There was a time in the latter half of the previous decade when the Easter bank holiday weekend in Brixton meant two things – Bad Friday and Joyfest, both at legendary South London venue The Windmill. A weekend packed with some of the most exciting new sounds emanating from the capital and beyond. With Joyfest on hiatus for the time being, Bad Friday is still going strong, with promoters (and occasional Joyzine collaborators) Sonic Tonic putting together their umpteenth brilliant line up for this year’s all-dayer, which takes place on Friday 18th April.
Taking to the stage will be Belfast garage punk trio Jock, feminist garage pop Joyzine faves The Baby Seals, Brightonian math-rock outfit Slag, energetic alt-rock from Alright (Okay), raucous indie rockers Deadheading, darkwave pop duo Border Widow, who include Chardine Taylor-Stone, formerly of Big Joanie, amongst their number, London grunge quartet Dogviolet and fuzzy slacker rock openers woon. And if that’s not enough bang for your £13 + booking fee, you’ll also get to help yourself to the world renowned Windmill BBQ, included in your entry fee (though make sure you get there early before all the veggie sausages are gone).
Bad Friday is a Brixton institution, designed, in the words of the promoters “to give a much-needed platform and wider exposure to the kind of electrifying, under-the-radar talent that Sonic Tonic believes deserves a far bigger audience.” You can get in on the action by booking your ticket here. And if we’ve not convinced you yet, here’s a playlist to whet your appetite:
As they prepare for the day’s festivities, headline acts Jock and The Baby Seals share their thoughts with Sonic Tonic’s Neil Walsh:
What’s the story behind the band name?
The band name Jock came from Mark taking the piss out of me and my light competitive streak.
Your tracks to date remind us a little of Amyl & the Sniffers and the first Dream Wife album; would those artists feature on a Jock-endorsed playlist?
Yes, we are big big fans of Amyl and the Sniffers and they are a major influence when writing for Jock. I love writing about dark issues in a light way because that is how most people navigate life. You deal with really big emotions , navigating toxicity , a broken system but you do it in a really human way. I deal with these issues through humour and this comes out through the lyrics.
A Jock playlist would include: The Chats, Metz, Mclusky, Big Ups, Meat Wave, Black Eyes, The Phlegms. Other additions to a Jock playlist would include local Belfast and Irish bands such as Chalk, Nerves, Problem Patterns, Tramp. Also some Brighton bands like Ditz, CLT DRP. Recently I seen a band called Francis Pig who I LOVED. They were really camp but also shouty – couldn’t take my eyes off them.
Your fantastic single, ‘Moving’, made clear your frustrations with the Belfast housing / rental sector! What made you decide on moving to Brighton?
We moved to Brighton to write some tunes with our friend Tom. A lovely Croydon man who has impeccable , encyclopaedic music taste.
Honestly , I think we moved to Brighton despite the housing crisis there. Everyone and everywhere is getting squeezed with high rents in the housing crisis, especially those in Brighton! I think it is now the most expensive place to live in the UK. We have lived here a year now and in that time we have given our landlord enough money to buy a pair of shiny solid-gold gilded shoes; so we are happy for him! Happy to pay the man’s mortgage – why not!
What music venue would you recommend to anyone visiting Belfast?
If visiting Belfast there are a few class wee spots – the Oh Yeah Centre is a music hub that are really supportive to new musicians and bands. They have a recording studio upstairs and gig space downstairs and cheap pints. Other mentions : Ulster Sports Club, The Black Box.
What’s the plan for the rest of 2025?
Our plan for 2025 is to play a few festivals in the summer – we are playing the Great Escape in May and a few others later on in the year.
Jock: Instagram / Bandcamp / Linktree
Your debut album, Chaos, is heavily influenced by motherhood. How did that shift in focus, from more general everyday female experiences to the specific lens of motherhood, impact your songwriting process and the overall tone of the album?
I’ve found becoming a mum a pretty weird experience. I have a whole new respect for mums who are doing it by themselves. If you’re a single mum and you’re reading this, you’re a fucking legend.
Process-wise, rather than doing a 6-hour songwriting session that usually started in the late evening, writing became—and has continued to become—something very much done on the go.
Early motherhood was alien to me; not everything was intuitive. I spent the first 3 months wondering who the hell this potato with arms and legs was, and the following 6 months wondering who the hell I was. And although I was content with my family situation (I’m proper lucky on the family front), I was also full of rage at the state of the world, and my perspective turned very much on to mothers in countries at war. Moss was four months old when the war in Ukraine broke out—which led me to start looking up all the other wars, as you do. 110 at the time. I was so sleep-deprived I believed I could telepathically communicate with Vladimir Putin. It wasn’t full-on postpartum, but it was definitely getting into delusional thinking. You might think I’m making light of it, but at the time I actually believed that all the mothers of the world were honing in on the psychopaths—urm, I mean world leaders—and trying to steer them in a different direction of peace and unity.
Motherhood was a magnifier—I felt extremely powerful and extremely vulnerable all at the same time. Quite electric and visceral. So yeah, it definitely gave the recording process an edge.
I’ve looked back at some of the video footage of the time and I look possessed doing the vocal takes of Chaos. The “her” in Chaos is Mother Nature. Someone recently asked if it was about Hillary Clinton—no, it’s about Mother Nature. That’s something else that happened to me after having a baby—I started thinking a lot more about legacy and what we’re leaving him, and how I was going to explain how fucked up it all is.
The band’s humor and feminist themes are a core part of your identity. How do you balance those elements in your music, and what kind of conversations do you hope to spark with your listeners?
Humour is a good way to get people on board with concepts that they might have previously been uncomfortable with. A favourite cartoon when I was younger—and one that’s stayed with me (I’ve just had a look online, it’s one of Aesop’s Fables, The North Wind and the Sun)—and it’s basically about this bloke on a park bench. The sun and the wind strike a deal—the one who could get the man to take his coat off was the winner.
The aggressive wind blew as hard as it could. The man clung as tightly as he could. The harder the wind blew, the harder the man clung on to his coat. The sun, with its warmth, created an environment which made the man take his coat off.
I think humour can do that—it can disarm people. Ultimately, we want to be part of making you feel better.
The Baby Seals’ live show is a riot – pure energy, and you’re not afraid to throw in some serious stage theatrics. Who are the performers, past or present, that really set the bar for you guys in terms of stage presence and raw performance power?
Amos and I are sisters and we grew up watching our dad and uncle perform in their band, Colonel Gomez. Our uncle Brian would dress up as a red devil and jump out of a huge coffin that our grandad made for them. He recently died and we tried to use the same coffin at the funeral but weren’t allowed to because of the toxicity of the paint. He’d have loved that. The band were very theatrical and had an infamous performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test (it’s on YouTube—and no, it’s an inflatable “Cox’s apple,” Dad didn’t expose himself).
I think Amyl and the Sniffers have great stage performance. Amyl’s strong, and I also love Matt from Pigsx7 as a performer—there’s a freeness about him, he takes it right to the edge. Tina Turner—incredible presence and absolute raw power. And I’ve never seen anyone play guitar like Prince.
Kate: Spinal Tap has been an ongoing inspiration, and my dad was in a psychedelic band called The Social Outcasts (they were a bit like the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band). I’m very influenced by The Stooges and MC5.
Cambridge. Not the first place you think of for your brand of high-energy feminist rock. What’s the scene like there, and where do you guys feel most at home playing?
I lived in Peterborough when I wrote the album, and then I moved to March in the Fens. There’s no scene here, but I love the Fens, and there’s lots of inspiration for songs.
Amy and Kate both live in Cambridge, which has had some great bands come through, but it’s not like places like Brighton or Bristol. It’s not got as much grit and freeness, or as many venues. It’s the people that make it feel like home—the venues run by passionate promoters, groups and movements like LOUD WOMEN, Get In Her Ears, and Careful Now Promotions at the Oast House really supported us and have made us feel welcome. Kate especially in her old home town, Brighton. But we’re happy playing anywhere.
What kinda chaos are Baby Seals plotting for the rest of 2025?
We’re bundling around Europe over the summer—we love playing festivals and checking out the sights and the other bands. We’re looking forward to playing with Fetch and playing The Munster Raving Loony Party garage punk & rock ’n’ roll festival in Spain. We’re bringing out a couple of cheeky singles, and recording the second album towards the end of the year.
The Baby Seals: Website / Facebook / Instagram
Bad Friday takes place at The Windmill, Brixton on Friday 18th April. Tickets, priced £13 + booking fee are available here.
Introduction by Paul Maps
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