With titles such as "Zombie Girl," "Call Me Frankenstein," "Your Favorite Ghost," and "Drinking With a Robot," it almost seems as if Bad Jacket's songs are more like scripts for Netflix or AMC horror dramas than rock songs.
But the Pacifica, California alternate-rock band does rock-up its quirky, cinematic lyrics, and the complete aural-cerebral-psychedelic experience is showcased on its new album, Back Again [Bad Banquet].
"I like to take the storyteller approach to most of my songs," says guitarist Rod Gilchrist. "That's probably why I always write too many lyrics."
All of the songs on Back Again were written by Gilchrist and guitarist Jon Plutte—typically with each composer bringing music and lyrics and presenting a fleshed-out composition to the band to develop arrangements and musical elements.
"Everyone gets involved with the construction of every tune," explains Gilchrist. "Nothing is off the table or sacrosanct. Every one of our songs has been improved by the band members in some way or another. Each member develops his own parts, and we all help those parts to improve even more. If a song is weak, we try to improve it. If it can't be saved—well, that's life."
Bad Jacket artwork by Bill Prochnow.
Back Again—its grooves powered by the propulsive and versatile rhythm section of bassist Bill Oaks and drummer Jon Christ—was produced by Guitar Player Editor in Chief Michael Molenda and engineered by Sami Perez (of The Shes) at Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco. The tracks were recorded old-school style with the band laying down basic tracks live, and everything routed through a vintage mixer to an analog 24-track deck.
"For 'Let's Go!,' I wanted to write a psychedelic song with the edge of the Who to celebrate the Summer of Love,"