Like the Boulder, Colo., -based Samples, Chicago's Bad Examples have carved a niche among Springfield music fans through repeated visits here and, in the case of the Examples, valuable airplay from "classic" rocker WYMG-FM.
"Ashes Of My Heart," a Squeeze-like piece of delicious pop from the band's debut album "Bad Is Beautiful," helped to expose the Bad Examples to unsuspecting local listeners accustomed to Foreigner and Journey.
On Saturday, the Bad Examples return to Springfield - promoting "Cheap Beer Night," an enticing live album with 14 new songs. (Note to WYMG and pop outlet WDBR-FM: Give "Hey St. Peter" and "Failing With the Best Intentions" a listen.)
Singer Ralph Covert writes virtually all of the Bad Examples' songs and, judging by "Cheap Beer Night," he's been jilted more than once. Still, Covert's a sharp songwriter, and he's willing to lighten his tone. Let's hope Saturday's playlist will include Covert's singalong "Sammy the Dog Has Learned to Play Trombone."
After two straight years of touring a regional circuit of bars and nightclubs and maintaining a sizable Chicago audience, the Bad Examples have formed a kinship with its crowds.
"We've played so many cheap beer nights," Covert writes in the liner notes, "that playing live for us is a process of trying to find some shared gut feeling with the people who are there."
OK, then, tell us how the bassist got a name like Pickles Piekarski.