FEATURE PROFILE: Bad Ibis
August 3, 2022
Euroa band Bad Ibis is on the cusp of chasing a career in the music industry. But first, its three members – students in the 2022 Year 12 cohort – are focused on the business end of their VCE studies.
The dream to form a band started in Year 2 at St John’s Primary School, Euroa, when Peter Bateman met new students and twin brothers Alex and Nick Russell.
“In about Year 2 or 3, I thought it would be fun to ask my grandfather for a drum kit for my birthday and I actually got it, much to my parents’ disappointment!” Peter said.
“At first, my drum kit was set up in the living room.
“I wasn’t very good at playing so I said, ‘I hate it’ and it ended up in my bedroom where I would play it every so often.”
While his primary school peers Alex and Nick didn’t own instruments, they “were always around music” thanks to their mum’s wide interest in genres.
“We’d hum and sing along to lots of music while we were growing up,” Alex said.
The trio started formal music lessons in Year 7 (2017) at Euroa Secondary College where its childhood dream became reality, forming Splinter Kiss with fourth student Will Beadle (re-naming as Bad Ibis in 2021).
As Splinter Kiss in Year 8, they could hardly believe their luck to record in a pop-up studio; facilitated through Strathbogie Shire Council’s youth development program Evolve, now called HOPE (Hope, Opportunity, Potential and Equity).
The young musos continued to develop their craft throughout secondary school in pop-up and home studio recordings, and live gigs at regional Victorian youth events.
In the July 2022 school holidays, all aged 18, Bad Ibis recorded in a professional full-size studio for the first time, along with three younger local bands. The four bands − all members of one of the HOPE program’s FReeZA Youth Crews − recorded a Kool Skools CD compilation at Melbourne’s new world-class Empire Music Studios. The “surreal experience” was facilitated by Shire youth development officer Annette Walton and funded via the Victorian Government’s FReeZA youth initiative.
Not a Bad Counter Version (a word play on each band’s name) will launch in November 2022 and will include Bad Ibis originals: Waiting for the Weekend; Wave; Roll With It; and Tattooed. The younger bands who also recorded songs and collaborated “with equal input” on the CD’s name and cover design were YNOT, Counterfeits, and Inversion.
“We want to say a million thankyous, times a thousand,” Nick said of the experience.
“There’s no words to describe it, we are still in awe of the sound quality. It was jaw-dropping listening back to our songs. It still hasn’t sunk in.”
Bad Ibis rebranded from Splinter Kiss after its fourth bandmate moved on.
“Peter came up with the new name,” Nick said.
“We’d been thinking of changing it for quite a while anyway, so when Will left the band, we thought: ‘Our new name has to relate to Australia, and it has to be sick.’ ’’
Scrolling Australian animals on Wikipedia “which would sound sick next to ‘Bad’ ” and inspire marketable “artwork for merch”, Peter’s finger landed on ‘ibis’.
He said the word match was perfect: relatable because the ‘bin chickens’ (as known by students) also hung out on their school oval (with a ‘bad’ habit of spreading rubbish); and a revelation the bird species was properly known as Australian white ibis.
Alex (lead singer and base), Nick (vocals and guitar) and Peter (drums and sound engineer) play covers and co-write originals, inspired by the ups and downs of growing up in a country town.
“Our topics include frustrations, isolation, relationships, the fear of not knowing if everything is going to pan out,” Nick said.
“For a long time, we hated the thought of being labelled grunge, but one of our teachers said for marketing purposes we could use grunge to our advantage. So, our music is grunge and rock alternative, which is pretty much the same.”
While the teen musos developed and settled into the grunge/rock alternative genre (their audiences now “sing back Bad Ibis lyrics” during live gigs), they have learned from experience and mistakes.
They agree “always having fun and making decisions together” helps their creative flow and friendship. “No-one is the boss,” Alex said. “We all [not just the twins] feel like brothers,” Peter added.
The band has learned to read its audience, and when it can – and cannot – use creative licence during a live performance.
Finishing each other’s sentences, Alex, Nick and Peter recall one of their debut performances as “freshly formed” Splinter Kiss in Year 8: the school end-of-year awards night.
They said their error of judgment to include a surprise interlude of its original Golfstick, without consulting a teacher or other adult, ended in a summons to the school office after the holidays.
“Golfstick is about the frustrations of not winning at golf,” they said.
“We were asked to play two covers, Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Twist and Shout by the Beetles.
“But when we were rehearsing we thought ‘Nah, this is going to be boring,’ so we decided halfway through Twist and Shout to break into Golfstick, which is pretty much in the same key, and go mental and then go back to Twist and Shout.”
While the young creatives had the foresight to remove some choice lyrics, the audience was divided in anger and applause to the unorthodox interlude; delivered with a distortion panel (“for an angry sound”), Alex “rolling around the stage in circles”, and Nick “running around the audience with his guitar” before “jumping back on stage to finish Twist and Shout”.
“We sort of blew that one,” Peter said. “It was obnoxious, distorted, loud and heavy; pretty much everything we weren’t meant to do.”
“And we haven’t been invited back [to play at the awards night]!” Nick and Alex added.
But there have been regional gigs to develop their style; and now they are all 18, contacts are helping Bad Ibis get a foot in the door to Melbourne’s live music scene.
When asked about mentors, Alex said “since day one in Year 7” music teacher Neil Lemmon had supported their aspirations. Nick and Peter agree “Mr Lemmon has been a big influence”; showing interest in their progress; “giving pointers on where the music should go, but never forcing anything”; and occasionally “jamming out” with them.
The band also values support and feedback from other adults with music and industry knowledge, but fly solo in decision-making: “We’ve always been doing what we think is right, having discussions about what we think is the right choice,” Nick said.
The group knows mentoring is a valuable commodity and has a big-picture view of supporting other rural youth bands, which is why it enjoys peer-mentoring YNOT, Counterfeits, and Inversion.
“We didn’t have the ‘big-brother little-brother’ kind of mentor when we started,” Peter said. “We know it can be hard growing up in a country town if you don’t play footy … or if your making peas of your early [music] gigs.”
As members of one of the FReeZA Youth Crews who presented the 2021-22 Summer Series pool parties throughout Strathbogie Shire, Bad Ibis supported the younger bands with sound engineering and stage confidence.
“We all thrive off the younger bands thriving off the little things we tell them, like using their time on stage to have fun and not taking things as seriously as other bands will,” Nick said.
“We tell them the main thing the crowd wants to see is you having fun, and it will feed off your energy.”
Recording Not a Bad Counter Version was another chance for Bad Ibis to support their younger peers.
“While this [Kool Skools] was the biggest studio we’d been in, it was the first experience in a proper studio for the other bands,” Nick said.
“We’re used to the recording environment and the long process of getting the sound right, so we wanted to help make it less stressful for the younger bands.”
As they buckle down into term 3 of Year 12, Bad Ibis share mixed feelings about heading to Melbourne after graduation.
“We’re sad to leave the FReeZA Youth Crew (the program is for 12- to 25-year-olds),” Peter said.
“We’ve all become good friends and will keep in touch,” Nick added “and it will be their turn to be “big brother little brother” kind of mentors for new bands who join the program.”
Meanwhile, Bad Ibis is optimistic about its next chapter agreeing, “It’s exciting not knowing what the future holds.” The Euroa-born band’s plan is to “stick to the Year 2 dream”, paving a future in the music industry − together.
For more information about Strathbogie Shire Council’s FReeZA Youth Crews or other HOPE youth development programs and events (for youth people aged 12 to 25), phone youth development officer Annette Walton on 5795 0000 or 0456 631 912 or email info@strathbogie.vic.au