"Bad Time" was mainly inspired by two life-threatening situations that Alkaline Trio guitarist Matt Skiba had been involved in during his life, and the comfort that he was given through hearing the voice of a loved one.

In 2019, Skiba was also the guitarist for Blink-182 and had stopped in El Paso, Texas for a show when a mass shooting occurred at a nearby Walmart the day before.

The band was locked down in their hotel room shortly after being notified of the situation when Skiba received a phone call from a friend and crush.

Skiba recounted the events while writing the song and thought about how helpful it would've been to hear his friend's voice back then.

Ravi did all the actual, real work on this thing, but I love being involved and hope that I helped to paint this beautiful picture.