Bad Light

Bad Light are forging something volatile, heavy and hazy. Born in Los Angeles as a two-piece by Trent Tanzi and Julian Fernandez-Viña before the pandemic reshaped everything around them, the band went through numerous lineup changes until it solidified with the dual vocal front of Nick Bottomley and Ryan Barnes. Bad Light’s music lives in the space where crushing guitar distortion meets introspective melody: shoegaze-infused walls of sound sharpened by the urgency of hardcore punk and the confessional ache of midwestern emo. It's music that feels close to the chest and bordering on collapse; simultaneously beautiful and bracing. Their new EP, Mortal Wounds, was tracked at The Pale Moon Ranch deep in the California desert. The isolation and severity of that landscape embedded itself into every track — songs that simmer with pre-apocalyptic dread, emotional rawness, and a relentless forward momentum. Feedback blooms over heavy, swinging rhythms. Vocals push through the mix like something desperate to be heard. Bad Light carry the DIY ethos of the underground scenes that shaped them — an uncompromising commitment to doing it on their own terms — while delivering the kind of sonically dense, emotionally honest rock that hits harder every time you press play.