Feature: Balaban and the Bald Illeagles Decodes "P. T. A. B."
Punk Head: You’ve described this as a “new look muscular four piece,” but the roots go back over a decade. What feels genuinely new about this version of the band, and what feels carried over from the early days?
Balaban and the Bald Illeagles: Having previously been a 3 piece group, In 2022, the band went on a hiatus and fell into the wilderness really, which happens when you are working class lads with families and full time jobs and other commitments. So in 2025, when Ken and Sid actively wanted to be part of Balaban and the Bald Illeagles, which would make it a 4 piece act (including Onion) it was a no brainer, both being songwriters and vocalists in their own right as well as talented musicians, added so many strings to the BATBI bow; which absolutely makes us more "muscular" as an outfit. The songwriting dynamic has shifted; as the old three piece was mainly dictated by me (Roscoe) however; now the arrangements of the songs are a group effort, with Sid having complete autonomy on the drums and Ken adds guitar parts out of his own imagination too, meaning the songs tend to evolve progressively the more they are practiced.
Punk Head: Your influences stretch from late 70s post punk through 90s grunge. When you’re writing, do those references feel conscious, or are they just baked into how you naturally play?
Balaban and the Bald Illeagles: I asked the band.. and these were the serious answers...
Ken the guitarist gets his songwriting inspiration from his cat Pawsome, who beams telepathic messages into his cranium in times of need.
Onion the bass player is too baked to comprehend the question.
Sid remains silent.
I (Roscoe) don't consciously try to channel anything really, I think the band is very eclectic as a whole and we draw from a melting pot of influences, the songs are built around my guitar line and vocals, the rest is born organically out of that. We try to steer away from conventions that inevitably give birth to "genre bands". I feel alot of musicians end up sacrificing any attempt to be themselves and the just climb inside the pigeonhole, which really stunts your growth.
We just wanna rock and at the very least; write songs that we would personally not only like to listen to, but would want to dance to or jump around to if we came to watch our band.
Punk Head:Post-Truth Apocalypse Blues has been in the works for over six years. How has the meaning of the record shifted as the world changed around it?
Balaban and the Bald Illeagles: If anything, since a lot of these songs were written; the "post-truth age" has tightened its grip on peoples' psyche's. Algorithms have been weaponized on a level never seen before. Everything has an agenda, even memes which people think are harmless can have underlying motives usually prejudicial, but most of us don't want to look below the surface, none of us want to admit we are victims of some kind of indoctrination.
The songs (if anything) are as relevant now as when they were written, if not more so. When the album drops in September, you will see a common theme running through it; the question of "Am I being lied too?" and this is a question that most people don't even ask themselves.. They see the world as it is presented and they don't want to look into the mechanisms underneath which effectively ensure that "the real world" remains veiled and the people behind the curtain remain in the shadows. Shakespeare wrote that "All the world's a stage" and the older I get the more literal I feel the quote becomes.
Punk Head: Working again with Christopher Wilson seems important. What does he understand about the band that other producers missed?
Balaban and the Bald Illeagles: In general, it pays dividends to work with Chris, because first and foremost he's become a friend of the band and secondly, the whole vibe at his studio is especially laid back, especially in the summer as Stourbridge Studios is located at the bottom of this lovely garden. He also realises that we are not "professionals" so he doesn't ask us to do a million takes, we are quite punk in that respect, we don't generally do more than three takes on any one song. I also know that Chris comparatively will spend hours of his free time (time we haven't paid him for) bringing the tunes up to standard, this is a luxury not afforded by more "renowned" producers; with whom you pay for 8 hours and whatever you have at the end of the 8 hours is the product.. If you want anything else adding or doing after, you pay for more studio time and this is not economically viable for 4 working class lads in a "cost of living crisis". Chris is also a musician and spent most his time in heavy rock acts too, so that also helps when he is engineering our sound for us.
Punk Head: The title Post-Truth Apocalypse Blues is loaded. Do you see the “apocalypse” as something already happening culturally, or something we’re still heading toward?
Balaban and the Bald Illeagles: I'd like to tell you that culturally we are on the precipice.. however I think we may have already fallen into the abyss a few years ago. Only the fact that you can still go and experience something real down at a local grassroots venue can convince me otherwise. But as we know, these places are disappearing one by one and the establishment wants it that way. They want us to be alone and afraid, they certainly don't want pesky original rock bands singing songs about subjects that may actually make people think!
With the rise of AI, I fear that the complete dissolution of all artistic expression is on the horizon.. A world where art is no longer drawn or painted by the human hand; a world where poetry is no longer obtained from the human heart and a world where people do not leave their house to go and see a live band anymore; a world where Spotify has completely pillaged the music industry and podiums AI bands that it earns 100% profit off of, rather than human bands that it earns 99% profit off of.. This all makes me profoundly sad, so I guess I'm telling you how it feels; to have the post-truth apocalypse blues.