Bad Business Club is Ready to Get Naked

Don’t be fooled by the name – Bad Business Club is replete with good vibes.

The NYC-based nu-disco meets yacht rock band consists of Jackson Bell, Sam Behr, Alex Vans, Jim Campbell, Max Azarmehr (photo L to R), and producer Morgan Wiley, and they’ll be releasing their debut album, Naked Neighbor, on August 13th.

The heat of the summer is a perfect setting for Naked Neighbor, as it’s a soundtrack for beach days, barbecues, laid back rooftop gatherings, and sitting by the pool.

I caught up with Bad Business Club’s Alex Vans and Jackson Bell to find out more about Naked Neighbor, as well as the path they took to find their sound, and what to expect from their live show. They also discussed their Imbibe the Vibe podcast, and one of the worst things they’ve ever drank.

 

Let’s talk about your nu-disco meets yacht rock sound. The vibe is pure summer, with a beachy feel to it. How long did it take you to develop this sound, and how many jam sessions did you have before it really clicked? 

Alex: I think it probably took three years, I would say.

Jackson: It evolved slowly. We started as a band that would play like Mark Jordan songs, and deeper cut yacht rock stuff – lots of Doobie Brothers, lots of Steely Dan. We would go play that live.

Alex, correct me if I’m wrong here, but it started because you released music in the past, and DJs had gotten ahold of it and started remixing those tracks. People loved it. They started listening to that in massive numbers … you know, relatively speaking. That sort of became the model – what if we do a bit of the remixing ourselves, but still kind of maintain the spirit of yacht rock, or West Coast, or smooth, whatever you want to call it?

So it was three years of originating, remixing, and then deciding the remixing was going to be the original mix? 

Alex: Yeah. That’s actually a really great way to distill it.

We had these remixes that our friends had been doing of our yacht rock tunes, they had done this really cool thing to them that I hadn’t really heard before, so Jackson and I started talking about it, and we really thought it would sound even more fresh just to make our own … I wouldn’t call it remixes … just do that style with the intention of the way it was from the very start.

Jackson: Lean into the electronic angle.

Alex: The fun thing is you can turn anything into a disco song, or any song into a yacht rock song. This record was actually a really good experiment with that. I didn’t write these songs with the intent of, “I’m having to try to write a disco song,” or, “I’m gonna try to write an electronic sounding song.” The demos that I sent in to Morgan and the gang were just basically open chords with melody and vocals on top of it, and we just gave that the space to then breathe life into an arrangement afterwards.

I think a lot of bands approach recording like, “Hey, let’s jam and jam and jam, and let a song take shape together.” I think what we were afraid of if we went that direction would be accidentally steering the ship back into the waters we already knew, so to speak.

Jackson: Nice maritime analogy.

Yacht rock has been making quite the comeback over the past year, or so. Why do you think people are connecting with the genre, and the vibe again? 

Jackson: Well, it’s good time music, to give it like a one term answer. It’s a close relative of disco, and ‘70s sounding R&B. It’s just music that’s fun. It’s not too emotionally serious.

I think in the recent past, I’m saying the early 2000s, there was definitely a trend towards music that you’re supposed to listen to on headphones in your bathtub, like Radiohead, and stuff.

You can’t put that on at a party. It’s good music, but you can’t put it on at a party, you’ll bum people out. This is the opposite of that. It’s designed not to bum you out, for lack of a better term, and maybe even induce a little joy.

But if you want to you can listen to it in the bathtub with your headphones on. 

Jackson: If you like dancin’ in your bathtub. That’s cool.

Alex: I think that’s a good point, because there’s enough there for your bathtub headphone mood, as well.

Jackson: Oh dude, yeah, if you want to lay back, fire up a hog’s leg, and just like have a bath, it’s great for that, too.

Disco tub. 

Jackson: Yeah. Disco in the tub.

Alex: I think Aja, by Steely Dan, their seminal yacht rock album, is probably the best of both worlds in terms of a combination of something you can put on at a backyard pool party, and also something that you can put in your headphones in the dark in your bedroom and read into every single sound that’s going on.

Since we’re talking about being in the tub, it seems like the perfect time to transition to talking about your album, Naked Neighbor, which is due out August 13th. First off, the title … I’m totally imagining the cast of Friends gawking at Ugly Naked Guy. 

Jackson: Sure, or Seinfeld when they go up to the house – “Jane’s topless.”

Boutros Boutros-Ghali! 

Jackson: Yeah.

Alex: The Naked Neighbor title was an aesthetic I was playing around with. I was thinking through that, and the artwork that goes along with it, of … when you think of electronic disco yacht rock, you think of Ibiza, and you think of fancy yachts, and champagne, and parties by the beachside.

Jackson: Expensive sounds conjure expensive images.

Alex: And I thought – tear that down to somebody’s small version of that life, which is like their backyard little tiki set up, and small pool. That’s what I think Naked Neighbor (represents), somebody’s little cottage in suburban Florida. You think you want to be at the yacht party in Ibiza, but you really want to be just sippin’ on a beer, and grillin’ in that person’s backyard by his fake tiki torches.

Jackson: It’s a touch of pulp. Not dissimilar to a Steely Dan way of being a tongue in cheek, but lurid thing.

Do you think the album will inspire people to get naked with their neighbors? 

Jackson: In the best of times, maybe. Although get to know your neighbors before you have sex with them.

The album might help you get to know them, which would be helpful, so you can make an informed decision.

I know you don’t currently have any shows planned for the summer, but what would a perfect Bad Business Club show feel like? 

Jackson: Have you ever seen a naval gun boat fire all of its guns at once.

I don’t think I have. 

Jackson: OK, well come out and see us sometime. It’s kinda like that, when it’s firing on all cylinders.

We’re also in the process of, to use a Power Rangers analogy, Megazording the band. We’re trying to pull in a few elements for a bigger, huger, live set.

The sound of this record is less, “Hey, here’s a band in the vintage style of going into a studio and playing their instruments.” We’re employing more sound design elements, and programmed drums, and lots of percussion stuff, so we’re gonna try and bring that to the stage. Make it huge.

Alex: We actually just booked our first monthly series at Bowery Electric. It’s starting November 20th, so it’s still a little while away, but it will take place on subsequent Saturdays, monthly, after that.

I’m gonna be doing DJ sets leading up to that, that are TBD, both virtual, and in-person to warm things up. By that time I think it’s gonna be a great show.

In addition to your music, you have a podcast named Imbibe the Vibe where you pair cocktails with music/playlists. How long were you putting music and alcohol together before you had the epiphany that you could turn it into a show? 

Jackson: It grew out of my experience as a bartender in the past, and Alex’s love of drinking.

Alex: {laughs}

Jackson: Almost to your point, it was obvious to do something like that considering we do both, and so often those two things go together. Plus it gives me a chance to stay sharp when it comes to bartending, and keep up with knowing about spirits, and stuff like that.

I haven’t worked in a bar in years at this point, but it’s nice to be able to bring that stuff to a podcast rather than a bar shift where I gotta stay out until five in the morning.

What’s been the most difficult genre of music to pair with a cocktail? I feel like metalcore should be near the top of that list. 

Jackson: I don’t think we’ve done a metalcore episode.

Alex: We did do the failed “New York Rock Revival” one. We taped it twice.

Jackson: It’s the only one we’ve missed the mark on. Alex: We did two two versions of it. This was our second episode, about a year ago, we were gonna match rye with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Strokes.

Jackson: And we did.

Alex: However, there’s one version of that episode that’s sitting on my hard drive somewhere where we completely whiffed. I’m talking like green creme de menthe.

Jackson: Yeah. Part of the fun of the show is untested recipes, and it’s kind of about reacting to the drinks as you’re reacting to the music.

But that green creme de menthe was gross, man. It’s just like green, minty, it’s like Listerine mixed with vodka, almost. It’s green. It’s really green. I think there’s a white creme de menthe we should’ve used.

If the green tastes like Listerine, the white might taste like Crest. 

Alex: I’m sure it’s not that much better.

Jackson: But hey, part of the fun of being a bartender is trying to drink grosser stuff than other people.

I love Fernet to death.

Alex: Because of the podcast, Jackson’s developed a penchant for filling up my bar cart with useless, old school, 1950’s era cordials.

 

For more Bad Business Club (or to recommend them questionable alcohol choices), check out badbusinessmusic.com, and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

You can purchase their music on Bandcamp.