Bad Employees do good work Thursday night

Bad Employees play for charity Thursday night in Huntington

We always love seeing bands we think are cool support great causes through benefit shows. It's two for two this Thursday night at the Thirsty Whale in Huntington, as our friends Andy Rivas and John McComas -- the Huntington-based electronic rock duo Bad Employees -- play out to help raise money for Stepping Stones.

Stepping Stones is a Huntington-area non-profit group that helps kids. We could go on, but why not get lazy and cut and paste the description of the event and the group from the Facebook page for it?

Yo, Yo Ladies and Gents!

The holidays have passed, but who's to say that we shouldn't keep up with two of my favorite parts--the celebration & "goodwill toward men"--all year long?

Bearing this exact combination in mind, the electronica/indie rock geniuses BAD EMPLOYEES will be gracing the stage of the Thirsty Whale (formerly Gumby's/Drop Shop/C&O/Club Echo) on Thursday, January 13th in support of local group home Stepping Stones. 100% non-profit, this amazing group helps foster kids (boys ages 13-17) who are between homes, and they do EVERYTHING (house, feed, clothe, and most exceptionally, genuinely care). The $5 door fee benefits monetarily, but they will also always accept donations of clothing, games, and sporting equipment (new or used, as long as it's in good condition), as well as food and grocery giftcards.

Doors are open at 11am for the Whale's everyday lunch, but this event will kick off at 9pm, show at 10pm. All in all, a good time for a good cause, so we hope to see your smiling face there!! Thanks!

--- Well, you read that, and it sounds cool, right? Well, hold on to yer pants because we caught up with McComas over email to learn a little more about the show and what's up with BE these days:

"Really the motivation for playing this show was, first, because it is a good cause and also because we will pretty much play any time we are available. We just really enjoy playing live for anyone who will listen.

It's a major plus getting a chance to actually help people just by showing up and doing what we love to do. We are really excited to play right now because we're trying out a few new songs which will be on our next album, due out some time this year.

We've been on this kick lately of writing a new song, trying it out live, recording the new song and then repeating that process. That's how the majority of this album has gone down so far.

We only want to write maybe one to two more before buckling down and finishing it. It's really exciting and fun for us because our new songs have mostly been dance-oriented.

It's great when people who are coming out to our recent shows tell us they enjoy the new stuff and even hit the dance floor. Hopefully tomorrow's (Thursday's) show will be one of those fun nights for everybody."

You've read this much, pretty much everything you could read on Facebook, with a scoop from McComas. So why not check out the September 2010 Herald-Dispatch article on Bad Employees, or, Justin Johnson's 1318 4th Avenue Aural History series?

Related: Magic Town helps MAYSP this 9/11

photo: Taylor Kuykendall

Update (1.18)
Check out this video for an older Bad Employees song, “I Must Break You,” filmed and edited by Don Yeater on helmet cam in Boston, Mass.