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  ' Lights come up and the crush of the crowd against the stage is felt in the next zip code . The flash pods ignite to a punctuated bass blast . The singer , clad in studded leather narcissism hurls the opening scream ( how can his sphincter withstand that high note ? ) , as the heavily pancaked black eye -lined guitarist distorts vision in chainsaw dementia ... This is not Bad Hair Day . I don 't think Bad Hair Day would piss in these guy 's asses if their guts were on fire . So , if the preceding images appeal to you - stop reading , before somebody gets hurt , and go to page 13 . We have a nice metal article waiting to accost you . ' - Greg Stant

The retro- flower children pick up the flowers, put them in pockets, place them in hair, and pass them to friends and lovers as strange smiles and sounds abound. Someone has noticed the singer on the stage, and the whole room catches the vibe. All the while, practical bridges to commercial pop are burned, mangled, and slaughtered;

" What kind of band plays such freakish tunes like that ? " , a horrified girl whispers to her friend,

" They’ re so sick ! " . Her friend just smiles and so do I . Some will flee in horror, disgusted. But some will stay, fascinated, to search for the beauty within such shocking ugliness. And when that rhythm section starts to swing, the crowd begins to seem satisfied, captured by this macabre euphoria.

 

Who is responsible for this ! Who ?

Well, let us just say that the BAD HAIR DAY is two ( three, four, or five )

the Bad Hair Day is :

' doubting ' Thomas Bates - Acoustic / electric guitars & voices

George ' Ignatius ' Henderson - slide guitar , bass , 12 -string , acoustic / eclectic guitars , tiny voices , etc ...

with appearances by  :

Eric Thompson - lead guitar on Amphetamine & bass on Sister ( the hurly burly demos ) / lead guitar and bass on BHD(©1991) & Songs of Joy and Death(©1992)

Patrick Brayer - Chief Zen tone vizier and fiddle

Mark Florin - Ambient Technology

*Name removed per request of drummer : Drums and percussion on the Disease & Bookshelf ( EP 's )

Wanda Howard - Drums and Percussion

Dylan Dailey - Casio Keyboards

And now , a short historical walk down the Inland Empire memory lane

Early formation and history of the group

How I Remember Things ( by Thomas Bates )

Bad Hair Day started out as an idea I had late into high school after I'd been playing with a loud, distortion-tone filled band named Dyslexic Fish. It was fun, and grunge rock was popular, but I preferred a quieter and more involving kind of sound in my ideas for future music. The first song I tried to write like this came most naturally to me in the song "Drowning". It was a lot of fun for me to practice these new-sounding songs dealing with different subjects than most contemporary music I listened to, or dealt with. So it was fun singing those words. My bass player Eric and I practiced with candles and cheap carbonated wine called Strawberry Hill nearby in a garage we'd partially soundproofed. I met Iggy Henderson during these times; he came by to practice and we had a great time. I think that Eric and I borrowed Iggy's four-track, as a matter of fact , on which we recorded our first album-length demo tape 'Bad Hair Day.' Eric - who's now in B.O.L.  I heard - drew the cover himself. It was a do it yourself project and I was very proud of it. Not long after, we began playing lots of shows in the Redlands and Riverside areas. It was usually a very good time and I learned much from those bygone days . After some bad words and unfriendly actions within the band itself, for some time I didn't play with Iggy at all. A second demo was released, 'Songs of Joy & Death', all songs recorded entirely in one take with no future editing.

The rest of what happened in the BHD story is strange, I'd have to say. We recorded that last demo in a very large empty house with wood floors. The acoustics would've sounded nice, but there are no acoustics due to the use of effects equipment. We played some shows for which I got too drunk and did a bad job , and the entirety of the demo tapes weren't handed out by my bassist for his own insecure problems. I was very happy with the rough-sounding, unperfected songs. People laugh about us now because it sounded so gothic, but oh well, it was fun while it lasted. We did a couple huge shows which went over well. The bass player of Oingo Boingo liked my old band , in fact , before it reincarnated into Bad Hair Day with - one day - our female, black drummer ( Wanda ) tearing it up the best she could. Anyway, so much happened, and eventually Iggy was ' ditzed ' by Eric and mutually they agreed to have nothing to do with each other again (...yet again). A lot more happened. My voice became scary and frankly weird. Iggy experimented with the funk. But needless to say, these songs were very special and superb experiments, but the world needs better.

After Bad Hair Day, even Eric and I had gone our ways. I lived at the beach...in an apartment five minutes from the shoreline . It was a very bad time for me and has been for three years, I'd say. Or four. Anyway, my upsets have expressed themselves in some newer songs. I live in the desert where I'm splitting with my girlfriend now I guess. The desert had helped me find my voice and more of myself again. The songs I've writing are good. They are for my new band Siberian Ginseng. Is this the name of the new transformation? Who's to say, it once was Dyslexic Fish.
  

Well, this is some of the Bad Hair Day story. I left out the Colton part ( Nobody Clean Loves Anybody Dirty Like Me ) and the four track recordings in Highland ( The Fuschia demos ) . Some things may just be too special to infringe upon.

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Powell Thrash Photography™


Excerpt from the Hurly Burly Demos

" It becomes difficult to describe what happens in the process of songwriting . Unless you have a good idea about the people and problems involved with this group , then the realities and circumstances hidden in these songs may elude you . I ‘ve known Tom for close to 10 years now and there have been times when just getting these songs down to tape were the only saving grace in our friendship , and in the songwriting relationship we share . The songs on this CD are from late ‘92 up to about late ‘95 . It was through a few  old fans of the group that I decided to go ahead and put together an acoustic album with a couple of live spots from the Patrick Brayer Radio Archives , which I managed to salvage off of a really bad tape . I believe that these songs truly highlight some of the best work that we ever did , with Patrick and his raw impromptu fiddling , and Eric ‘s touches on Amphetamine and Sister . Eric left the project sometime back in ‘94 , at which time I decided to find Tom and re -establish the project in early '95 . Songs like ‘ Mockingbird ‘ , ‘ Fever ‘ , ‘ Sunshine or Rain ‘ , & ‘ On the day when ‘ were recorded in Tom ‘s flat prior to the death of our former percussionist and drummer Wanda Howard . ‘ Run , Run , Run … ‘ , & ‘ Addicted Underneath ‘ were finished later at my home in Redlands . I believe that these songs are not only honest to the Nth degree , I also believe that it was some of the best times we ever had together , and I hope that you forgive the little mistakes , glitches in the tape , pops here or there , and that this collection of songs brings a smile to your ‘ Old School Face ‘ . After all , don ‘t some of you still remember the days at the Fleur de Lis café ? "

xxoo iggy

 

Biography contributions by : Dylan Daily

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