Washington, D.C.’s Bad Moves have a brand new song and video, “Cool Generator,” which was recently unveiled. The track was recorded in Philadelphia, PA with Joe Reinhart (Hop Along), while the video was directed by the band’s own David Combs.
Bad Moves on “Cool Generator”:
“We’ve often introduced this song as being about how the art and fashion produced by marginalized people, people of color and queer people specifically, are the source material most often appropriated by the mainstream entertainment industry. And yet, those communities themselves are the most likely to be at risk — of poverty, police violence, mental illness, et cetera.
The New York Times Popcast did a great interview recently on the subject of rap stars being targeted by the criminal justice system, which gets at some of the same ideas that originally inspired us. Kenneth J. Montgomery, a criminal lawyer, talks about the entertainment narrative of the “young black dangerous guy,” and he says, “Everybody benefits off of that, except the people that generate it.” Basically, there are cultural producers who are happy to profit off of a criminalized version of black identity for its entertainment value, while doing nothing to protect those cultural generators from a system that disproportionately targets them.
As far as synthesizing that complicated social dynamic into the lyrics of a power-pop party jam, we did our best. It’s a song about how certain people take the markers of culture and benefit from them without being put at risk, and how, when we consume a commoditized version of culture uncritically, we ignore the social precarity of the people who generate it in the first place.”
This new music arrives as Bad Moves pack up to hit the road, first heading to Austin for SXSW and then touring the US throughout April with Jeff Rosenstock. Below, find all of those dates.
BAD MOVES ON TOUR
4.18 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
4.19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
4.20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
4.21 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
4.22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
4.24 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
4.25 – Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch
4.26 – Chicago IL @ Logan Square Auditorium
4.27 – Minneapolis, MN @ Coffman Memorial Union (University of Minnesota)
4.28 – Milwaukee, WI The Back Room @ Colectivo on Prospect
4.29 – St. Louis MO @ Off Broadway
5.1 – Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
5.2 – Pittsburgh, PA @Spirit Hall
All dates w/ Jeff Rosenstock and Martha
BAD MOVES @ SXSW
3.13 – DG/FD Showcase @ Sidewinder 7:30 pm
3.16 – Peelander Z Fest @ Spider House 4:45 pm
3.16 – Pit Party @ Barracuda 7:45 pm
3.18 – KVRX Pool Party 12:45 pm