Donna Morgan, Delaware State News, Dover, Del., July 13, 1984
DOVER – Wilmington rock favorites Bad Sneakers will cruise into Dover Sunday night for a gala album release party at the Ground Round on U.S. 13 starting at 9 p.m.
“Beat the Meter” is the second album for Bad Sneakers and offers 10 original tunes written and performed by the band. A few have received prerelease airplay on WSTW-FM radio in Wilmington and garnered rave reviews.
What sort of music do the Sneaks play? “It’s hard to label it,” bassist Dale Dallabrida said. “Let’s just say it has digital texture and audio wizardry, and that it’s sleek contemporary dance rock.”
Highlights of the album include “Caught in the Act,” a rock tune which Dallabrida described as “the sordid tale of love-crazed teens.” Another is “Blue Light,” written by Dallabrida and described by him as “a chilling vision of urban apocalypse.” And there’s a ballad, “All I Want to Know,” which the band touts as “upscale make-out music for young professionals.”
The album was recorded and is being promoted and distributed by Now & Then Records in Newark and will be available locally at the Sound Odysseys in the Dover area malls and at Tape Hut on U.S. 13. Bad Sneakers T-shirts and albums will be given away at the album release party, and there will be an opportunity to dance to the band’s hits.
Bad Sneakers’ first album, “Sneak Attack,” sold out in its first printing after the band was featured on USA Network’s “Hot Spots” performing tunes from it. The group has won numerous readers’ polls in “Fine Times” magazine and the “Paper Magazine” and is known in a five-state area.
The band is recognized for its innovative technological advances, such as switching to wireless headsets instead of microphones and to wireless equipment, giving its members a lot of mobility. Each musician, aside from playing his own instrument, is equipped with a synthesizer, making the band versatile and contributing to its acclaimed “layered sound.”
“Beat The Meter” is Bad Sneakers personified. As Dallabrida put it: “We think our new album does vinyl justice to our music.”