These Days
(2021-Present)
Through the second half of the 2010s, the members of the Badlees continued to explore new musical endeavors. Pete Palladino continued to headline shows in PA while remaining in the hospitality business in New Jersey. Palladino and Mike Naydock teamed up to compose new original songs for a project called The Circa 68. Paul Smith bought the original Susquehanna Sound studio, where the Badlees recorded some of their earliest material, and remolded it into a new state-of-the-art audio and video complex called 8 Days a Week. Alexander continued to produce and create music, releasing several of duo-artist albums, including a 2017 release, Live HMAC and Mauch Chunk Opera House with fellow-former Badlee Nyke Van Wyk. Alexander and Simasek also joined up with yours truly for the studio rock group Sinclair Soul, with a total of five studio albums released between 2017 and 2023.
In December 2020, the Badlees were named as 2021 inductees into the Central PA Music Hall of Fame. The five members of the group during their peak early years – Bret Alexander, Jeff Feltenberger, Pete Palladino, Ron Simasek and Paul Smith – reunited to perform one set during the awards ceremony in Harrisburg, PA on July 1, 2021. This classic lineup returned for more full concerts in March 2022, their first such shows with this lineup in nearly two decades. 
The reunion was complete in late 2022 with the release of two Badlees albums. First was a remixed and remastered version of Diamonds In the Coal as the group marked the 30th anniversary of their first full length album. Then on December 15, 2022, the Badlees released their self-titled ninth studio album. This was the first new release by the group since 2013 and the first album to feature the classic five-member lineup since 2002’s Renew two decades earlier.
Now, as the Badlees enter their 35th year as a group in 2024, this band continues their incredible run where they have done it all musically. As Alexander said in 2010, “In the end, making music and getting people to hear it – that’s all that matters.” On this front, The Badlees have been a rousing success.
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Ric Albano is the Editor-in-Chief of Modern Rock Review.
RicAlbano.com
