“No one likes the god honest truth” — an interview with Baby Strange

Wired Noise had the opportunity to speak to Johnny Madden, guitarist and vocalist of one of the most exciting artists to come out of Scotland this decade, Baby Strange.

For those who may not be aware of the Glaswegian outfit, Baby Strange are a punk-rock trio with strong roots in Glasgow who found success between 2013 and 2016 by releasing a series of singles such as ‘Friend’ and ‘VVV’. The trio released their debut album titled ‘Want It Need It’ in 2016, and completed a tour across the UK including numerous festival slots. Johnny Madden has also launched other projects with friends and the band; including a club night titled ‘Club Sabbath’ and a co-owned record label ‘Public Records’ which released their recent EP.

The band have recently released a six track EP titled ‘Extended Play’, the EP plays with different subject matters, and each song has an individual tone to accommodate that. We speak to Johnny about experimenting with different playing styles, politics, drug abuse, his co-owned record label and nuisance artist and repertoire contacts…

What was the motive behind the EP?

“Basically we didn’t want to wait too long, as we released our album last September, and it took us a couple of years to get the album out. We had a lot of songs and ideas left over from it, and we wanted to get them out. We started recording the EP in January, so the whole motive was to get something out for this year, as we want to keep going at a fast pace.”

I feel that the EP has a much larger variety compared to your album and first series of singles released, was this intentional?

“I think when it comes to an EP you can be a lot more confident in writing songs, the album was much more ‘thrashy’ and had simple song constructions where this EP sounds like a band who are much more sure of themselves.”

‘No Coin to Play’ is perhaps the heaviest song you guys have released to date, and perhaps one the most politically aware songs as it discusses the effects of a conservative government, using lyrics such as;

‘More lies today, spoon fed by Mrs May, did we have a chance? Never had a chance!’

Obviously it’s clear that you don’t agree with Theresa May in power but was there any other motive behind writing the song?

“We actually wrote the song before she got re-elected, me and the other two guys in the band wanted out of Britain. We wrote this in January, it was the whole thing that we needed a track, and Theresa May was messing up the country bit by bit, so it seemed very fitting to use that for the chorus. It was also about working class people feeling trapped, and this whole idea of isolation and not knowing where to turn to, and people feeling like they haven’t got a say.”

There are times you would get an A&R guy just talk about money, but you are like, ‘Has this guy actually listened to our band?’

What’s the story behind ‘Bring Me Down’?

“I’ve had the song down for a long time, it’s a good six years I have had it. It’s about a girl me and Connor knew who had a hard time growing up, and it was a good angle to write a song about. It’s quite a sparse song, it’s more a bass and drum kind of track. Which was quite fun as we haven’t really played a song like that before.”

So ‘Play Me’ has very interesting lyrics, with a sarcastic and in some parts very forward tone, what is the song about?

“It’s about when we first started as a band; there was a lot of hype around us and we had A&R guys from London coming up to see us, who were pretty condescending at times. It seemed like they hadn’t really done their research on the band, it seemed like they were just there for the buzz and not there for the actual music. The lyric ‘Glasgow is so hot right now’ is actually a quote from one A&R guy’s mouth. We just plunged in with the guitars and thought this is not fun. You know, you got these guys just sitting there, who clearly haven’t done their research and are just chasing something. So the whole song is about that.”

Were there a lot of people coming up to Glasgow to try and sign you?

“Yeah, it was getting a bit ridiculous at times. We just had to stand our ground, and we always have stood our ground. There are times you would get a guy talk to you and just talk about money, but you are like, has this guy actually listened to our band? It’s better to just walk away from those situations with your head screwed on, than just signing your life away.”

Who did you end up signing to, and who are you signed with now?

“We did our album with Ignition Records, but now we released the EP with Public Records, which is my own label. So now were putting stuff through Public Records. We always had a lot of freedom with ignition, but with Public Record we can go at the speed we want, whenever we want. If we wanted to do something crazy next week, we could and nobody would get annoyed at us. It’s run by me and my friend Connor and we have just signed a band called Rascalton. It’s starting to grow at a fast rate already, it’s a genreless record label, we’ll take on anybody who we think are good. We’re very excited about it. It’s very organic the way which we signed Rascalton, as they played our club night ‘Club Sabbath’ last year, so it’s nice to help bands that are starting out and seeing a nice community as a result of Club Sabbath.”

‘Young Team’, after a Google search we understood what the term meant. What was the motive behind this song?

“I was pretty worried that people outside of Glasgow and Scotland wouldn’t understand it. Young Team is pretty much like a gang in Glasgow. But it was just something to do for a lot of young kids in Glasgow. I’m from a place called Springburn which is quite a rough area, so yeah it’s about growing up there, and how easy it is to get sucked in. I never got in to it as much as some people, there were people that died and stuff. I thought it would be a different subject to touch upon as it means a lot to me.”

There’s a lot of modern guitar bands who have had comfortable lives. I feel there’s lack of bands who are speaking about things that are real

Would you say that this ‘Young Team’ culture is still occurring?

“Yeah, totally, it’s very very bad in Scotland, especially in Glasgow. It’s been happening for a long time, you know groups of teenagers just meeting up and fighting each other. I just hope the people who get sucked in can get out of it. For me and my friends it was music that got us out. There’s a lot of modern guitar bands who have had comfortable lives, with perhaps a little bit of money behind them. I feel there’s lack of bands who are speaking about things that are real, and things that are true to them.”

The ultimate track on the EP is ‘Mess’. This track stands out on the EP due to its slow transition from the other tracks and its serious tone. With the chorus stating ‘I’m a mess’ repeatedly, this track feels very heartfelt, what was the reason for writing this track?

“It’s a song about drugs, and about people that have struggled with drug addiction. And how you can lose your mind and make you feel a certain way. It’s also about coming to the realisation that you may have a problem with drugs or alcohol. It’s just about being brutally honest about yourself, hence why the chorus says ‘I’m a mess’. It takes a while for you to get there but when you say it out loud it’s the first step. No one likes the god honest truth.

“We have had the song laying round for a while, we were going to release it on the album but the production wasn’t right so we postponed it for the EP. I’m very proud about that song, it means a lot to us. It’s probably the most exposed that I’ve ever felt on a track, even production wise as well, the vocals sound very dry. I’m not trying to make it sound good; I wanted it to come across with a serious tone. The majority of the album and this EP is storytelling, but ‘Mess’ is a personal story, I’m trying to put all the cards on the table.”

So, what are your plans now?

“We’re starting to record our second album already, we’re hoping it’s out the end of next year. We want to operate at a fast pace, we like to do things our own way. Now that we got complete control we can.

“We smashed the festival circuit last year, and as the EP was only just released we felt that it wouldn’t be good going back to play the same songs as we did last year, so we only play few Scottish festivals. We have a UK tour in September which we plan playing the full EP and perhaps some songs off of the new album. It will probably be the longest set we’ve ever played. It’s such a buzz for us to go out and play six new songs. We want to move forward, we don’t want to play the same songs over and over. If we did we’d probably just end it.

“We have also handpicked all of the support slots. I think it’s important for headline bands to know who’s going on for them, and being fans for the bands. We got Rascalton doing three of the dates and then other bands doing the rest.”

The band set out on a UK tour this September.
Tour Dates:
12 Dundee, Beat Generator (16+)
13 Aberdeen, Tunnels (14+)
15 Glasgow, The Garage (14+)
16 Edinburgh, Sneaky Petes (14+)
17 Dunfermline, PJ Molloys (16+)
19 Newcastle, The Cluny 2 (14+)
20 Manchester, Gullivers (18+)
21 Birmingham, Sunflower Lounge (16+)
22 London, Old Blue Last *Free Entry* (18+)
23 Leeds, Headrow House (18+)

Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/babystrangemusic
https://twitter.com/babystrangex
http://www.thisispublicrec.com/buy