Rooted in Midwest punk rock, Bad Year formed in 2019 and calls Milwaukee home. Inspired by heartbreak, angst, and self-reformation, Bad Year injects the scene with anthemic chorus hooks and brutal optimism. In the spirit of promoting positive aspects of mental health, their cathartic melodies are known for freely inspiring listeners with a sense of empathy, mutual understanding and hope. Mike, Joey, and Sean put a fresh, more decorated feel on musical incarnations and lived experiences of the past.

Bad Year’s groundbreaking debut EP Handshakes received immediate acclaim from listeners and an unmediated Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) Award nomination while the title track’s music video gained over 100k views within its first month. The trio refrained from allowing a pandemic to slow the tempo with the smash-hit Blackout that kept the momentum and expanded the boundaries of incendiary musical composition in their first of many productions with highly sought after producer, Nick Rad. The follow-up release, A Moment In Time EP, creates acoustic landscapes of sound that envoke feelings, energies, and memories for which a fan states, “There are no words”. 

The recent feeling of shared musical experiences has been sorely missed. With the physical community displaced, longing for connection together, this desire will surely be met by the upcoming releases. Born from lived experience and forged from the pandemic, fans can look forward to the spankin’ new singles Killing Me, Paranoid Failure and The End including a feature in New Noise Magazine.