03/30/24
Bad Times, Hays, KS
Bad Times in Hays is all about providing a variety of music options for the community. While their shows have featured a large amount of rock/metal bands, they also showcase a number of Folk, Americana, Acoustic, etc. Since COVID, the music scene has thinned out a bit, and bringing the music scene together is the key to building back up that audience. “It all started, like, we ride motorcycles, some of us do, some of us don’t. We’re just a group of friends and wanted a place that we could all just hang out and work on them together. And then a couple of us were in bands and we’re like, man, we should do some shows here, you know?” Braden Bartlett says about the origination of Bad Times. Throughout the last couple years, this location has become home to a small community of music lovers and bikers to share in the scene. “We did one show and the whole group kind of got together, and it’s cool. Like, it’s a good setting for punk music and stuff, especially with all the motorcycle memorabilia laying around and stuff. It was just pretty much rock bands, hardcore bands for a little while. We’re trying to have a little more diverse sound and there’s not a lot of places left around Hays either, so we can’t really afford to be selective about, you know, I want to give anybody a spotlight that wants one.” Shows have thinned out over the last couple years, but the push for having places to put on shows, to give people that musical outlet is still important and needed. “It’s a college town. There’s no reason we shouldn’t have a good music scene, you know.” If you’ve got a show you’d like to put on, reach out to Bad Times on Instagram or Facebook
The last show here featured a couple of Lawrence bands. This show brought in a couple Folk/Americana artists from the Wichita area.
“My real name is Ishmael, and I’ve never read Moby Dick.” He easily answered my second question as I took a few moments after his set to talk with Ishmael. This Singer/Songwriter opened the night up with music straight from the heart. Born and raised in the Wichita area, he’s been playing for the last 7 years. “My little brother, he picked up a guitar a while ago and I thought it was cool. So I, like, kind of fucked around and then he quit playing and I just kept playing. All my best friends play, we all do the same thing so we just do it together.” There’s a calm relaxation about Ishmael as he performs, with a hint of nervousness as though he knows he’s exposing a portion of himself for strangers, but eases through it. That is, after all, part of the gig. With a couple fun songs, namely “Only Fans” which feels bittersweet, a love song about a girl the main character can’t seem to have, but the rest of the internet can. There are some sad songs, however, “I’m not a very sad person in my daily life, so I just got to get it out. Get the shit out and then you go on with your day. However you’re feeling, you’re sad, get it out and then you can be happy still and play a sad song.”
It’s only been a year or so since he’s started travelling to perform, mostly staying in the Wichita area, but with friends that travel for shows as well, it’s becoming more regular. His next show coming up is on 4/20 in KC with Dimension Bill Edwards.
Normally a 5-piece, but for those that showed up, at this show they were a trio. They stay true to their name, the No Shows, but didn’t hold anything back by putting on a great show for the Saturday before Easter crowd. Folk music that flirts with the punk rock attitude, without sounding like punk rock. There’s really no better way to describe the No Shows. I am certain that this is the first time an upright bass has been inside Bad Times, and what is more punk rock than that? (That’s a rhetorical question, btw). “We’ve been playing together for, like, at lest six years, I would say six to eight years, probably?” Influenced by the sounds of Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen, they cover the gamut of folk-americana. “We played at the Brickyard in Wichita once, and some lady thought that it was an entire cover set of Bob Dylan. She was like, ‘I love Bob Dylan, glad you played it all!’. We didn’t play anyone.” they said with a chuckle. And if someone gets that impression from your music, it’s going to be a good show.
Their first time playing in Hays was positive. “This is sick,” referencing Bad Times “I love anything DIY. We came up doing shows like this. Like, this is more like a biker scene than a music scene, right? But everybody’s so far been fucking super cool though. I like it here and I think we’ll definitely be coming back.” Coming up, The No Shows will be playing a show in KC on 4/20. And with luck, they’ll be back for another round in Hays soon.
Consisting of lead singer Braden Bartlett, guitarist Ryan Engel, and drummer Matt Dethridge, The Band Bartlett has become an Americana mainstay in the area. Getting together within the last couple years, “We’ve gone through several phases. Like, there was a while where Dethridge and I were just playing together and we brought in Ryan to come and play with us. And then we had another guitarist and doing some more rock oriented music.” They have played shows across town at the Paisley Pear, Gella’s, and are regulars with the Lovegrass on Tap Fundraiser series at Defiance Brewery.
