Black Bananas Bad Bunch
After a 12-year hiatus which saw Black Bananas’ frontwoman Jennifer Herrema revamp her original band Royal Trux and their studio becoming a casualty of the Pandemic, the trio – featuring Kurt Midness and Brian McKinley – is now releasing a rare for the times rock album that centers on the roll.
Black Bananas’ Bad Bunch, out on the band’s new label Fire Records on September 4th, distinguishes itself by drawing deep from the Source of African Diasporic music. The band’s love for hair metal is not in evidence here. Exploring Blacksound in the year of #America250 when there’s deep dissemination of the nation’s musical roots and the nature of Americana, there’s a continuum which kickstarted with Black Bananas’ 2012 debut album Rad Times Xpress IV’s genius opening tune “It’s Cool” which sounded like the Chocolate City of Herrema’s origins.
First track “Nutrageous & Jam” has the laidback sexy charm and lilt of the classic Quiet Storm format. “All The Way” is electro that brings the boogie. Herrema’s Funkadelic passion manifests on the album’s wonderful standout “Eddie’s Album” which seems to reference the late great guitarist Eddie Hazel who released his debut Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs in 1977.
Fittingly for this trio, the Seventies and early Eighties were the golden age of black music and the love and respect for the era continues with “Cold Bussin” which sounds as if dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry were at the helm during the recording process. Herrema’s career consistent innovative power is prominently on display herein and serves as a motherlode for those critics and audiences who have willfully and wrongly perceived her creation since circa 1990.
“Outta My Head’s” computer voicings invoke Zapp funk leader Roger Troutman’s usage of vocoder. “Sherman Dealer” is the other most spotlighted, funk-tempered rock song of the collection, featuring McKinley’s soaring guitar which deftly reshapes space. Bad Bunch’s first released single “Turkey Burgers” is glorious and redolent of the roll bounce perfect for Friday night at the rink.
Hip-hop emerges on “Tiny Chewbacca” and album closer “Good Pass” channels a bit of ‘70s jazz fusion – it sounds like someone was listening to Herbie Hancock’s landmark Headhunters during the assembly of the album. Jennifer Herrema’s return to this project is enhanced by Bad Bunch Radio (hosted by she and Midness) on the airwaves at NQRA wherein playlists regularly trace the funk/psych/rock/electro roots displayed on Bad Bunch – described as a “transmission from outside time.” And then there’s her accompanying merch lines combining street fabulous gold chains and bespoke denim that provide a style rendering of the freaky-deak shores her music attains. Herrema again reveals herself here as a master creator of Africana musics in America which is appropriate for 2026.
Find more information here on their website: https://blackbananasband.bandcamp.com