“Whether they like it not- this is our name” said Sierra Crowe, the lead singer of Atlanta-based Bad Guru, after noticing the author of a book she was reading on a flight. She couldn’t remember the title, but the name on the cover stood out. Prior brainstorms led to names like spaghetti junction but after seeing Sadhguru’s name on the cover she just knew, “We aren’t Sad Guru- we’re Bad Guru!”
The group, composed of Sierra Crowe (vocals), Quinn Brophy (drums), Blake Powell (bass), Joey Hurley (guitar), and Ethan Bilkert (guitar), grew from a high school band to casual college jam sessions to a fully realized musical force with two albums and a third on the way.
Prior to the inception of Bad Guru, Ethan, Joey, and Quinn played together in their high school band, Distraction. During a college guitar class where Joey pretended not to know how to play guitar, they met Sierra who joined the group for free flow sessions. “When you jam together it’s very vulnerable. Improving, singing and making up lyrics on the spot– it took us a while to get comfortable with each other” said Crowe.
Their first self written song, Medusa, melodically comes from the jam and lyrically from lived experiences, much like the rest of their first album which deals with concepts of yin, yang, chaos and order.
They try to empathize with light and dark sides of humanity, whether it’s within themselves or others which became the theme for Bad Guru. “We tap into something you would never want to be like or the grossest part of yourself that you hide from everybody and write songs about it” explained Crowe.
When it comes to the actual song development they come up with a riff and then build a theme around it. Crowe went on to say that “Everyone comes up with their own potential song and you have to be okay will letting it go if no one clicks with it, which is really hard when you think you have something really good.”
Experiences play a huge role in their music, yet with the need to talk about the negative aspects of humanity, there are other problems that arise. They often times don’t find much inspiration in going back to things they’ve moved on from unless they think there’s someone out there that they think needs to hear it. Apparently, a lot of musicians find new interpretations of songs they’ve written to help not to be thrown back into the sadness of their past experiences.
When asked on their biggest accomplishment, Crowe was excited to talk about releasing two albums, “Musically, creating a whole album and being able to boil down our ideas and getting it out there– recording and finishing that process. Personally, not killing each other and sticking together while growing in our own personal journey while also working with one another through the highs and lows, the disagreements and joys.”
When it comes to performances they all boil down to reflecting the energy the audience gives. There’s a certain exchange that occurs between the crowd and the artists on stage informed Crowe, “Performance is the drug so it’s helpful when you’ve got people who are creating lot of energy for you to feed off like a little vampire.”
Unlike their first two albums which lean towards psychedelic and grunge rock, album three will be a lot more upbeat, happy, and groovy. They are developing as they go, but so far the album focuses on Bad Guru’s underlying storyline of a space cadet who’s experiencing the beauty of the universe after coming out of a black hole.
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Check out Bad Guru on Instagram and stream their music, available now on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes and more!
Katya Ozerkov
Katya Ozerkov is an outgoing content strategist at The Georgia Sun. Despite not being a native Georgian, she has immersed herself in Georgia's vibrant arts scene for several years. As an artist first and foremost, she is passionate about interacting with and fostering connections with artists in the Greater Atlanta metro area and building a supportive creative community.
