Badfish have never shied away from chaos, but their new video for “Bad Things” might be the moment they fully embrace it. The Rhode Island reggae-rock staples return with a swaggering blend of rap, soul, and sun-burnt grit — and pair it with their most ambitious visual yet, a cinematic crime caper dreamed up by Damn Skippy and Gingy Productions. The result: a roller-coaster mini-movie that feels like Dogtown meets Tarantino with a shot of BuzzBallz.
Best known for his relentless mic presence, Damn Skippy stepped off the stage and into the director’s chair for this one, building a tongue-in-cheek heist flick around the band’s new sonic bite. “Skip is the man!” frontman Pat Downes says. “I’ve worked with him on stage and other elements… his focus and overall genuine enthusiasm is contagious. We had no doubt he’d nail it.”
And nail it he does. Skippy’s concept plays like a grindhouse comedy: Badfish hit the road masquerading as a touring band only to rob the venues blind. “After hearing the song, I got the idea for a band that would go on tour posing as a band to rob venues,” Skippy says. “The irony is these guys are actually the sweetest people you’ll ever meet, which makes the whole ‘band of thieves’ gag even funnier.”
From the opening seconds — a string of unhinged voicemails from a mystery woman — the video barrels into its own adrenaline-fueled universe. There are ski masks. There are chase scenes. There are bags of cash. And there’s a full-tilt performance from the band that captures the rugged swagger of the track. Trumpet player Danny T says the voicemail sequence hooked him instantly: “Arriving on set to find we had an actress who memorized those psycho samples word-for-word was just a total surprise.”
That actress — Sarah Viscovi, fiancée of Little Stranger’s Kevin Shields — wasn’t even supposed to be in the video. “Originally she was coming on set to give me a hand with production,” Skippy adds. “But after listening to the voicemail… Sarah is hella charismatic and memorized everything perfectly within the hour!”
To tie the whole crime-spree together, editor Andrew Gingy injected the frantic final act with 3D-animated consequences. “I felt like there needed to be some epic consequences at the climax… a result of their criminal actions. Getting to 3D animate was so much fun.” Without spoiling too much, let’s just say the flashing blue-and-red cop lights don’t bode well for our heroes. As the chorus confesses: “Just wanna do bad things, but honestly, never thought it would be quite like this.”
“Bad Things” also gets an extra edge from hip-hop mainstay DJ Hoppa, whose turntable work adds grit to the track’s rap-reggae hybrid punch. The song and video together show a band stretching far beyond tribute-act expectations — leaning into a darker, funnier, more cinematic vision of what Badfish can be.
The “Bad Things” music video is out now and streaming worldwide. Watch it here:
