The jeering that St. Johnny endured in its brief years in Hartford — from bar owners, patrons and even the metal bands that shared rehearsal halls — made the band’s almost-instant success in New York even more astonishing. Decried in its hometown, St. Johnny became the first Hartford rock band to land a major-label record deal when it signed with Geffen two years ago.
 
Roger Catlin / Hartford Courant

Bill Whitten knows what he’s talking about when it comes to bad timing: with his early-90s band St. Johnny, the Grand Mal leader got a couple toes in the door as part of the post-Nirvana alterna-signing sweepstakes, arriving too late to cash in on the opportunity. Where that might be enough to discourage an average rocker, inviting the certain state of laziness that so often results from near-successes, Whitten reinvented himself as glam-rock savior well ahead of the current revivalist trend– except now that he’s perfected the style, it’s already a casualty of overexposure and style-over-substance bandwagon-jumpers.
Scott Hreha / Pitchfork

Led by singer/songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist Bill Whitten, and supported by a lineup of band members that has constantly rotated over the years, Grand Mal sound, and look, like they’ve come straight from the grimy streets of New York City 30 years ago, channeling the best music from that pre-punk era. Their sound seems like one that’s been done before by countless bar bands, but as you listen to them, you begin to hear some variety in each song, interesting little hints of other sounds that keep things from getting too monotonous. Produced by Dave Fridmann (he of Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, and Sparklehorse fame), Bad Timing is a very solid rock ‘n’ roll record that, despite recycling sounds that we’ve heard so many times before, still manages to sound fresh and energetic.
 
Adrien Begrand / Popmatters