Bad//Dreems: Don’t Dream It’s Over
It’s all coming to a head for local rockers Bad//Dreems. After a tumultuous career spanning over 15 years, guitarist Alex Cameron and frontman Ben Marwe open up about their decision to take a break, their new album Ultra Dundee and the band’s lasting legacy.
Words Tobias Handke // Image Mclean Stephenson
All good things must come to an end. After 15 years as Australia’s preeminent rock outfit, Adelaide’s very own Bad//Dreems are stepping away from the spotlight for a well-deserved break.
“I think we collectively knew that we'd given it our all and needed to signal to the bench for a breather because we're just running on the spot a little bit,” explains guitarist Alex Cameron over Zoom. “We’re pretty burnt out combining the band with our jobs and personal lives. One of the reasons why the band has lasted so long is that we made a decision to all continue our careers and never go full-time music, which was a good decision because it would have been really hard for us to survive off the band with the way the industry is.”
“It's also just an exhausting time to be alive,” chimes in vocalist and guitarist Ben Marwe. “The way that we write music, we are all in emotionally, and it takes a lot out of you to just think about how you want to say things. It takes time to formulate those ideas and opinions and then turn them into music.”
So, it’s not goodbye, but more of a see you later?
“I very much look forward to having some weekends back and getting my lawn looking good for spring and summer,” jokes Ben. “But it's by no means the end of the band. Who knows where we'll end up, but I think hiatus is the best way to describe it.”
Formed by Alex, Ben, drummer Miles Wilson and bassist James Bartold in 2011, Bad//Dreems quickly caught the attention of music lovers across the nation with their gritty rock riffs and outback noir lyrics exploring the darkness hiding in the shadows of suburbia. Their debut album, Dogs At Bay!, is regarded as a modern classic and helped the band score two gongs at the South Australian Music Awards. Three more albums followed, including 2023’s Hoo Ha!, the band’s first record to crack the ARIA Albums Chart Top 10, and several personal changes, with guitarist Ali Wells joining in 2017 and bassist Deon Salviero taking over from James Vartold in 2025.
After celebrating the 10th anniversary of Dogs At Bay! with a national tour last year, Bad//Dreems are excited for fans to hear their just-released fifth studio album, Ultra Dundee. A collection of songs spanning topics such as generational trauma, Invasion Day, the Outback and the nightmarish side of Australian culture, the record could almost be considered a concept album, with the title also representing a fictional character who appears across the 11 tracks in various guises.
“In my mind, [Ultra Dundee] represents an Outback dystopian theme park, kind of like an abandoned Luna Park, smack bang in the middle of the Western desert,” explains Ben. “What would that look like if you had characters like a broken-down Mick Dundee? Ultra Dundee is the embodiment of all of the characters that we've sung about and written about, which includes parts of ourselves, parts of our friends and family, the things that you see on the news, the things that you see whilst doom scrolling, the things you see when you're walking down Rundle Mall. And that led on to, and I'll let Alex talk about his perception of it, but that led on to half of the formation of the concept of the album.”
“When Ben came up with the phrase ‘Ultra Dundee’, to me, it did conjure up an idea of Australia and those places and spaces that are in the outback, or something like Kakadu, with vibrant colours turned up and everything enhanced a notch,” adds Alex. “Including the characters that you find in those places. I think sometimes Australia, the portrayal of Australian culture, or what is featured heavily in the media or in pop culture, does us a disservice. I think Crocodile Dundee can be somewhat of a good example of that. It's a bit dumbed down and selling ourselves short. A lot of the inspiration from Bad//Dreems comes from other pieces of Australian art.”
Alex mentions Australian classics Bad Boy Bubby and Wake In Fright as inspirations, along with artist Sydney Nolan and bands like The Drones and The Saints. “It's searching beneath the Fosters can and the footy game. I think there's so much more interesting [things] about our country,” he muses.
The band’s fascination with Australian film led to Bad//Dreems teaming with talented filmmaker and longtime friend Kaius Potter to create a short film comprising the music videos shot for the Ultra Dundee singles ‘Shadowland’, ‘Ultra Dundee’, ‘Irish Airman’ and ‘Night Shooting’. The short film is centred around the titular character, Ultra Dundee, and captures the essence of Bad// Dreems view of authentic Australia.
“We went and filmed at the Low Light Hotel, and then we travelled up to Port Pirie, filmed in front of the smelter there that was being reworked as we were filming,” says Ben. “Those places, those industrial coastal towns, they really do capture a lot of that mood a lot of the time. They were great places to visit. And, you know, they were great inspirations for what you'll see come out on the screen.”
Bad//Dreems’ interest with the underbelly of Australia is hard to explain, with neither Alex nor Ben quite able to put their finger on why they are drawn to the darker side of life. “I've asked myself that many times,” Alex ponders. “I think ever since Ben and I first got together, we always found certain things fascinating or amusing, and they were often the weird and wonderful parts of Australian culture and stories. I think that Australian culture can be very whitewashed and homogenised and safe, and it's more interesting to look beneath all that stuff, whether it's stories of people on the outskirts, or stories of things that are pushed away and hidden. I think that reveals more about ourselves and ourselves as a culture than a lot of other stuff”
Before Bad//Dreems ride off into the sunset, punters have one last chance to see them in the flesh when they hit the road this month, kicking things off in their hometown with Gather Sounds, a two-day mini festival at UniBar Adelaide featuring performances from Bad// Dreems alongside a bunch of their mates, including West Thebarton, Phil Jamieson, Beddy Rays, The Empty Threats and more.
The idea for Gather Sounds was first formulated a few years ago by the band’s good friend Brian Taranto, who heads up their merch company. But the lads could never find a clear time in their schedule to make it work, until now.
“It lined up perfectly with the release of our album, our tour and Gather Round,” Ben says. “We’ve always wanted to put on a festival, and I think it works well because it really is an amalgamation of our love of football and the community. On Friday night, we'll do an SA-only type gig, which will be the official launch of our album, and then the day after is more like a gathering of all our friends from around the country and a celebration of Australian music, and we'll be playing that one too.”
And what of the band’s legacy after 15 years of blood, sweat and tears?
“You’d really like to think that the band has a legacy, but I've got no idea what impression we've made on people or the music scene,” Alex confesses. “If anything, if we could inspire at least one person to go and start their own band or creative project, then that is a legacy in my book.”
Catch Bad//Dreems performing as part of Gather Sounds on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 April at UniBar Adelaide Cloisters. Tickets on sale now via moshtix.com.au.
