Badflower’s Josh Katz + Alex Espiritu Discuss Band’s Success

Badflower frontman Josh Katz and bassist Alex Espiritu recently joined Loudwire Nights to dive into the band’s brand-new single, “Detroit.” Katz admitted the song is autobiographical as it unpacks the disappointments and frustration around the band’s success.

“It’s weird,” Katz said. “We reached a level of success — it’s our career, it’s our job, it’s what pays our bills. But it doesn’t look the same way.”

The same way that Katz is referring to is what he and his bandmates imagined their lives might look like back when they were dreaming about becoming rock stars.

“When we sort of grew up, watching MTV, it was bands like Blink-182 and Green Day — I wanted to embody that, I wanted to be that, that looked so appealing to me,” Katz shared.

“What doesn’t look appealing is lip-syncing to TikTok trends, which is what a rock star is supposed to do?”

Katz understood that it might sound like he’s complaining about being a successful rock star — and he even said that it probably sounds entitled to some.

“It does, it sounds entitled,” he said.

“Some people are going to be like, ‘Oh, must be nice having hit songs.’ And I’m like, yeah, and you know what? They’re right. Our lives could be way worse. We got really, really lucky. We also worked extremely hard, but we won the lottery. This is a lottery win to live the lives that we live. But that doesn’t make it any less difficult.”

Badflower Aren’t Alone In How They Feel

While Espiritu didn’t talk too much during the conversation, he concurred with most of what Katz said, though he seemed to keep a pretty positive outlook on the entire topic.

“I enjoy doing what we do,” Espiritu said. “I don’t mind getting older. As long as I keep doing cool things, I think it’s great. I reminisce a lot, all the time. I still listen to the same 10 bands that I’ve listened to for the past 20 years.”

READ MORE: Deryck Whibley Reflects on Sum 41, Shares Story About Tommy Lee

Kats and Espiritu told the Loudwire Nights family that this whole conversation is something the band discusses all the time.

“We all feel it,” Katz revealed.

“I’m just the guy writing the lyrics. I’m talking about it and thinking about it constantly, but we all feel this thing and we talk to a lot of other bands, too … It’s a really common feeling.”

What Else Did Badflower’s Josh Katz + Alex Espiritu Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• Why fans shouldn’t seek out too deep of a meaning for Badflower’s recent release, “Teacher Has a Gun”
• Even with all of their current success, what is at least one thing the band still wants to achieve
• The band that is a model for what Katz hopes Badflower are able to do in the next few decades

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Josh Katz and Alex Espiritu joined Loudwire Nights on Friday, July 26; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.