Have you heard?

*** Bad Influence Band - Nominated for Best Blues Band by the Washington Area Music Association for 2004! ***

*** Bad Influence Band - Featuring Epiphone endorsed guitarist Michael Tash and Hohner endorsed harp player Roger Edsall ***

*** Bad Influence Band - Nominated for 3 Washington Area Music Association awards for 2003! ***

*** Winner of the 2001 Washington Area Music Association award for best blues recording ***

** Picked as 1 of the 20 best area releases of 2001 by the Washington Post **


Bad Influence has been rocking houses in the Maryland/Virginia/DC area since its humble beginnings back in 1988. Since then, we have been playing for growing crowds of blues lovers in clubs and at festivals up and down the East Coast and are continuing to pick up speed!

The band provides a sound fat enough to do justice to blues and swing classics ranging from Louis Jordan to B.B. King to Stevie Ray Vaughan. We play a mixture of Swing and Chicago style music, sure to give everyone in the room a true taste of the blues. Bad Influence features Bob Mallardi on bass and vocals, Roger Edsall on harp and vocals, D'Addario and Vintique endorsed artist, Michael "Jr" Tash on guitar and vocals, Jay Corder on Sax, and David "Buck" Thaler on the drums.

This almost all original CD features the band with special guests Pete Kanaras from the Nighthawks helping us out on guitar, Mary Shaver, Janine Wilson & Cindy Cain on vocals, & Jay Monterose on slide guitar. Check it out!

Here are some reviews:

"Like a lot of blues bands around the country sustained by a regional following, Bad Influence can get along merely by saluting its precursors. But the local band's latest release offers something more ambitious -- a solid collection of original material spiced with humor and soul. These new tunes are what make "Tastes Like Chicken" such appetizing stuff." - Mike Joyce, The Washington Post, December 2001.

"The recording is good and holds up musically to the better blue wave bunch of bands like Little Charlie & the Nitecats or Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers. This is a solid recording that does not wear out its welcome with repeated listening." - Ron Weinstock, DC Blues Society April 2002

Strong contemporary blues make up Tastes Like Chicken (Badblues 8021), from the Washington, DC outfit Bad Influence. The writing is good - harpist Roger Edsall manages to find new wrinkles in the overdone "Love Dot Com" blues theme, and guitarist Jr. Tash's snapshot of a sour relationship in "Talking to the Wall" is unusually in-depth and affecting. The band's finesse and flair are highlighted in backscratchin' grooves ("Don't Forget Your Nightclothes," boosted by guest guitarist Pete Kanaras' courtesy-of-Earl-Hooker wah slide guitar solo), too-cool shuffles ("Road House"), and chromatic harp workouts ("Cat Fight"). - Blues Revue Magazine, June/July 2002

"They've taken their blues lessons well. The songs and production knock me out!" - Wayne Kahn, Right on Rhythm Records.

"No Bad Influences here! This band is tight in the groove, swingin' blues at it's best. Tastes like Chicken tastes more like fine blues, these guys have come home to roost with this release!" - Geoff Pegler, BluesBeat 3HOTFM, Victor Harbor S.A. Australia.

"Tastes Like Chicken is a real team effort from the Bad Influence Band. The CD liner notes indicate that each band member participated in writing one or more songs. Eleven of the twelve tracks are original songs that tell the typical blues stories of the "ups and downs" of life in the fast paced, computerized world of today. What I like about this CD is that it is all blues music with a contemporary twist. You can play this CD in your car and never want to stop driving" - Will Wilshire, Natchel' Blues Network, Norfolk, VA