Bad Bad Hats at the Raccoon Motel -- January 4.
Saturday, January 4, 7 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
Their eponymous 2024 release hailed by SJSReview.com as a "very, very good" album that "could very well soundtrack a top-down, summer fun buddy movie or rom-com worth experiencing in the theater," the indie-pop and folk-rock duo of Bad Bad Hats returns to Davenport's Raccoon Motel on January 4, the artist's latest also praised by AllMusic.com as "so charming it takes a while to be aware of the strength of the craft. But let this music sink in and you'll have this on repeat all day long."
Its original lineup composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Kerry Alexander bassist Chris Hoge (the band's current iteration) alongside drummer Noah Boswell, Bad Bad Hats – its moniker taken from the children's book Madeline & the Bad Hat – formed in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2012 when its musicians were students at Macalester College. All three original members DJ-ed shows at their college's radio station where Alexander was manager, and Bad Bad Hats' first official performance was at a campus battle of the bands sponsored by the station. The musicians lost that competition to a funk ensemble, but did manage to impress one of the contest's judges: Ian Anderson, founder of the influential Minneapolis indie-rock label Afternoon Records. Subsequently, in 2013, the group recorded its EP debut It Hurts (lauded by Paste magazine as “a succinct collection of addicting ear-grabbers”), and followed it with the 2015 album debut Psychic Reader, a critically praised release that earned the group national attention.
Pitchfork magazine praised the “apt songwriting which translates [Alexander's] experiences into poignant, universal stories” while The New Yorker stated that Psychic Reader's “terse, honest lyrics suggest a weathered wisdom.” Paste, meanwhile, wrote, “Unlike what its title suggests, the album proves to be unpredictable from track to track, adding splashes of crunchy garage-rock where others would've gone full-blown syrupy.” The album's success resulted in Bad Bat Hats touring the country extensively alongside artists including Margaret Glaspy, Hippo Campus, The Front Bottoms, and Third Eye Blind, as well as recording a Psychic Reader follow-up in 2019's Lightning Round. Atwood magazine called the recording “an energetic collection start to finish,” while Rolling Stone called it a work in which "the Minnesota quartet refine and polish the blend of indie-pop, folk, and rock that they introduced on their 2015 debut." And prior the release of Bad Bad Hats earlier this year, the band's third album Walkman earned a Paste magazine rave as “a jubilant half-hour punctuating a newfound maturity,” with NPR described the recording as “programmed to fire all neural pathways associated with carefree indie-rock fun.”
Bad Bad Hats brings their tour to Davenport on January 4 with an opening set by Party Nails, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $19.84, and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
