Review: BadBadNotGood at The Rechabite

BadBadNotGood at The Rechabite
w/ Haseeb Iqbal
Tuesday, December 3, 2024

It’s hard to think of a better way to spend a Tuesday evening than experiencing Canadian band BadBadNotGood playing at The Rechabite, supported by promising fresh DJ Haseeb Iqbal.

DJ Haseeb Iqbal “lost his marbles” when BadBadNotGood emailed him requesting he be the support for their Mid Spiral Australian tour. The Londoner who has been listening to BadBadNotGood since he was 15 (he’s currently 26) hoped to encompass what the band was about in his own set because “they’re always pushing the boundaries with sound.”

He did an excellent job as his set skipped from seventies disco from the likes of The RAH Band’s Messages From the Stars into the 1950s jazz number Moanin’ by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers and the contemporary dance track Holding On by Tirzah. The transitions were sometimes jarring in their contrast but never boring as Haseeb flailed his arms around and danced behind his decks for the entirety of his set, uninhibitedly enjoying the music as one might do in their own private space.

He asked the crowd if they were fans of Arsenal (the response implied the majority were not), but his excitement was evident as he waxed lyrical about how music brings people together and asked the crowd if they minded him taking a video to show his mother. He next played a song he described as “traditional Bangladeshi music infused with reggae” before proceeding to play the epic Streets of Calcutta by The Ananda Shankar Experience.

In between Haseeb Iqbal and BadBadNotGood, a lyricless but still recognisably rockin’ War Pigs by Black Sabbath was followed by an instrumental grunge song, which was an interesting prelude to what was to come. The six-piece situated themselves in front of a huge projector screen that, throughout the set, displayed an array of random imagery, including jellyfish, waves of technicolour, and obscure film snippets.

However, the eye-catching backdrop didn’t detract the audience’s attention from BadBadNotGood‘s phenomenal stage presence. Core members Leyland Whitty, Chester Hansen, and Alexander Sowinski on saxaphone, bass, and drums, respectively, were joined by touring members Kaelin Murphy on trumpet, Tyler Lott on guitar, Felix Fox-Pappas on keyboard, and Juan Carlos Medrano Magallanes on percussion.

The horns and keys produced the definitive jazz heart of the ensemble, whilst the drums, percussion, and bass drove the hip-hop and world music elements that epitomise the instrumental band. As a collective, BadBadNotGood are a tour de force, their combined execution undeniably supreme, and honing in on each individual band member was a journey unto itself.

Sowinski’s metal-esque drumming is a sight, and sound, to behold, his hand on the cymbal like a hummingbird’s wings—so fast you almost couldn’t see it. Of course no instrument ‘carries’ the band, yet the trumpet and drums brought a certain energy that soared through. Magallanes on bongos brought a groovy afro-beat sound to the band, complementing the drums in a beautifully primal way, and the enigmatic keys of Fox-Pappas absolutely shone during his solo, his fingers like lightning across the keys.

Every instrument had its moment, showcasing the band’s brilliant talent. Show me someone who doesn’t enjoy saxaphone, and I will show you someone soulless! Whitty’s sax solo sent the full-house crowd dead silent with the divine wailing of his instrument; it seemed sacrilegious to make a peep, but once the drums and other instruments kicked back in, The Rechabite rose to the occasion with an ecstatic explosion of cheers. Murphy’s trumpet playing gave Miles Davis a run for his money.

Witnessing BadBadNotGood live is like watching the most insane jam between friends you’ve ever heard. Whilst they clearly play masterfully, you get the feeling they’re totally in it for the music and not trying to woo the crowd by being anything other than their genuine, experimental selves. It seems reductive to box their genre as merely jazz when their musical range and influence sound inspired by music of bygone eras, music of the world, and music of the future. A truly magical experience.

KYRA SHENNAN