The Bad Toupees. Photo courtesy of The Bad Toupees.
On a brisk Friday afternoon, I found myself doubled over with laughter in Ashley Smith’s dining room in Hummelstown.
There, I sat with eight musicians as they reflected on over 30 years as the popular area dance band, The Bad Toupees. Current and founding band members drove and flew to the region for the weekend to celebrate their longevity with an anniversary reunion show at The Englewood.
During the interview, they missed no opportunities to razz and rib each other—the kind of friendship that can only come from knowing someone through years of highs, lows and the closeness unlocked through creativity and collaboration.
The band’s founding members became friends when working together at The Hershey Company in the early 1990s. In 1993, the group of pals decided to start playing music together during monthly practice sessions.
That all changed when they decided to book a Halloween party at the Hershey VFW.
“We were getting together once a month to jam and thought, ‘Hey, let’s have a party and we’ll laugh and giggle with our friends, and then that’s it,’” said former drummer and vocalist Ralph “Toad” Carfagno. “And then we got booked!”
The name of the outfit came from another former member, Bo Smith, who hadn’t planned to join the band, but, “they were hurting for a keyboard player,” he said.
“We were all having dinner at Toad’s one night, and they all had freakishly thick hair, so I said, ‘The Bad Toupees would be great for you guys,’” he laughed. “It actually went over very poorly, but, for lack of an alternative, it stuck.”
This moniker inspired many puns and creatively themed performances, particularly those falling around Halloween—Night of the Living Toupees, Toup Mile Island, YToupee, etc. Many of these events were enhanced by elaborate sets that were built by guitarist and vocalist Paul Schroeder.
“For an Area 51 theme that we had, he made a flying saucer as big as this room,” Carfagno said.
The band was popular among regulars at the Cocoa Court Club, Shakey’s and other watering holes around the Hershey area, amassing a following they lovingly call the Toupheads.
“At one time, we were bringing in 500 to 600 people a night,” Schroeder said. “But this was all about fun—that’s what it was for us.”
Some years, he said, they played Shakey’s every three months, with a local radio station even doing a live broadcast from the bar when they performed.
Best Thing Ever
The original ensemble played together for about a decade, at which point some members began relocating.
With people leaving, the band added a few other members to its ranks, and so came the eventual additions of Bill Wasch, the current guitarist and vocalist; Ashley Smith, saxophone, keys, vocals and tambourine; Sam Bolinger, who performs on drums and vocals; and Craig “Tito” Wrights, who occasionally joins the band on percussion.
Carfagno and Smith worked together. She happened to mention that she plays saxophone, prompting Carfagno to recruit her.
“We’d been wanting to play some Chicago and needed horns, so [we] hired out horns for the night,” Carfagno said, gesturing to Smith. “Ashley wasn’t too much of a pain, and we asked if she wanted to stay and, for reasons we don’t know, she stayed.”
“It’s been the best thing ever,” Smith said.
For years, the band instituted what they referred to as the “suck-o-meter.”
“Whoever sucks the least must sing the song in public,” Carfagno said.
The practice isn’t as prevalent now, since “Ashley and Bill do great stuff,” said Doug Searle, bass player and vocalist.
In fact, before Wasch officially joined the band, he would come out and sing with them, Carfagno said.
“Bill said to us, ‘Have you ever looked around your venues? It’s packed with people, and no one ever leaves and says, ‘You’re the best singers.’ They come to dance!’”
While the band’s set list is generally a mix of 1960s through ‘90s hits, they slip in popular recent releases once in a while, or they’ll make decisions about songs to retire from the set list.
At one point, the band performed two original songs, one of which, “Nice Watch,” was inspired by a trip Carfagno and Smith took to St. Maarten, written during an afternoon of day drinking.
“Think we wrote it on a shopping bag,” Carfagno said, laughing.
The humor, love and respect in the room was palpable, but even the strongest families experience tense periods.
“Every band is like this to some degree,” Wasch said. “It’s like being married to six other people for 30 years, which is like being married to one person for 180 years.”
The original five shared an experience they had one night where, “There was a song we didn’t get right,” and the band members closed their cases and went home.
Carfagno organized a lunch at Shakey’s the next day.
“We’re sitting there, and I asked if we’re going to talk about it,” he said.
That prompted former lead guitarist Kirk Ward to pipe in.
“I said, ‘Who’s mad at who?’” he said. “I had no clue there was even a riff.”
That intense camaraderie persists to this day. They still consult with each other for major decisions, such as adding new members.
“They’ve established a band-ship that’s so strong, something they weren’t ready to give up anytime someone moved away,” Smith said. “They still ask each other, ‘Are you OK with this move,’ for the alumni members. So, even when they’ve left, we can keep making music together.”
For more information on The Bad Toupees, visit www.thebadtoupees.com.
Cut a Rug
This month, The Bad Toupees have two shows scheduled.
The Hershey Italian Lodge
128 Hillcrest Rd., Hershey
Saturday, March 16, 7 to 10 p.m.
The Vineyard at Hershey
598 Schoolhouse Rd., Middletown
Friday, March 29, 6 to 9 p.m.
If you like what we do, please support our work. Become a Friend of TheBurg!
