Rock Monitor, Keyser, W.Va., July 1984
This is Bad Sneakers’ debut album with some very impressive cuts from this four-membered Delaware-based band. A combination of Rick Springfield vocals with the Cars style of music is the best way to describe Bad Sneakers.
The members are Dale Dallabrida: vocals and bass, Shane Faber: vocals and guitar, Marc Moss: vocals and guitar, and Neal Tillotson: vocals and drums. All the members of the group are proficient on synthesizers. The group’s key characteristic is their superb harmonies. These sounds remind the listener of Queen’s earlier years.
The opening cut, Caught in the Act, show the Cars’ influence but leaves a metallic ring in the listener’s ears. However, this song is still one of the better cuts on the album. Ground Zero, another good cut from album, has the theme many English New Wave groups use. They attack a public issue. This song sounds a lot like the J. Geils Band.
Blue Light, the last song of listening quality on side one, combines the sounds of an up-tempo Barry Manilow with a Cars-type chorus. This is the first time the listener gets a dose of Bad Sneaker’s harmonies.
The last two songs on Beat the Meter, Anesthesia and Invisible Man II, leave a good feeling with the listener. Anesthesia, a catchy dance tune with dubbed audience background, contains another chorus comparable to the Cars with added harmonies. The last cut, Invisible Man II, is definitely a step back into the years. The group members create the scene of a gang of guys harmonizing their favorite tune. These guys know their musical background.
Although a major record company hasn’t put them on a well-known label, record distribution may be yet another problem for Bad Sneakers. It. looks like this will not worry the members because they are having fun. Bad Sneakers will have no problems maintaining an audience on the East Coast.
Profile: Bad Sneakers
Even though their name is the same as a song by the now defunct Steely Dan, Bad Sneakers, a four piece band from Newark, DE, is one of the freshest new bands to hit the music scene in recent years. The band combines a fine stage presence and high energy level with fine musicianship and the latest in technology. Each guitarist plays Kramer “stick” basses with an individual synthesizer station to provide a wide variety of sounds. Each member is also “wireless,” utilizing headset microphones and FM wireless guitar transmitters for mobility.
Bad Sneakers has won numerous awards from Magazine Readers’ Polls throughout Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The band has also been featured on TV’s “USA Hotspots.” Look for these gentlemen to do big things in the near future. With innovativeness, hard work, creativity, an excellent stage show, and good original material, Bad Sneakers should and will achieve big-time success. Remember the name … Bad Sneakers.