Singles Spotlight:
Bad Waitress –
“Lovin’ Kind”

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Today, I’m excited to talk about another Canadian group creating great music: Bad Waitress, a punk quartet out of Toronto. Within that quartet, you’ll find Kali-Ann Butala on guitar and vocals, Nicole Cain on bass guitar, Moon on drums, and Katelyn Molgard on guitar. According to the press release for Bad Waitress’ new album, In The Hollow, which is out October 30th via the fantastic Canadian label Stomp Records, the band’s bio and history are described as follows: “That tension was forged in Toronto’s punk underground, where Bad Waitress built their reputation in sweaty rooms with very little distance between band and audience. Since emerging with 2018’s Party Bangers: Volume 1 and pushing into heavier territory on 2021’s No Taste, they’ve carried that energy well beyond the city, sharing stages with Fucked Up, L7, Rise Against, Wolf Parade and The Bronx. Along the way, their jagged take on punk has earned comparisons to The Stooges, Fugazi, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with New Noise Magazine calling it an ‘all-out punk assault’ and Exclaim! describing their evolution as ‘a new type of rage.'” Right on. Want to listen to those releases?  I recommend doing so. Check out Party Bangers: Volume 1 EP and their full-length album debut No Taste.

Let’s look into In The Hollow a bit more by focusing today’s Singles Spotlight on the song “Lovin’ Kind,” which online you’ll also see stylized as “Loving Kind”. English majors and word nerds are well aware of the fact that lovin’ is the less formal but grammatically accepted contraction of Loving. Long-time music fans can name a handful or more popular songs with either Lovin’ or Loving in the title, though the former appears more often in decades past. I think of the ’60s Motown era. I playfully say, come for us in the comments if you like. A press release for the album sheds some light on the song itself: “‘Lovin’ Kind’ picks up that volatility without simply retracing it. Recorded with engineer Josh Korody at Wychwood Sound in Toronto and produced by Bad Waitress themselves, the song takes a love-song premise and immediately makes it suspicious. ‘Tell you I love you / Then destroy you,’ Butala sings, as attraction starts tangling with resentment, vulnerability, and the instinct to push someone away. By the time the chorus lands on ‘I’m not the lovin’ kind,’ it sounds less like a confession than fair warning. The song keeps doubling back on itself. Come closer. Don’t get too close. Tear me up. Take everything. There’s something funny about the extremity of it, but something uncomfortable underneath too. ‘Lovin’ Kind’ never really settles whether this is romance, self-sabotage, or two people knowingly walking into the same terrible idea. Bad Waitress seem perfectly happy leaving it unresolved.”

And the same press release also examines what influenced the album and how it was crafted, noting, “That unease makes ‘Lovin’ Kind’ a fitting entrance to In The Hollow. The album grew out of the collective and personal isolation the band experienced over the past several years, with its members revisiting old memories and relationships from the uncomfortable vantage point of having changed themselves. Some of its imagery reaches much farther from Toronto, drawing on the Northwest Territories and Pacific Northwest, places members of the band grew up, where dark forests, vast wilderness, and a sense of mysticism became a way of reflecting the isolation and uncertainty running through the songs. It gives In The Hollow a wider landscape, but the record’s concerns remain deeply personal. Across the album, Bad Waitress grapple with changing relationships, identity, sexuality, and the strange experience of encountering earlier versions of yourself from a distance. Rather than treating transformation as some clean break with the past, the songs sit inside the messier part: figuring out what still belongs to you, what doesn’t, and what you’re finally ready to leave behind.” Digging the hype so far? Excited to hear the song?

Please allow me to share my thoughts first.

I love this video. The first time I saw it, I knew I had to share it on SWT somehow. The video is so badass: all four band members in black, focused and staring you down for most of it. Seemingly ready for any challenge, human, zombie, whatever crosses their path. The direct anger and musicianship are great. The song itself opens with killer guitar hooks and rocksteady, powerful drumming that carry through the track. Kali-Ann’s vocals are sharp, poignant, and cut like diamonds in the song’s most extreme parts. The song moves quickly as the groove carries it forward propulsively.  It’s a song I think many can relate to and is one of the better ones on the album. Thus, we are including it as part of our Singles Spotlight series here at SWT. Consider it a good introduction to the Canadian punk quartet Bad Waitress. But don’t take my word for it; check it out yourself below and tell us what you think!

The kickass, badass video for the song “Lovin Kind” from Stomp Records YouTube channel:

(All credits and rights to Bad Waitress and Stomp Records)

Here’s a peek at the cover art for In The Hollow:

The track list for In The Hollow:

1. I Only Like You When I’m Drunk
2. 45
3. Loving Kind
4. The Hunt
5. In The Hollow
6. Galleria Shopping Centre
7. Blood Valley
8. I Wish I Was a Mars Volta
9. Angel Song
10. Low

Alex M Theel

Co-Founder, Reviewer, Content Creator, Business side, Editor at Scummy Water Tower Productions | Web

Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site, scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions and SWT Interviews. And all of our socials.
Questions, feedback, or more? Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com