Exclusive: Problem Patterns Share “A History Of Bad Men Part II” Video

Belfast-based DIY feminist queerpunk quartet Problem Patterns will release their debut album, Blouse Club, tomorrow, 27th October, via Alcopop! Records. In an effort to weight equal importance to the whole record, Problem Patterns have recorded DIY videos for every track on the album, with seven new videos shared today across sites and blogs, with The Punk Site exclusively revealing the A History Of Bad Men Part II video. It’s not so much a treasure hunt, more of a Problem Patterns punk trail, taking a journey through the many and varied themes of Blouse Club, with visual references, bringing some hope and joy to those who may need it the most.

“So, in a very rare turn of events, the song title of this song existed before the song. One of my favourite bands ‘Melvins’, have a song called “A History of Bad Men” and I’ve always thought that was a fantastic name for a feminist punk song. I thought a little bit about what that would mean as a punk song and basically collected a “shitlist” of the men that I felt had wronged Problem Patterns so far in our careers. It is meant to be tongue in cheek and with a sense of humour but realistically, these men and their interactions have caused us distress and pain. From sound engineers crossing physical boundaries, being accused of making the music scene a misandrist fest and promoters mixing us up with another band of queer people (who look and sound nothing like us), it’s a little bit of a trip down memory lane for the worst men in Problem Patterns history. It is also purposefully provocative and pays a bit of a homage to the “feminists hate men” trope during the second where Beth sings “men are so fucking boring eugh”. It’s like, that’s funny, if you’re willing to have a look at yourself and laugh. We liked the idea of winding up the men who don’t find it so funny. We also lifted the drums directly from ‘A History Of Bad Men’ as a homage so please don’t tell ‘Melvins’ thanks.” (Ciara King)

“This is a very serious song, but there’s also an air of snarkiness about it that I’m obsessed with. Ciara is addressing some very heavy material, but then you have Beth come in with a line like “Men are so fucking boring, ughhhhhh” and you can just hear the eye roll. I wanted the video to have a sense of humour to balance all of that out. The beginning features a line from an episode of Bojack Horseman where he accidentally becomes the face of feminism – “ It turns out, the problem with feminism, all along, is it just wasn’t men doing it.” The basic idea was “What if we had men sing our songs for us, would more people be listening?” We had no budget for this, just our practice space and some guys who weren’t afraid to be in on the joke. We had Ciara’s brother Conor King, Beth’s twin brother Blaine Crooks, and then our friends Stevie Lennox and Carl Eccles, who play in Junk Drawer and Careerist, respectively. I barely had to direct them, they knew exactly what to do. They really committed to it and we can’t thank them enough.” (Alanah Smith)