Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008.

Broken-hearted, desperate hope, you sank to the sandy bottom of your despair.

And there you'll wait for now.

Deep and dark and all but grown old, you're holding these joyful memories in your lungs.

Alone as you close your eyes.

Unhappy Kathy hold your breath and sink down down down to the bottom.

You've no lips with which to drink your wine and soothe your aching soul.

Unhappy Kathy hold your breath and sink down down down to the bottom You've no legs with which to see this world and know that you are loved.

Unhappy Kathy Hold your breath and sing down down down to the bottom You've no lips with which to drink your wine and soothe your aching soul.

Unhappy Kathy As you close your eyes surrendering now to the hope you'll find comfort in the weight that lifts your heart and lets you rise.

Unhappy Kathy you have left us all behind to find the joy of being weightless being faithless you have laughed into the void.

And I can't think of a better way to be than in control of your own destiny.

And you can't live any better than free.

And you can't die any better than the ghost of the waters Unhappy Kathy Unhappy Kathy Hold your breath and sink down down down to the bottom.

You've no lips with which to drink your wine and soothe your aching soul.

Unhappy Kathy As your breath grows thin, surrendering now to the hope you'll find comfort in the weight that lifts your heart and lets you go.

I am Brian Reed.

We are from Minneapolis.

Our band is The Very Bad Days.

Or if you like really long band names Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Days It was just a name that we thought of a long time ago like as a group back in the day and then I think we're probably basically children so naming ourselves after a children's book worked really well.

Our sound started out just kind of like a bit like spooky punk music and then it gradually evolved into sort of a '90s style.

So in 2019 we got a new guitarist.

His name's Aric Bieganek.

Great guy.

Actually a children's musician on the side.

And he's definitely like a '90s Alt Rock junkie.

And I think that brought out the love of '90s alt rock in us And so that really influenced a lot of our music.

So that and we write a lot of songs about monsters and ghosts and cryptids things like that.

I was thinking the other day: Why do good men die?

Why do criminals get away?

Why do they nail down a coffin lid anyway?

Because of zombies.

If it's a secret, then where is the King?

What crashed at Roswell and made it a thing?

Why is there a french fry in my onion ring?

Conspiracy.

Conspiracy.

Do you think that if I told it, you would have the power to control it?

You can't have everything; how would you hold it?

And furthermore... Only scientists can tell us: who builds robots so rebellious.

No use hiding, they can smell us.

Will the rains take our lives?

When the flood waters come, will the wicked survive?

Did Noah keep bees in his arc hives?

I'm pretty sure he did.

In the event the protagonist dies, who will be the hero when the villains arrive?

The one who saves the city will get a surprise!

You think it's bees?

I think it's bees.

The earliest thing I can remember is with my neighbor, the neighbor kid, where we made a little band with buckets and like the grates from the fridge and we like played on those We wrote a really annoying song about superheroes and made my mom listen to us and they they were thrilled.

But so now I guess the instruments have gotten a little more expensive.

So the production value has increased but we're still writing songs about superheroes and monsters.

I think we just ditch the instruments altogether.

There you go.

Yeah just play on fridge equipment and buckets.

And maybe get Remy to bark a lot.

He can be the singer.

Absolutely.

I like this.

This is a new band idea.

It was interesting.

We started playing out in 2019 and so we did a few like open mic nights at the Chatterbox in Minneapolis, led by Philipe, this great dude.

He gave us the best introduction ever .

He's like "I hope you're having a very bad day cuz it's about to get shot."

And we love to go back to that.

So it was great.

And then in 2019 we added Aric to the band and we started we did a few more open mics and then we did an acoustic set and we started an electric set at Acadia down there and a big Halloween show at the Caboose and that was a blast.

And we had a really great time and then 2020, something happened and music just sort of stopped.

I don't remember what it was but once that was done, yeah, it slowly, it slowly climbed back I think.

There were a lot of people, especially like gig musicians, people who depend on it for their livelihood had a really hard time because everyone was rushing back in and you know places were booking, you know, six, nine months out.

And so it was a really rough time for a while.

And on top of that Minneapolis was kind of closing down a lot of its midsize venues.

And so then the small venues sort of like started they just cropped up and they started popping up.

So now we're still talking to some of our friends who are playing at places we've never heard of.

And so we're like "Oh we got to check that place out now."

But it's coming back really hard.

And there's a lot of small venues and really creative performances out there.

I met you while you were standing by the water fountain at the Macy's vestibule at the mall at a quarter to nine.

You were all alone and thirsty and lookin' so fine.

So I said 'Hey I think you dropped this and you said thanks.'

And it was then that I knew our love could change the world because you knew full well that that was not yours.

I assumed it was someone's before I found it And that changes something.

I don't think it'll ever be okay.

But I wouldn't say that to your face cuz I know how much you like things to be okay.

I'm down with waiting for the Establishment to be all right But I don't think it'll ever be okay.

I think everyone is crazy except for me.

And so does everyone except for you and me and all the people who are trapped in the world.

Maybe if they're lucky they can find a girl like you.

We'd all be free if we could finding too.

Not everyone will submit at first to our new world But given time, they'll adapt and find it nice.

If they don't like it, the love will kill them.

All resistance will be crushed.

And I don't think it'll ever be okay but I wouldn't say that to your face Cuz I know how much you like things to be okay I'm down with waiting for the Establishment to be all right.

I don't think it'll ever be, oh... Our love's too powerful to ever control Should I save the world or should I say hello to you?

I met you while you were standing by the water fountain at the Macy's vestibule, my darling....

I hesitated and I walked away, cuz I'd never want to love you into Judgement Day Then I saw you walking my way.

My heart it melted like the flesh of the millions.

Now I see there's beauty in the end of existence.

It's all right and it's okay cuz I don't think it'll ever be okay.

But I wouldn't say that to your face cuz I know how much you like things to be okay.

I'm down with waiting for the Establishment to be alright.

I don't think it'll ever be oh I don't think that it could ever be no I don't think it'll ever be Okay.

Whenever we play a show like everyone just really I feel like we're a little we're a little looser and different about our performances.

We bring a lot of fun and energy and they're very receptive to it and they're like "Man I really like this, I like that."

Like I've never, I've never felt like super competitive or anything like that.

Yeah.

It's very camaraderie a lot for sure.

Yeah, there's a lot of space to get to know new people cuz there's always something new going on and if you just spend any time out at like 331 or Cloudland you're going to meet a lot of new people and everyone's really receptive.

I think people are really busy and like people are very focused and like one band that we played with not too long ago, Kingsize Coffin, a great group.

Seven people playing on a tiny stage.

They did a huge gauntlet of like 10 or 12 Halloween shows throughout the month of October and so they were just busy.

And like we went up to them after a show that they did at Can Can Wonderland and then they were just like...they're just like burned out.

They're like 'We've been doing this for an entire month'.

So yeah there's a lot of opportunities if you're looking for them and it's really busy.

But we've had nothing but great times meeting with new people and checking out new shows.

I think there are people out there who are always going to make it really competitive but that's really not our vibe.

We just kind of have fun with it.

We're privileged not to depend on it for our livelihood.

So it's a little bit easier to just have some fun with it and just kind of take the opportunities as they come and that's made it a really special experience.

Do you remember that summer that we spent on the lake?

We were young and our whole family was staying with Aunt Mildred.

Nobody really noticed her warm eyes and solemn smile but I took to her quite fondly.

And she showed me all around her brand new house that our father built upon the ashes of the old family estate that he had recently acquired.

Aunt Mildred showed me how to use the oven and I'd make these little treats for all her cats and dogs and chase them through the hallway.

While father would light a cigarette and stand out on the tide and watch the sun go down and listen to the waves come rolling in.

Because he didn't like the songs that she would sing to him when it got late and the house smelled like tobacco.

And they'd have buried Aunt Mildred if she hadn't burned up inside the house with all her animals and crazy little knick knacks.

And the bones that they can find, they put inside a sealed box, laid to rest in the foundation of this grand, marvelous tribute of a house that our father built upon the ashes of the old family estate that he had recently acquired.

Then came the day I heard old Mildred singing sweetly by the water's edge.

So I went outside to listen while the gas flowed freely from the oven I'd left on and I watched the house go up and listened to my father's screaming out As Aunt Mildred smiled down the doorway of the old family estate that I would soon come to acquire.

Ooh..... Oh yeah we should mention John Brynd really quick.

He's our newest member.

Great friend of ours joined.

One of the best musicians I've ever met.

Guitar player, drummer.

He even plays keys a little bit.

Fantastic dude.

He just joined us recently and we've been having a ton of fun.

Tonight's set is going to be incorporate him kind of for the first time as we're trying to bring him in you know.

Cuz he's going to do drums but he's also going to do guitar.

It's going to be something new for us tonight.

Yeah, yeah so at the switch up of that so once we switch instruments we're going to perform our sequel song, 'The Tale of the Woodman to Part 2 The Book of the Woodman Tale of the Woodman Part 2'.

The second one.

And that song is kind of a jazzy reinterpretation of the first song which was about a monster at Camp Woodman or a camp counselor at Camp Woodman who essentially a Friday the 13th situation.

And but also kind of a weird tribute to monsters.

Oh hey guys I said I was never coming out of that bag.

So yeah we're talking about my song now.

Yeah we're talking about 'The Tale of the Woodman 2, Woodman to Part Two Tale of the Woodman to Woodman to Part Two'.

My book is about the book.

It's PBS right?

It is fitting for puppets.

All right.

I thought I was going to see like a Cookie Monster and like a Count von Count.

Like I think we'd get along I'm kind of a monster myself.

They might be backstage.

They might be backstage?

I gotta talk to him.

All right.

Oh yeah, so this is the Woodman.

We've done some promos with him and stuff.

He's, we took him down to...where did we take him to?

Minnehaha Falls.

He likes it there.

This is him.

This is, he's much kinder, gentler than the song would have you believe.

Woodman was a boy.

And he was turned into a woodman by a witch was turning people into wood men don't you see?

Now he bears the curse of the bloodwood tree.

And he's doomed to roam this forest for all eternity.

He don't care for your cries or pleas.

He lives to make your heart seize.

Hold the ones you love and all the others that you don't love.

Because the woodman he won't rest until the world is underneath.

For he took his oath from the harvest moon And he feeds the terror inside me and inside you.

Harbinger of our common doom He'll be at your doorstep soon I think he's coming.

Here we go Was that the Woodman?

Ding dong.

Woodman's door to door cuz he is selling you a Bible because the Woodman knows the road is paved with gold for those who seek the truth Now he bears the word of the Lord to you and he'd like to share what he learned when he first heard the good news that Jesus Christ is coming soon.

Just kidding Woodman's trying to kill you Woodman Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money by the vote of the people, November 4th, 2008.