Badlees Biography
5
Terry Selders departed as the band’s manager as the millennium came to a close and soon the individual band members began to
branch out. Encouraged by the production quality of Amazing Grace, Bret Alexander and Paul Smith decided to officially open a
studio for business, called Saturation Acres. Located near Danville, PA in a custom built building owned by Rust Foulke, the
studio became a great success, as the location of early recordings by artists such as Breaking Benjamin, Darcie Miner, and
Imaginary Lines.
Aside from running Saturation Acres, Alexander and Smith again began performing live with Simasek as the Cellarbirds.
Meanwhile, Palladino and Feltenberger were also working on their own separate solo projects while continuing to perform live
together as the Pete & Jeff Duo. Simasek would also join them on occasion to become Pete, Jeff, & Ron, and on one such occasion,
Pete brought in some professional equipment to record a live show by the trio, resulting in the 2000 release of 50:45 Live, which
would become the only album that featured live material from members of the Badlees. It would also be the last album released on
the Rite-Off Records label.
As 2001 got underway, the members of the Badlees were busy working on their separate "side" albums that would end up
being released within six weeks of each other in the late spring. They were each recorded at Saturation Acres with Alexander
either producing or co-producing and Ron Simasek played drums on each. The first of these albums to be released was Echotown, a
self-titled album by Jeff Feltenberger's pick-up band. Next came Pete Palladino's solo album, Sweet Siren Of the Reconnected. Then
there was the Cellarbirds debut album, Perfect Smile, While all of these were received well critically, none reached any success
of note commercially. It would not be long before the band members decided to regroup and once again tie their fortunes to the
Badlees.
In early 2002, the band released a live album called If Memories Had Equity and then got together at Saturation Acres to record four songs for
a charitable EP called Concert for Karen. It had been about three years since they recorded together and, at first, they were unsure how it would work out.
But within fifteen minutes of playing, they all felt at home with each other. Chris Fetchko, a 27-year-old native of Hazleton, PA, who
eventually replaced Terry Selders as the The Badlees' new manager, convinced the band to make a new album, which was released in
June, 2002 and was aptly titled Renew.
To support this new album, the band decided to try something new - a television special. They filmed a special show at
the Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center in New York City in July, 2002. The show was titled Renew and Rewind and aired on a
local Pennsylvania television in late August. Despite this new initiative, and some healthy airplay of the title song, Renew
followed much the same path as the various side projects a year earlier – critically acclaimed, but commercially weak. But the
band took this all in stride.
Bret Alexander and Mike Naydock did many songwriting sessions in late 2002 through 2003, intending to have a new
Badlees album in 2004. But the proliferation of other studio projects and the eventual departure of founding member Jeff
Feltenberger in March, 2004, would put this project on hold for over five years.
Meanwhile, the remaining band members continued to work on several projects. They officially formed a partnership in
the label S.A.M. Records (Saturation Acres Music), that now actively searched for other acts, beyond the immediate members of the
Badlees, to sign and promote. Bret Alexander wrote and recorded music for the soundtrack. Gentleman East, released on May 4, 2004.
Lit Riffs, a Chris Fetchko project, was a compilation album that would accompany a book written for MTV Books, for which the
Badlees recorded the Rod Stewart classic "Maggie May".
But over time, these projects would dry up and, after a year or so, Fetchko departed from the band as manager.
Throughout the bulk of the rest of the decade, the Badlees would be on an extended hiatus.
Pete Palladino moved to Philadelphia where he got into the restaurant business, working at a high end place called
Moshulu. He was successful and later became general manager of an affiliated hotel and restaurant - Daddy O in Long Beach Island,
NJ, where he remains to this day.
Ron Simasek remained the primary session drummer at Saturation Acres and played drums in various settings, while
Alexander and Smith continued to operate Saturation Acres, recording and producing scores of musical acts and branching out into
other areas such as licensing. In 2005, they recorded a cover of "Keep on the Sunny Side" with singer K8, which was used in
commercials by Days Inn nationwide for years to come.
Eventually Paul Smith got a full-time "day job" as an instructor at Susquehanna University. In late 2007, he left
Saturation Acres and early the following year, Bret Alexander moved the studio to commercial location in DuPont, PA.
In late 2008, at the prodding of Chris Gardner, who would eventually become the band’s next manager, the Badlees
reunion began working a new album. Actually, much of this material had been started when the band planned to release an album to
follow up Renew in 2004, but had been put on hold.
The Badlees quite possibly reached their pinnacle with the release of Love Is Rain in October 2009, putting forth a
masterful work of art that shows the vast growth of the band while maintaining the synergy that sustained the band through their
rise to fame.
After the album was released, the band made plans to play live shows together for the first time in 5 years. They
played shows that frequently include guest musicians like Aaron Fink, Nick Van Wyke, and Dustin Drevitch, and selections span
their career, which is now entering its third decade.
Not wanting to have such a gap between albums as that between the last two, the Badlees are planning for a very busy 2012 with many new projects in the works,
including the band's first compilation. As individuals, they are each successful in separate vocations, and yet still relevant as a band and individual musicians.
As Bret Alexander puts it, "In the end, making music and getting people to hear it - that's all that matters." On this front, The
Badlees have succeeded.
~ Ric Albano
Badlees Biography
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