Naarm (Melbourne) based alt-country darlings Hana & Jessie-Lee’s Bad Habits are thrilled to announce their highly anticipated second album ‘Say What You Mean’ is out this Friday April 12 on Vinyl, CD and digitally. The release is followed by a 15 date tour across four states to support and promote the new batch of songs during May/June 2024.
Since the release of their debut album “Southlands” in 2017, Hana and Jessie-Lee’s Bad Habits have appeared live onstage at Tamworth Country Music Festival, WOMADelaide, Out On The Weekend, Brunswick Music Festival, Adelaide Guitar Festival, Dashville Skyline & Queenscliff Music Festival, relentlessly road testing and refining the tunes which make up the new record for a fully realized band sound.
Recorded by Alex O’Gorman (Angie McMahon, Big Smoke) at his studio in Pakenham, the 11-track album “Say What You Mean” features lead singles, “Arrowhead” & “Tallest Of Tales” (both added to high rotation on ABC Country) & “Paper Boats” amongst a suite of rock’n’roll swagger with tinges of country and soul heartbreak. Hana and Jessie-Lee as a pair have been playing music together for close to ten years and this new record sees them superbly backed by some of Melbourne’s finest in Tommy Brooks (bass, slide, pedal steel) & Patrick Wilson (drums & percussion), who make up the core of the Bad Habits rhythm section. Special guests Kate Alexander (backing vocals), Jordie Gilmour (drums), Joe Cope (keys) and Norwood (backing vocals) also appear. The album was mixed by Alex O’Gorman, aside from 3 tracks mixed by Stephen Mowat (Wilsn) and mastered by John Lee (The Murlocs, Blake Scott, Mod Con) at Phaedra studios.
Lyrically the songs move between themes of love, terrible first dates, insomnia & fear of loss, to missing your hometown and steering clear of problematic people. The opener ‘Misery Queen’ is a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of the flaws in a relationship delivered in a Southern-style lazy rock n’ roll package. Jessie-Lee launches straight into one of her unmistakable ear-worm guitar lines right off the bat, on her signature green Gretsch that effortlessly pours into Hana’s brassy vocals. “Under The Vines” is an eerie Springsteen-esque ode to longing for home, and the title track “Say What You Mean” is a rollicking rock’n’roll party that begs for honesty over silence in human connection.
“When we were picking songs to put on the album, it was a matter of what fit together, and what felt good playing as a band. I think I had about 25 songs and was still writing new material right up until we were going into the studio. We played a few at shows in their rawest form to see how they felt, how people reacted and that helped us make the final decision on the songs included.” – Hana
The CD and digital albums also include a bonus track, “These Shambles”, an old song re-recorded as a newer version. “We decided to record These Shambles again because it seemed to be a crowd favourite at shows, people sang along, and the song had changed shape into a bit more of an upbeat heavier version.” – Jess
The band are hitting the road (literally by car) to promote the new record and get to some places they haven’t been yet , as well as revisiting some favourite venues around Australia. Tasmania is on the list for the first time as well as Bendigo and Beechworth in Victoria.
