Bad Suns with Carlie Hanson at The Buckhead Theatre

Written By | Matt Delaney

The establishment was built in 1930 in Spanish baroque style by Atlanta architecture firm Daniell & Beutell and opened on June 2, 1930. Primarily functioning as a second-run movie theater, it also hosted civic functions and concerts of the Buckhead Symphony Orchestra. It was operated by Affiliated Theaters, a subsidiary of McLendon Theatres. A significant Atlanta concert venue in the 1990s and most of the 2000s, the Roxy finally closed after LiveNation and Clear Channel ended their lease in 2008. It was then purchased by Aaron’s, Inc., founder Charles Loudermilk. After two years of renovation, the venue reopened in June 2010 under the original name Buckhead Theatre.

In May 2016, while working as a cashier at McDonald’s, Hanson entered a local iHeart Radio contest to see One Direction’s Zayn in concert. As her entry, she recorded a video of herself singing the Zayn song “Pillowtalk” while sitting in a parked car outside a shopping mall. She posted the :15 second video to Instagram, and it was quickly reposted by iHeart, drawing significant attention. Hanson was subsequently contacted by a talent agent who invited her to Toronto to audition and record for producers from House of Wolf. She recorded “Why Did You Lie” and “Only One” during her July sessions in Toronto, and four months later, she traveled to Los Angeles to again record with House of Wolf producers.

See More Photos of Carlie Hanson Here.

In Los Angeles, she worked with songwriter Dale Anthoni, who become one of her closest friends. Hanson performed live for the first time in May 2018. In September, she began touring with Troye Sivan and Kim Petras on Sivan’s 27-city Bloom Tour, playing at venues including Radio City Music Hall in New York and the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. In a review of the Minneapolis show, Twin Cities Media wrote: “She’s badass, she’s unapologetic, she’s poppy yet gritty, she’s effortlessly cool, her music absolutely bangs, and she’s selfmade. Carlie Hanson is a little bit of Lorde, a little of Billie Eilish meets Kiiara, and a lot of something all her own.” Hanson supported Yungblud on a series of dates in Europe in January 2019. She signed with Warner Bros. Records in February, and publisher Primary Wave Music in March.

The Southern California rock band Bad Suns formed in early 2012. Made up of Christo Bowman (vocals), Gavin Bennett (bass/keyboard), Miles Morris (drums) and Ray Libby (guitar), aged 23–26. “I grew up with a lot of world music playing in the house. When I was 10, I started getting heavily interested in the guitar, and my dad began introducing me to his records from the 70’s and the 80’s. Initially Elvis Costello, then to The Clash, The Cure, and so on,” notes Bowman, “all of these artists and bands had a big impact on me, at a young age, as far as song composition goes.”

See More Photos of Bad Suns Here.

The debut EP Transpose features angst-ridden riffs and ethereal vocals reminiscent of post-punk legends of the early 80’s. “I started writing my first songs at that time,” Bowman continues, “Though we can now reflect on that era of music, those artists were ahead of their time in a lot of ways. That’s what’s most inspiring.” Bad Suns released their second album, Disappear Here, on September 16, 2016. Bowman came up with the name of album while reading Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, “Maybe the second or third time the ‘Disappear Here’ billboard appears in the narrative, it sort of just hit me like a ton of bricks. It encapsulated absolutely everything.” On October 6, 2017, Bad Suns released the single “This Was a Home Once”. On November 13, 2018 they announced that they had signed with Epitaph Records and released their first new music in over a year, “Away We Go”. On the 14th of January Bad Suns announced their next album called Mystic Truth, which was released on March 22, 2019.

Photo Credit: Matt Delaney