Chad Badzich

Chad Badzich is a young musician, currently frontman for the indie/grunge band Bassic Rhythm. He plays bass guitar and performs lead vocals, inspired by Geddy Lee from Rush. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington and attends Washington State University, where he works as a janitor. He currently has no officially released any singles, but works are rumored to be in the process.
==Early Life==
Chad Badzich was born November, 18 1989 in Westport, Washington. His father was a DJ and worked at a local radio station, while his mother was a stay-at-home mom. He attended Ocosta Elementary, where he met fellow bandmate Crash Symbol. The two became close friends in the second grade and spent most of their free-time together until Symbol's family moved to the Seattle area while the two were in the fifth grade. At this same time, Badzich's parents divorced. Badzich states, "Kurt Cobain (one of my heroes and a great inspiration) said it best: 'I had a really good childhood up until I was nine, then a classic case of divorce really affected me.' I've always felt Cobain was a kindred spirit, since he went through a lot of the same stuff." Due to the loss of his best friend and father, Badzich developed severe shyness and became very antisocial, considered by many to be a loner. Ex-bandmate Ben Obi states, "Yeah, around school, he was always off alone. He didn't really have any friends, I mean, he just looked so lonely all the time. Sometimes girls would go talk to him, but he was just so shy and looked so sad, they left him alone." 
==Musical Background==
After the divorce of his parents, Chad's father left him a guitar signed by Third Eye Blind. He began to dabble with the guitar, teaching himself, while also taking up the viola and performing in the school orchestra throughout middle school and high school. In middle school, Badzich found a musical reawakening. He began listening to Queen, recommended by an acquaintance. Badzich stated in an interview, "After hearing Mercury's voice, Bohemian Rhapsody was just about all I listened to. Before it had been John Williams, Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi; but then all I wanted was Freddie. I remembered stuff like 'Another One Bites the Dust' and David Bowie (my mom loves him) and I thought to myself: why haven't I been listening to these guys all along?" It was when listening to the Guns N' Roses album "Appetite For Destruction", specifically "Sweet Child O' Mine", that Badzich decided to take up bass. "After listening to Sweet Child O' Mine, I knew that's what I wanted to do. I fell in love with that bass line. So I got a job over the summer, saved up, and spent almost all of it on a bass and amp. The first time I held that bass in my hands, it just felt right."
==Teen Years==
Badzich attended Ocosta Junior-Senior High in Westport, Washington. During 9th grade, Badzich's long-time friend Crash Symbol moved back to Westport. However, the two drifted apart, remaining friends but not entirely close. Badzich was a loner, finding it very difficult to make friends. Instead, he was always found sitting alone in the band hall during lunch, writing instead of eating. Badzich was a very bright student, receiving straight A's and scoring high on tests. 
During 11th grade, Badzich began socializing, rebuilding his friendship with Symbol and befriending members of the high school band. At this same time, Badzich took a huge interest in the band Nirvana. Frontman Kurt Cobain became a hero to Badzich, almost to the point of idolizing the man. Around this time, Badzich also began listening to artists such as Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Rush.
Symbol recalls the time Badzich started writing music: "It was about halfway through the (11th grade) year, he got his heart broke. One of his friends, this girl from pep band, they were really good friends. He fell in love with her, took her to prom as 'just friends' because she wanted to go, but she left him for this trumpet guy. What broke his heart was that she just dropped him, didn't even treat him like friends anymore. Yeah, but to deal with it, he'd sit alone and just write. We didn't know what, but it turned out he was writing music." 
Upon discovering that Badzich played bass, schoolmates Ben Obi and Elan Schwaz invited him to join their two-man band Gametogenocide. Badzich invited drummer and friend Crash Symbol to join, and the four began playing together on Sundays.
==Musical History==
===Gametogenocide===
Fellow students Ben Obi and Elan Schwaz invited Chad Badzich to join their band Gametogenocide as the bassist. Obi and Schwaz were at a Crash and Die concert, which Badzich had intended to but was unable to attend, when (inspired by the band) called Badzich and asked him to join their band on February 7, 2007. Badzich, set on a Nirvana cover-band, insisted they do so. Obi and Schwaz complied but were not overexcited. Badzich recruited drummer Crash Symbol to join, and the four began practicing every Sunday to tunes such as "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Rape Me". Ben Obi was on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Elan Schwaz on lead guitar, Badzich on bass, and Symbol on drums. Initially, the band would practice in Obi's downstairs room, but later moved into Symbol's basement. On occasion, the group would meet in the local highschool's band room to practice or just hang out. The name "Gametogenocide" was tagged by Ben Obi, who thought of it during a biology test. In June 2007, Obi left the band for personal reasons. Schwaz later followed, leaving Badzich and Symbol as the only members. Badzich began on vocals while the pair continued to practice without a guitarist.
===Bassic Rhythm===
With Gametogenocide diverged after Obi and Schwaz went their own ways, Badzich moved to Seattle, Washington for college. Symbol accompanied Badzich so the remainder of the band could keep together and, as Symbol is quoted, "Westport didn't have anything for me." When not in class or on the job as a janitor at WSU, Badzich began frequenting local underground music joints. While at the joint Maxwell Silvers, Badzich was introduced to the fellow Seattle-Indie band Ear-Rat-Tick before a show. Badzich often worked as an unofficial roadie for the band, hauling whatever was needed usually without payment. Badzich would hang out with the band after gigs, becoming personal friends with Ear-Rat-Tick frontman Zack Melvin.
Before an Ear-Rat-Tick show on October 10, 2007, Melvin introduced Badzich to Kaye Richards, the daughter of the club's owner. Melvin claims that he was "trying to hook the two up". The two spent most of the night talking and, after learning that Richards played guitar and shared his interest in Nirvana, Badzich invited Richards to jam with the band. Badzich, Symbol, and Richards would practice in Richards' uncle's basement using the new name Bassic Rhythm. The band currently performs small gigs under this name; at first covering Nirvana songs such as "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Sliver", "Do Re Mi", and "About A Girl", but currently using some original material written by Badzich. At the moment, Bassic Rhythm is independent and has not accepted any record deals.
==Musical Influences==
Badzich is a huge fan of Nirvana, and thus some of his earliest work is largely influenced by the Seattle grunge sound. His songs such as "Empty" and "Untitled" make use the soft-verse/hard-chorus style favored by Kurt Cobain and other grunge artists. Other musical influences include Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Screaming Trees, Sonic Youth, Flipper, The Foo Fighters, Queen, The Beatles, Guns N' Roses, and David Bowie.
==Personal Life==
Badzich avoids speaking of his personal life in interviews. His parents were divorced when Badzich was in the 5th grade, which greatly affected him. He had few friends in school and is often cited as a loner. He has been close friends with fellow bandmate Crash Symbol since elementary school. Badzich has stated in a 2008 interview:
"I hate all the attention... I'm really not comfortable with it. Being on stage performing, that's one thing. Media is another thing. Music should be about singing your heart out or playing your soul into a riff, not having the spotlight on you."
Category:Musicians
Category:American artists