Ottawa’s Bad Volunteers Release Debut EP “Welcome To Summer Camp”
Ottawa-based indie rock trio Bad Volunteers, composed of best friends Chris Ferrente (vocals, guitar), Cole MacPhee (drums), and Andrew Doxtater (bass), have released their self-produced debut EP Welcome To Summer Camp.
The garage-rock/DIY 4-track effort highlights the band’s spirited and rambunctious sound, capturing the jitters and open-ended excitement of summer vacation as a way to navigate being in your mid-20s – from three friends offering “free help you don’t want”.
About their EP, the band shares, “We entered ‘adulthood’ kind of like your first day of summer camp. No clue what to expect, don’t want to make mistakes in front of your new friends, really having no clue what is going to happen day to day, and trying to find your comfort zone”.
Welcome To Summer Camp turns the naivety and uncertainty of leaving behind young adulthood as a rowdy coming-of-age experience. Mixing together the tongue-in-cheek spirit of local punk favs New Swears (“Kidney”), the danceable guitar hooks of Blink-182 (“It Catches Up With You”), and the rough-edged distortion of early-day Green Day (“Familiar Burn”), the record brings together their influences to make a nostalgia-filled release.
On the lead single “Cat Steven”, the trio run over the listener with power-pop chords and out-of-the-gate energy as they sing: “I’ve got no choice but to keep up / when I feel like giving up” before twisting their way into the final round of its sing-along chorus.
Ferrente says, ‘Cat Steven’ is about learning from the people you are closest with. It’s about your friends pressuring you and hopefully bringing you up. If you hang out in a barber shop long enough, you’re going to get a haircut right?”
Listen to the EP below:
