Album review: THE BAD FLOWERS – Starting Gun

Pete Feenstra chatted to Tom Leighton for his Feature show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio (January 2018)

[Release date 16.02.17]

The Bad Flowers - Tom Leighton (guitar/vocals), Dale Tonks (bass/vocals) and Karl Selickis (drums) – released a damn fine single ‘Thunder Child’ in September and now unleash their full debut album on the musical world.

Tom Leighton sounds a lot like the Cult’s Ian Astbury, whilst his guitar solos light up songs like ‘Let’s Misbehave’ and ‘Be Your Man’ – the drums on this one fair burst out of the speakers. The Cult do come to mind a few times when listening to the album and after a cool bass riff intro ‘I Don’t Believe It’ is not unlike fellow rockers Tax The Heat.

Both ‘Rich Man’ and ‘Lion’s Blood’ could be future singles as both possess a riff and hook made for airplay, and indeed the live arena.

‘I Hope’ is an acoustic pause in an otherwise full on rock ‘n’ blues assault on the rest of the album. Would like to hear of the band’s acoustic side as this song is one of the album’s highlights.

The Bad Flowers have made a good impression with their debut album. Plenty of riff action and blues rock that will stand them in good stead in the live arena, which will be vitally important to a new band like this in such a crowded music scene. ***1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)