Bad Influence Got What You Need

Bad Influence
Got What You Need
BadBlues Records

Bad Influence has been around the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) area for 30 years. This writer first saw them (the first of many times over the years) at a DC Blues Society show at an Arlington, Virginia American Legion Hall some time back. When I first saw them, it was a five piece band including a saxophone. Today, they consist of Michael "Jr" Tash on guitar; Roger Edsall on harmonica, slide guitar and vocals; Bob Mallardi on bass and vocals; and David Thaler on drums. As Tash, notes the four have been together 25 years and "It's finally starting to gel." As former B.B. King Bluesville host Bill Wax observes in his liner notes "This is one tight unit."

I recently reviewed a recording by another DMV band with similar personnel, The Smokin' Polecats, that Roger Edsall also was a significant part of. Admittedly I prefer the Polecats. It is a matter of taste as the performances here are recorded with a heavier presence. Jr Tash is a bit more rock-edged in his playing compared to Dave Sherman, but plays with a imaginative, focused approach. This edge is evident on Roger Edsall's title track that opens this recording. Tash opens with a Stevie Ray Vaughan styled Texas blues-rock riff. This edge is also present on Tash's terrific solo on the cover of William Clarke's "Party, Party," where rolling single note runs are punctuated with crisp chords and nice use of tone. Edsall displays cosndierable slide guitar skill on a  cover of James Harman's "My Little Girl" with its memorable opening line "She served me crow, on a silver plate."

Both Edsall and Mallardi are very good, expressive singers who deliver the songs with an energetic fervor. Tash's down-in-the-alley guitar, and an effective, restrained vocal, make the atmospheric rendition of the blues standard "Wee Wee Hours' memorable. An exuberant rendition of Rockin' Sydney's zydeco hit, "Don't Mess With My Toot Toot," with Edsall's harp taking the place of an accordion, is followed by a ebullient reworking of Little Walter's "My Babe," with Mallardi's strong singing supported by Edsall's terrific harmonica. Then there is an unusual transformation of James Brown's "I Feel Good," into a blues shuffle.

The variety of material include Edsall's rock and roll original "Lid Flippin' Short," a superb cover of Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Eyesight to the Blind," with a great Mallardi vocal, superb harp and some sharply played guitar from Tash. With superlative chromatic harmonica playing, Edsall pays additional homage to Little Walter on the cover of "Blue Midnight." It closes a terrific record of Chicago-styled blues whose appeal to these ears grows with repeated listening.

I received my review copy from the band. Here is Bad Influence performing at a Maryland bar, Hershey's. They are performing at JV's in Falls Church VA on Saturday May 25.