Attention students, it’s time to learn about the stages of evolution. You are born, you learn to walk, you hit puberty and you start a band. OK, maybe that’s not what it says in sixth-grade science books, but for four Southern boys, it’s the only way to go.
Four years ago, Bad Charism formed in Ocean Springs. The band is comprised of drummer Jason Pike, his brother Jeff Pike on bass, singer/guitarist Aaron Hall (Jason and Jeff’s cousin) and lead guitarist Ricky Williams.
The band’s gritty, driving rock pays homage to a variety of influences, from Led Zeppelin to the Deftones.
“It’s just rock,” Hall said of the band’s sound. “You can call it metal or alternative or whatever, but first and foremost, it’s rock.”
Although the band members are still in their late teens and early 20s, they have already played 91 shows along the Gulf Coast; however, it wasn’t long ago when their shows were just family reunion jams.
“We always used to play together at family gatherings, so we formed the band from that,” Hall said.
Hall is currently a high school student in Montgomery, Ala. Despite the distance from Ocean Springs, Hall managed to maintain his musical chemistry with his cousins. Six years ago, Hall was taking piano lessons. A year and countless ivory strokes later, he got an itch that could only be scratched with a Fender pick. Although his initial contributions to the early, not-quite-formed Bad Charism were his guitar chords, Hall later doubled as the band’s frontman. While he may have had no formal vocal training, he was not completely untaught.
“I learned a lot from the bands we played with at gigs,” Hall said.
Jeff also started as a guitarist, but supply and demand turned his six-stringer into a longneck.
“Nobody in the area played bass, so I moved from guitar to bass,” Jeff said.
Last month, Jeff graduated early from high school. Jason, on the other hand, is a sophomore at Mississippi State University majoring in computer science, but currently has no plans on using his future degree to join the “evil empire,” his dubbing of Microsoft.
With three independent albums under their belts, Bad Charism has the ability to compose their own brand of rock. However, the band admits that they sometimes give in to the public’s demand for cover songs.
“We play a mix of original songs and cover songs,” Jeff said. “We’ll cover bands like Fuel and Staind because people really want to hear it.”
With four creative minds spinning their gears, the potential for creative conflict is ever present, but so far, everything seems to be running smoothly.
“We get in stupid fights like about who left the amplifier on, but never anything serious,” Hall said. “We’re never at each other’s throats.”
However, even this tidy ship comes with at least one kink.
“Our only problem is scheduling gigs,” Jason said. “It’s a little hard sometimes because Aaron lives so far away.”
Bad Charism has performed at beach clubs in Biloxi and lively bars on trendy Dauphin Street in Mobile, Ala. Last summer, the band played to their biggest crowd to date, a swarm of 10,000 sun-drenched mosh-pitters at Biloxi’s CPR Fest. The annual festival is hosted by WCPR, a popular contemporary rock station known for supporting local acts.
“That was awesome,” Jeff said. “Playing in front of 10,000 people is such a rush.”
Jeff proudly admitted that he played CPR fest in a fashion made popular by Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist) in his underwear.
Bad Charism will perform Feb. 10 at Grand Central on Dauphin Street.