Orange County's Lovely Bad Things celebrate local scene

Listen to the full audio story

Download the MP3

The Lovely Bad Things aren’t your average punk band.

No one member serves as the group’s primary vocalist – and instrumental duties are also shared. Instead of emulating punk’s dark, isolating lyrical content, The Lovely Bad Things embrace the playful and absurd. The group’s latest effort, The Late Great Whatever, is peppered with pop culture references – everything from David Lynch’s cult TV classic Twin Peaks, to the Star Wars franchise.

It’s a democratic, artistic move that reflects the Orange County scene – a scene that prides itself on being all-inclusive.

“It’s a support thing," says band member Camron Ward. "It’s a huge group of people who are really enthusiastic about music that’s being made, as opposed to picking it apart for whatever reason. They’re just in it to have fun.”

The Lovely Bad Things drummed up buzz for The Late Great Whatever with a month-long residency at The Echo that featured bands from Orange County's hotly-tipped Burger Records, as well as other popular local bands. A scheduling conflict moved last week’s show to the Echoplex – the Echo’s larger, downstairs venue. But, it still wasn’t the largest crowd the Lovely Bad Things has played to. When they performed at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, that crowd was even larger.

“The whole process of getting there was pretty terrifying," Camron Ward explains. "We didn’t really know if we were going to have enough money to go until about two weeks before we actually had to leave for Spain.”

The Lovely Bad Things turned to crowdfunding site Indiegogo to raise funds for the trip to Spain. The move was a success, but it didn’t completely alleviate the stress of touring.

“We had under a month to fund the whole thing," says Brayden Ward. "We had to make people stuff, and there’s still some house parties we haven’t played for people that they haven’t set up yet. It was scary. But actually playing in Spain? It was pretty easy. It was a lot of fun.”

Orange County might not seem the ideal environment for punk music. It’s a region that’s long been associated with housing developments and Conservative politics. But the OC’s symbiotic relationship with underground music extends back to the early 80s, when hardcore punk was incubated in garages and living rooms around the region. And even then, as it is now, the scene was fueled by the ambitions of teenagers.

Lovely Bad Things’ Lauren Curtius attributes the band’s success to the enthusiasm of Orange County’s underage residents.

“It’s all the kids, really.," she notes. "It’s people that are under 21 — under 18, even. The kids that can’t get into the shows in LA a lot of the time.”

But this support has given The Lovely Bad Things so much more than musical success — it’s kept the band alive.

“I think everybody just has a genuine love for the bands and the music that everybody’s making there," says Camron Ward. "If we didn’t have the people that were there that cared about it, and the other bands that cared about what we were doing, then we wouldn’t exist.”