Dan Mead (Drummer, BadCameo Band)

Dan Mead on the left

How has the pandemic impacted your band?

We always like to look at the glass half full! So while unfortunately the Covid-19 pandemic cancelled our first full Northeast tour that was going to go from Raleigh to NYC, and cancelled 2 other festivals we scheduled to play, it also has been a beautiful time of writing, creating music, and getting better at our instruments. We used the blocked off time from the tour to quarantine in our music studio and record our first full length studio album! Our keyboard & bass player Geoff is an audio engineer, so our album is going to be completely self-mixed and produced. Be on the lookout for it this fall!

Tell us about your new and upcoming album, what's the inspiration behind it?

We pride ourselves in blending all types of influences: from 4-on-the-floor funk to bossa nova - to even sprinkling in the occasional freestyle rap. The band motto is "fuse whatever you got into this music". We think it's important for our first album to show everything we're capable of. We explore different genres, rhythms, and song types. It's guaranteed to be eclectic and unique! We are planning on releasing 4 singles leading up to the album, with the first out at the end of July.

Who would you most like to collaborate with?

With so many different types of inspiration it's hard to pick, but we'd love to play with the bossa nova saxophone legend Stan Getz, keyboard player Robert Glasper, jazz-hop singer/guitarist Tom Misch, and the drummer Larnell Lewis from Snarky Puppy.

If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?

It's beautiful how much amazing music is out there - you literally can find a new favorite song every day! However, it does make it challenging to figure out how to consistently find and retain listeners. In the streaming age, it takes a ton of listens to make music a full time job, so we are doing our best to understand promotion and marketing, as well as making different content. It's a challenge, but a fun challenge - we learn something new every day.

Is there something out there, a thought, an idea, a current event, or a fear that you find deeply unsettling?

We are optimists, so the only fear we have is not giving ourselves an opportunity to follow our musical dreams. We've all heard the corny cliche "if you love what you do, you won't work a day in your life", but honestly music is like that for us. Sorry to all readers who just rolled their eyes.

Our latest EP from February "Neon Souls" : https://open.spotify.com/album/2zbB9BiDKyxY9z15JxSPid?si=nFX9KtmPTZ2pjRCnJ2FRRA