Badflower

Praised for reinventing the tired, sludgy emo and grunge formula and creating their own brand of glossy, sensitive, emotional rock hits, Los Angeles four-piece Badflower deal in scorching guitar licks and rousing choruses. Guitarist Joey Morrow and front man Josh Katz were 18-years-old and were attending different music colleges when they met in Los Angeles and became room-mates, but they soon dropped out together, spent their money on recording equipment and found former school friend Alex Espiritu playing at a Halloween house party. Drummer Espiritu later completed the line-up, and they started off playing basement shows in the area, touring in a graffiti-covered school bus, before a residency at the Sunset Strip's legendary Key Club helped them build their reputation and make a string of contacts within the industry. Mixing Katz's heartfelt songwriting with bluesy glam rock struts and melancholy, bubblegum-pop singalongs, they made EP About a Girl in 2013. They went on to release follow-up EP Temper in 2016 through fashion designer John Varvatos's label and supported Billy Talent, The Veronicas and Pop Evil on tour, before heading to Nashville to start recording new material in 2018. Despite being loved by pop radio, Katz bared his soul in his lyrics and talked eloquently about the extreme anxiety from which he suffers, alongside serious issues such as a depression and addiction. Singles like "Ghost" and "Heroin" became scorching alternative rock anthems and earned them comparisons with the likes of Placebo, Panic! At the Disco and Royal Blood. Actor Johnny Galecki from the The Big Bang Theory became a high profile supporter and even joined them on stage at a show at The Viper Room, before their debut album OK, I'm Sick was finally released in 2019. With singles frequently ranked in the Mainstream Rock chart and US Rock Airplay, Badflower pursued with sophomore album This Is How the World Ends (2021), featuring "Don't Hate Me". After a three year break from dropping new music, the band returned in 2024  with a string of singles, including "Detroit", "Haunting You", "London", and "Paws", before the release of the third full-length No Place Like Home in June 2025.