For the first time in 32 years, the members of the New Jersey southern rock band Badlands will perform live together on Oct. 18 at Jenks Club in Point Pleasant. I t seemed like the story of the Badlands band was finished in 1982 when the New Jerseybased southern rock group officially broke up. But now it appears as though the band’s story is just beginning.
For the first time in 32 years, the six members of Badlands will perform live together in a reunion event Oct. 18 at Jenks Club in Point Pleasant, officially marking the band’s return to the local music scene.
“Badlands is back,” Rich Gulya, the band’s lead singer and current Jackson resident, said proudly.
When Gulya, 54, was in his late teens and living in his hometown of Edison, the New Jersey music scene was a different world. The legal drinking age was 18 and there was a club in almost every town, Gulya said, with rooms filled with people coming to enjoy live music.
“People long for those days,” Gulya said. “They’re looking, not so much to get wasted or to go that route, but to grasp onto something that is real … they are looking for the old days of going to see a live band, being part of a party.”
One of the clubs Badlands regularly played was Circus Circus in Bergenfield — later renamed The Circus — which owner Rick Bandazian was forced to close in 1983 due to challenges stemming from the increase in the legal age to 21. Now Bandazian is launching a book, “Rock and Roll Meltdown: The Circus Nightclub Story,” which documents his experiences as a club owner in the late 1970s and early 1980s, until the “rock and roll meltdown” — the increase in the legal drinking age — changed everything. “It’s not the next ‘Roots’ or the next ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ but when you read it, you’ll go, ‘I’ve been there’ or ‘I wish I was there,’” said Bandazian, whose book includes interviews with members of Badlands and other bands that played the club. “It’s about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and the greatest music era of our time.” When the members of Badlands reunite in Point Pleasant, they will be doing so as part of Bandazian’s book release party, a major celebration of a musical era from the past.
The release of Bandazian’s book also comes at a conveniently appropriate time for Badlands, as Canadian photographer Azriel Knight recently stumbled upon rolls of undeveloped film of the band. Knight runs a web series, “Mysterious Developments,” where he tries to identify sources of old rolls of film and return them to their owners.
The mystery was solved when a musician named Billy Schorling recognized the images as Badlands performing in their youth.
The members of Badlands have always been a part of each other’s lives, as they have continued to record music together on and off since the band broke up. Gulya also plays as an unofficial member of local rock band the Nerds, which includes Badlands member Jack Yocum on drums.
But this year brings a resurgence to the glory days of Badlands and allows for the group to bring its rich musical history into an exciting new future.
“People are longing for [this era of music],” Gulya said. “They are seeing a lot of disposability. … That is why I think country music is appealing to people today, because it is giving them this sense of, ‘Hey, there are real people out there.’ ”
The Circus Nightclub Reunion/ Book Release Party is taking place on Oct. 18 at Jenks in Point Pleasant from 1-6 p.m. For more information, visit jenkspavilion.com.