We’ll be honest: We were pretty blown away by Not Bad Not Well when we were researching the 2023 edition of the Rock & Roll Rumble and then became even more so after witnessing the live show. That said, like many fans of the band made from those shows we’ve been frothing at the mouth for new music beyond their lone single up until that point (“Sleeper” which you can read about here). And new music is finally here in the form of “New Way Out”!
Tapping into the magic that made the early 2000’s Post-Alternative (Go looking for Kimone’s The Mill, At The Drive-In’s Relationship of Command, or Muse’s Absolution for reference) atmosphere so gotDamn memorable, “New Way Out” continues on the journey that “Sleeper” began and gets, dare we say, more epic? Even broader than “Sleeper”, “New Way Out” is an urgent-sounding expansive world-building sonic experience with Matt Killoran and Tom Martin’s dueling guitars adding weight to the base that bassist Jake Pagoaga and drummer Shawn Pelkey concoct with Gregg Kusumah-Atmadja’s emotive and lush vocals adding both bite and beauty to the track. Add in this almost spiritual breakdown with a repeated guitar refrain from Martin and Killoran keeping the theme going in there and you have one more memorable banger from the Central MA quintet that’s only going to add fuel to the fire of the burgeoning Not Bad Not Well dynasty.
“New Way Out” is, ahem, out NOW and you can head here for all the links to that (Or click on the BC stream below) as well as news on the latest shows including their upcoming gig at Middle East Downstairs as support for the Orange Island and Garrison reunions on October 6th.