The Bads

The Bads is a vehicle for the musical escapades of Brett Adams and Dianne Swann. Created under the fiery skies of Waitakere, Aotearoa – New Zealand.

Back in the noughties, Dianne Swann and Brett Adams were on their “Big OE” in London and formed their first official musical partnership as The Julie Dolphin.

The Julie Dolphin received glowing accolades from the tough British music press for their album Lit and 2 EPs and toured extensively in the UK headlining their own shows, opened for Green Day, Oasis and Radiohead among others, clocked up strong memories of unique experiences.

Casting their minds back the band remembers, “Seeing Frank Black in the audience when we played at the 100 Club in London and collaborating with Thom Yorke [Radiohead] on The Bends sessions and playing keyboards on Street Spirit at the Astoria would have to be up there”.

Then, under the name Boom Boom Mancini the duo attracted the attention of boutique US label Almo Sounds, run by the founders of A&M Records, Jerry Moss and Herb Albert. They signed to their UK branch and became label mates with Gillian Welch, Imogen Heap and Ozomatli and fitted well into this eclectic mix until Jerry and Herb decided they didn’t like the way the music industry was heading and decided to close in 2001.

The two continued writing for a while but decided to return home to New Zealand in 2003.

Since their return the duo has released three albums as The Bads, (2005’s Earth from Space, 2009’s So Alive, and 2013’s Travel Light – which reached #3 on The NZ Music Album Charts). The song and the album So Alive were nominated for the Best Country song and album in 2010.

The Bads have toured the country extensively, opened WOMAD 2014 as Tim Finn and The Bads, and invited Australian legendary songwriter, Don Walker to New Zealand to collaborate on a series of shows. They have opened for Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Joan Armatrading, The Jayhawks and Rodrgio Y Gabriela. At the end of 2014 the band were invited to Melbourne to play support for Rodriguez.

Both Dianne and Brett have lent their talents to other prominent NZ musical projects in the last few years, making scheduling time for their own ventures tricky. In 2015 they juggled itineraries and made time for their favourite project; The Bads. The band headlined a show at Waiheke Jazz festival, embarked on a 14 date tour of New Zealand with folk rock band Great North and then travelled to Nashville to play at country legend Marty Stuart’s Late Night Jam at the revered Ryman Theatre. They returned home to NZ to headline a sold-out show at the beautiful Rotorua Museum.

Dianne and Brett are skilled music producers and have produced music for several TV Series, including Homegrown, Hunger for The Wild and Coasters. They have had songs featured in films and TV shows in New Zealand, Australia and the US.