The Badger Haus first came to be in December 1996, when guitarist/lyricist Jeremy Colonizing XJ-52Grace joined forces with bassist Chris Fordyce. The two teamed up with drummer Matt Bradshaw, whom they both knew through youth group. They rehearsed minimally, until the spring of 1997 when they invited guitarist Joseph Terry to a practice, and they went on from there. In April the new foursome recorded their first cassette ep as a demo Colonizing XJ-52. They produced only 300 copies which sold quickly, and now they are quite a rarity! The group continued playing in and around the Des Moines area through the remainder of the year.

The following winter, they built a small, En Route to Phoenixmodest studio in Joseph's basement and recorded their first full-length album, En Route to Phoenix. This CD was released on May 22, 1998 at Fust Fest II. During the summer of 1998, the Badger Haus had it's most productive summer, writing songs at a fast rate and playing quite often around Des Moines. The band assembled once again in winter to record an ep of new pop songs they had been writing that summer. But the sessions were one headache after another. The weather was miserable, the band was exuasted coming home from their tiring jobs, and the time left for recording was very narrow. Only a few songs were comitted to tape, and no one was very happy with the outcome. The sessions were abandoned.

The Badger Haus took time off during the summer of 1999. Jeremy and Matt were both out of town, but Chris and Joe continued to play together. At the end of the Come and Get It!summer, they decided to try agian at recording the ep, but found that they had enough songs to record a full-length album. So the four returned and built a better studio once again in Joe's basement. The band left two straight weeks for recording, and these sessions ran much smoother. They finished days ahead of schedule. The finished product was Come and Get It! (with Kim Bradshaw, Karle Meyers Derrick Redhead). The new album consists of 13 songs, and is set to be released on Tues, April 25!

 
With Come and Get It!, drummer Matt Bradshaw waved farewell to the Badger Haus. He now focusses on his new family (congradulations) and his studies at Iowa State. He has recently made appearances, occasionally filling in for his successor. You'll be able to see Bradshaw at the CD release party for Come and Get It! and perhaps this summer.
Chris Fordyce handles the low end of The Badger Haus' music, and does it quite well. He's taken on influences such as Mike Mills and Flea from early on, but has recently acquired tastes for Jaco Pastrious and Michael Manring, and has even began playing fretless bass, which is greatly modifying the band's sound lately. He is constantly on the lookout for new sounds and equipment, which makes him one tough fish to catch!
Will Jeremy Grace ever be free from guitar dilemmas? You'd think after these years he'd finally reach a point where he would not have to constantly wrestle his guitar to make it work. If you have seen any Badger Haus shows at all, you might get the impression that Jeremy's relationships with the guitars he plays are like never-ending soap operas. But he still manages to whip out some pretty wicked sounds. Oh, and he sings lots.
Joseph Terry is everything between the Badger Haus. A typical performance finds him dancing through playing guitar, singing, extra percussion and dancing! He is contanstanly teeder-tottering from jazz-styles to big rock and back again. Lately, he has been working in keyboard to many live shows.
If you have been to any of the Badger Haus' recent shows, you may have noticed a new face behind the drumset. Sadly, Matt Bradshaw is no longer the regular, but he is alive and is extremely happy. Matt Fisher is the new timekeeper for The Badger Haus. With this new member, The Badger Haus is a newer, different band than it had once been. Overwhelmed by the new sound possibilities and ventures that lay ahead of them, you are may be up for some very different music than The Badger Haus that you are used to.