Badlees Biography
4
After the Bearsville sessions, Bret Alexander and Paul Smith worked on finishing the new album with some overdubs and mixing
back at Bret's home studio. But, once again, the date of release for Up There, Down Here was pushed back, this time by Polydor
from February to June, 1998. Brimming with creative energy, the duo began writing and recording new material and experimenting
with different sounds and styles than those they developed with the Badlees. They brought in Ron Simasek on drums and this 3/5 of
the Badlees formed their own side act called The Cellarbirds, the name being derived from the cellar where they worked and the
exotic birds that Alexander began raising in his house upstairs. With Alexander taking the helm at lead vocals, their set
consisted of a few new originals and several of their favorite covers but they intentionally did not perform any Badlees songs.
Pete Palladino also branched out during this unplanned hiatus, booking several solo acoustic gigs where he also
showcased a few new original songs. Later Jeff Feltenberger joined Pete to form the acoustic Pete & Jeff Duo.
Although the band members were splitting off into separate factions and experimenting with different sounds and styles,
they were still all committed to resuming the Badlees success and planned on another round of intense national touring and
promoting once Up There, Down Here was finally released. Polydor did fly the band to Los Angeles to record a few additional tracks
for Up There, Down Here in April 1998, but once again moved back the expected release date from June of that year to the Fall.
Then in May, 1998 came the merger.
Polygram was sold to Seagram’s, a Canadian beverage company, for about $10.4 billion. Seagram’s, which already had a
large stake in entertainment by owning MCA Records and Universal Studios, decided to consolidate all of these vast operations into
one new central entertainment company called The Universal Music Group (UMG). On the corporate end, this meant many layoffs and
firings of executives and A&R representatives. As for the artists, UMG decided to focus all of their efforts on the top tier, best
selling, "superstars", while summarily dismissing the artists whose sales were lagging. There was a third "middle" category for
those artists that have had respectable sales but have not yet reached that "superstar" status. Unfortunately, the Badlees found
themselves in this middle category.
There would be yet another delay in the release of the now finished Up There, Down Here album, this time from Fall 1998
to "date uncertain" and there were no marketing or tour support plans coming from Universal for the foreseeable future. Due to
circumstances far beyond their own control, the band was entering the most tumultuous period of their career.
While in this state of "limbo", the band produced a short new EP of "unplugged" songs that were recorded at Bret
Alexander's basement studio in June 1998. The result, The Day's Parade, may have fell far short of the bands goal of releasing a
new "album", but it was the first new published material from the Badlees in nearly three and a half years. It featured simple,
mainly-acoustic arrangements and a definite "live" feel. It contained five songs - two new ones, two updated songs from the band’s
earliest days, and a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City".
Over the final months of 1998 and into 1999, the Badlees played steadily to packed shows in and around Pennsylvania but
made little headway with the label that continued to hold them in corporate limbo. They requested, then demanded, then begged the
label to either release Up There, Down Here to the public, or release the Badlees from their contract, but got little to no
response. Finally, they came up with a radical idea to simply make their own fully-produced, full-length album independently and
without consent from the label.
The new album, Amazing Grace, was recorded, mixed, mastered, and pressed in just two months at Bret Alexander's home
studio. It features the most diverse array of songwriting and voices, as well as styles and moods, with songwriting and lead
vocals shared among four members of the band.
Amazing Grace was released on the Rite-Off label on April 2, 1999, the very day that the Badlees were dropped by
Universal Music Group. It was understood at the time that the recordings for Up There, Down Here would be casualties, but Terry
Selders was still trying to get the band picked up by another major label. John Rotella, who had worked at Polydor when the
Badlees were there was now at a label called Ark 21, owned by Miles Copeland, who had previously been phenomenally successful with
I.R.S. Records. Through a new deal, Ark 21 was able to gain the rights for Up There, Down Here from Universal and plans were
soon being made to finally release that album.
The album was released in August of that year on the Ark 21 label, on the provision that the Badlees would have to
stop actively promoting their recently-released Amazing Grace album. The band was ready to go on the road nationally in support
of the album, as they had for River Songs. But there was yet more disappointment to come, as it turned out that their new label,
Ark 21 was well on its way to bankruptcy, and they were unable to provide the band the support they needed to promote this album
via touring, merchandising, or licensing. The Badlees left the new label after a very short period and returned to their status
as an independent band, where they remain to this day.
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