CINCINNATI — What happens when the new album by your favorite artist gets held up in the pandemic? Fans of Cincinnati-based Bad Veins will be pleasantly surprised.
Ben Davis, the musician behind Bad Veins, explained in an interview for WCPO Lounge Acts that he already has completed a third Bad Veins album. The album would have featured 10 new Bad Veins tracks, but plans for its release changed as the COVID-19 pandemic spread.
“Releasing a whole record right now would be weird because I wouldn’t be able to tour on it,” Davis said.
Rather than putting the new songs on hold, Bad Veins decided on a different approach.
“We decided we were going to start releasing it song by song every few weeks,” Davis explained. “And put a music video out with them.”
On Bad Veins' latest single, “Helicopter,” Davis sings, “I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to stay. Helicopter, come take me away.”
He admits there’s “a little bit of self-aware ironic resignation,” but added that the lyrics “feel more and more relevant all the time.”
For his WCPO Lounge Acts session, Davis performed stripped-down versions of four Bad Veins songs from his basement studio. Davis also discussed his approach to songwriting and how a gift from his father influenced Bad Veins’ style.
Watch Bad Veins perform for WCPO Lounge Acts in the video player above.
