Bad Debts on their debut album Under Kalimna Skies

Something is in the water in the Victorian town of Castlemaine, in an artistic sense. That’s the impression I had from talking to Al Carr and Pete Daly, two of the four members of Castlemaine band Bad Debts. Carr, Daly and the two other members, Mitch Dillon and Al Stanley, are locals whose proximity has led to the creation of an endeavour that none of them was really seeking or expecting. As I found out when interviewing them about Bad Debts’ debut album, Under Kalimna Skies, Carr and Daly met because they have children going to the same school, not through music circles, although Carr has released three solo albums, amongst other things, and Daly was previously in Melbourne band Blueriver. The collaboration began as the two of them jamming together, then added Dillon and Stanley, who have also been creating music (separately) for years.‘We were kind of having a bit of fun,’ Carr says, ‘then it got serious all of a sudden!’ It got serious in the form of 13 songs, with the writing shared amongst Carr, Daly and Dillon, making one album, recorded in Castlemaine, and it’s remained serious because, as I found out, they are already well into making their second album.Part of what I found so interesting about the conversation is that Carr and Daly were well established in their lives at the time they met and became friends. The easier path would have been for Carr to keep making his music and not take up Carr’s suggestion that they jam in his shed. He wasn’t looking for a new musical enterprise.All four men, however, have embraced newness and the result is a whole body of work that wouldn’t have existed without each of them taking the sort of chance that seems effortless when you’re in your twenties and somehow so much harder when you have kids at school and homes to run. They probably don’t think of it as inspiring but it is – if nothing else, it’s a reminder that if we don’t take chances we never find out what may come of them, whom we may meet and what we may create. Bad Debts turned out to be a safe bet, and they intend to keep backing it.A note on the audio: sometimes Daly’s wifi dropped out, so things were a little patchy. But that’s podcasting in real life and not in a studio! Occasionally the internet goes wonky. Listen to Under Kalimna Skies on Apple MusicListen to Under Kalimna Skies on SpotifyFor more Sunburnt Country Music:InstagramFacebook YouTubewebsite Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.