INTERVIEW
By Indi Tejeda
2/23/26
Bad Luck Brigade: The Sound of Salt
Lake City's Creative Future
The members of Bad Luck Brigade (Courtesy of Bad Luck Brigade).
Bad Luck Brigade isn’t interested in fitting neatly into a single genre box - and honestly, they don’t have to. It only takes one track to realize the Salt Lake City collective has always operated on a different frequency, blending hip hop, jazz, funk, soul, and psychedelic textures into a sound that feels both nostalgic and forward-thinking. After first capturing the local scene’s attention with their 2022 EP Anything in Moderation, the group reached a defining milestone with their 2026 full-length album NOTHING, cementing their reputation as the city’s self-described “Jazz Rap Heroes.”
By the time NOTHING arrived, the group (Kilow, Ikaika, Walker, Ronan, Matu, and Montoya) had already evolved from house shows to commanding major stages at music festivals like Kilby Block Party. Yet despite their rapid growth, the band remains deeply rooted in community and collaboration. From early musical influences to defining career moments and the mentors who helped shape their path, Bad Luck Brigade sat down with The Paperblog Writers and Ground Zero Radio to reflect on their evolution and the creative ecosystem that continues to fuel their momentum.
You’ve described yourselves as “Jazz Rap Heroes.” Who were some of your earliest musical influences, and what inspired you to blend hip hop and jazz into your sound?
Hip hop and Jazz are hand in hand; they have been since the beginning, but we love the stuff that was contemporary when we were in junior high/high school. Faces by Mac Miller, TBAP by Kendrick, The Suns Tirade by Isaiah Rashad, and Awaken, My Love! by Childish Gambino are all records we'd say were the "diving in" point for us and the genre. As time goes on, we find something deep and fascinating about the realm of soul/funk/psychedelia. Digging into bands like Hiatus Kaiyote, A Tribe Called Quest, Sly and the Family Stone, and Rage Against the Machine opened up a whole lot of awesome influences for us. We're always listening to stuff we find interesting and trying to develop the ultimate amalgamation.
You’ve grown from house shows in Logan to major stages like SLC Twilight and now Kilby Block Party. Looking back, what moment or opportunity felt like your true “big break”?
Definitely when we got the call that we were opening for EARTHGANG. It was a very full circle moment for me (Kilow) and Kaika; throughout the entirety of high school, we were watching everything they did. Spillage Village (Earthgang x JID supergroup) dropped an album in 2020 called Spilligion that I would say inspired us to form this band the way we did. Their nonstop creative output and diversity of genre is something we look up to a lot. The show was electric, and we feel like we did a great job in representing what Utah hip hop can be for the local fans.
The Paperblog Writers and Ground Zero Radio focus on uplifting youth voices and community storytelling. During your early days as a band, were there mentors or supporters who took a chance on you? How are you paying that support forward now?
Educators and engineers Ryan Conger and Dan Fields come to mind. The seeds for this band were started at a charter school for at-risk youth called Fast Forward. The school has an emphasis on the arts, particularly film, visual arts, and audio recording. Ryan and Dan taught us so much about music theory, microphones, mixing, all the technical shit of creating. On top of that, they broadened our taste musically. Dan played me my first Fugees song. Ryan had me mix Utah State's Caine Jazz Combo for my first real mixing assignment. Dan tracked our first three EP’s straight to analogue tape and was willing to explore the 16-track reel-to-reel with us. They’ve helped a lot with the navigation of an early music career and booking our first shows. Music, and really the arts in general, are so beautiful because it is meant to trickle down. We make a record so the next group will hear it. I hope we all become uncs willing to teach the next group someday.
As a Salt Lake City–based group, what parts of the local music community would you highlight to newcomers who want to get involved and support local artists?
Utah’s perception at a national level is seen as very white (says the SLC band fronted by a white rapper). This isn’t entirely untrue, but there are still black and brown people here, and they are making bad ass music. We are very proud of the intermingling of multiple dope ass cultures within our band and would like to highlight several other Utah bands/artists with BIPOC members: Club Mungo, Seeking the Sun, Missionary Max, Willy Lowe, Roo Nostalgia, Savage Daughters, No Møtive, and Body Double. Give all these artists a spin please. Tell them BLB sent you in the comments.
Among all the projects Bad Luck Brigade has undertaken, which one stands out as the most memorable or definitive for the band?
The current record we're promoting, NOTHING, feels like the coming to fruition for so many things in the life of this band. This is the first record we recorded in our house entirely and really took a long, drawn-out approach to. Not to say the others were like shitted out, but we definitely had an assembly line of sorts going to see what we could do with some pretty short-winded and sick ideas. This album was cooked up over a year or so and marked a pretty big change for us tonally with new members Matu, Ronan, and Montoya. Alongside me, Kaika, and Walker, we became a six-piece, and we had to figure out pretty quickly how all of the different influences we were bringing were gonna play out together. We're super proud of it. It's funky, it's toothsome, there's bars, there's groove.
Bad Luck Brigade’s story is still unfolding, but their trajectory already speaks to the power of artistic curiosity, mentorship, and community investment. As they continue expanding their sound and reach, the collective remains grounded in the same collaborative spirit that first brought them together. Building not just a band, but a creative network that uplifts the next wave of artists along the way. Listeners can experience that evolution firsthand by streaming their latest album, NOTHING, on all major streaming platforms, or catching Bad Luck Brigade live at Kilby Block Party this spring.
Listen to NOTHING
