Dodangoda, who has made the drums sound suitably immense. A collection of classic rock anthems with heart and soul to spare, it’s sparked grand but relatable ambitions in the Bad Touch camp, a desire to give up the day jobs and dedicate their lives to rock’n’roll, and maybe even, Seeks hopes, have a shot at hitting the charts.Really, though, it’s all about the live experience, the coming together of likeminded people to celebrate the healing powers of music.
“I love meeting new people,” says Seeks. “The ultimate thing is being on stage. Especially if you've got a roomful of people who are really enjoying the music that you've created.”
“There are so many people that come up and shake my hand and go, ‘Your music has really helped me’, and that's a really special thing,” adds Westwood. “I think that's why music resonates with people, they want to feel that their emotions are validated. That's what I always long for when I come to songwriting – I want to write a song that someone can resonate with and go, ‘I've been here, and this is not necessarily a lovely place, but as long as there's someone else who's feeling the same emotions, then at least I'm not alone.’ Doing the nine-to-five is okay, as long as you got a Bad Touch gig at the end of the week.”
