“BAD BUDDY”
Our daughter, Emily, is in a (Punk, pro feminist, original) band called, Bad Buddy. Emily writes all of the music, is the lead singer and guitarist, sound engineer, artist, and one of the promoters . This is her ‘baby’ or should I say,’buddy'(?) and I am really proud of her.
They have had some great press lately especially with the announcement of their first full length album. The tunes are catchy , the harmonies spot on , and you can’t resist moving to the music.
The lyrics can be touching, offensive to some, in your face, and poetic too. Many of the songs were inspired by a lot of heartache and loss that Em went through in her marriage and after it broke apart. (Emily is in a much happier ‘place’ now with the excellent drummer in the band, Geoff O’Brien)
I thought I would share with you part of an article written(by Ryan Garner) about the documentary local filmmaker , Michael B. MacDonald ,recently showed at The Metro Cinema. Enjoy!
Hard Core Local: Filmmaker Michael B. MacDonald shines loving light on Bad Buddy…
While the process might be complex, documentary filmmaker Michael B. MacDonald’s inspiration is fairly simple: “I make films with bands that I love.”That love shines through(in two of) the director’s recent works, screened at Metro Cinema on Saturday night during Hard Core Local: An Evening of Film and Conversation with Bad Buddy (and Unspittable, another band which I won’t focus on at this time. Laura)
Clocking in at 30 minutes, Hunters tags along with Bad Buddy, the self-proclaimed “best band in the world,” for performances at Calgary’s 2018 Sled Island Music & Arts Festival and North Country Fair’s 40th anniversary.
Along the way, MacDonald strips away the multi-coloured bands of makeup to reveal the foursome — lead singer and guitarist Emily Bachynski, Alex Vissia on bass, Andi Vissia on guitar, and Geoff O’Brien on drums — as a study of contrasts. There’s plenty of sweetness behind the snarling, and more than meets the eyeshadow.
Of course, it also helps that the music is an absolute blast. Early on, viewers are treated to Hunters, a betcha-can’t-listen-just-once banger that showcases Bad Buddy’s brand of Motown surf-inspired punk.
Hunters’ ferocity shifts to Bachynski in her kitchen, free of makeup, pressing the morning coffee, awaiting her bandmates’ arrival. MacDonald delivers these contrasting scenes throughout the film, presenting Hunters as a series of mini music videos tied together with snippets of conversation.
The Vissia sisters arrive in the band’s van — an extended blue beauty with silver peeking through under the windows, as if the paint had been corroded by the punk rock intensity of its passengers — just as a noisy forklift rumbles past. Time to go to work.
Road-tripping exploits follow as band members load gear, stop at McDonald’s for breakfast, pal around during a pit spot at Gasoline Alley, and arrive in Calgary for a Mario Kart battle over beers.
After performing to a crowd of bobbing heads, the band members are seen relaxing around a table with beer and burgers, where their origin story is summed up with the quote, “This is where it all began, one summer night — this idea… this brilliant idea.”
Part of the brilliance is Bad Buddy’s endless pursuit of rock-fuelled fun. Each member participates in other musical projects, joining forces to reject the trappings of “money, bookings, travel and grants” to create a group based around “swears, big makeup, glitter and garters.”
The band members don’t necessarily play to their musical strengths, by design. As Alex explains, “It’s a way to have fun and be out of your element, which is what music should be about.”
Arriving at North Country Fair, Bad Buddy is seen playing the song Simultaneously in modest attire on the Reed Stage under the sunshine, then plunged into darkness, glammed up at 2 a.m. and having fun. The film closes with the song Night Shift, as Bachynski implores the crowd to keep the party going.
During the Q&A afterward, MacDonald explained that Hunters developed after a chance encounter with Bachynksi at the Empress Ale House (RIP) and stemmed from an idea the filmmaker once had for a travelogue featuring Simone de Beauvoir quotes delivered by a feminist rock band.
Rather than aiming for fly-on-the-wall realism, Hunters’ intimacy is borne out of the filmmaker’s relationship with his subjects, being the fifth member in the van and allowing the camera to produce its own reality.
Bachynski likened MacDonald’s ever-present camera to Ash Williams from Evil Dead II, saying, “It’s like Michael’s got a chainsaw for an arm, and everyone knows he’s going to be there with this condition, and we just accept it.”