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)

THE BAD FLOWERS - Starting Gun

[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

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Josh Taerk Sunday Sessions 2024

Latest session: Sunday 14 April

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio



David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 7 April 2024.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 2 April 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 15 April 2024

ENMY The Ledge (FiXT)
KAROBELA Get Hard (indie)
KATH & THE KICKS Neptune (indie)
THE BEE TELLERS River Poem (Black Sand Records)
LAUREN FREEBIRD Like A Bomb (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 15 April 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023
14:00-16:00 KATARINA PEJAK – Pearls On A String (Ruf Records)


To see our Tweets you need to be logged in to a Twitter account



Popular (last 10 days)


This entry was posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply