Band: Bad to Worse
From: Pennsylvania
Their formation story:
(Forrest Yingling, guitar): "Our singer, Alan Landsman, and I have been friends for about 13 years. We both grew up in the punk rock scenes of different areas. We have a shared love for a lot of the same types of music and the subculture in general. We wanted to start a band for a long time but life's responsibilities got in the way. Then in the spring of 2023 we made it happen and started writing songs together.
"Our bassist, Barry Schmidt, and I have known each other since we were kids and played in bands together when we were teenagers. We recruited Matt Bear as our drummer in the fall of 2024 after parting ways with our original drummer. He's been kicking ass ever since.
in February of 2024 we self-released a 7" called Counting Time, which lyrically chronicled Alan's time spent in prison. We recorded and produced it DIY style in my basement."
Their sound in their own words:
"Our sound and style sort of varies from song to song but the backbone of it all is a love for punk rock. However, there's a lot of elements of hardcore and Oi! music thrown in there too. I think what we like about the notion of Oi! is the desire to unite working class people across different musical genres. Unity is really important to us.
"We are trying to make music reminiscent of the music we fell in love with as kids. Not speaking for the entire band but two bands that come to mind for me are Operation Ivy and Minor Threat. I'm not saying we necessarily sound like those bands but it's more their ethos and message. However, I think it's safe to say Ian MacKaye is a hero to all of us. It all boils down to a passion for music. The foundation of that passion is punk rock, its message and sense of community. But we appreciate a lot of different kinds of music. We aren't trying to fit into any kind of box. We just write what we think sounds cool and if it moves us then we will turn it into a song.
"I can say Alan, who played bass in Poison the Well and sang in Until the End back in the day, has been heavily involved in the hardcore scene and is a big fan of bands like Converge and American Nightmare. Matt loves The Damned and Rancid but is also a big country music fan. Barry loves Devo and Bikini Kill. And honestly I like all that stuff too...
"As far as our sound, we've gotten comparisons as varied as Rancid, Murder City Devils, The Replacements, and Hot Water Music. So we are sort of all over the place..."
Latest release info:
"Our newest release is a full-length album called These Are Our Streets. It contains all of the 11 songs we have written since our formation. We have cassette tapes for sale via our Bandcamp. The tapes turned out totally badass. It's really exciting to have all of our hard work come to fruition and have something tangible to hold in our hands."
Future plans:
"We have some shows scheduled including a record release show at the end of August and we are continuously writing new music. We hope to get back into the studio as soon as possible and continue creating."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"Mr. Nice Guy, Ambushed, Back to Life, The Slads, Impact Driver, Wayward Brigade."
Bad to Worse on social media: Instagram
Tagged: bad to worse
