In the summer of 1999, Matthew J. Bauman and Michael Charron started The Hayden Elders as a fun and weird project that matched their oddball sensibilities. This was something Michael had been wanting to do ever since he was obsessed with Weird Al’s “Even Worse” as a kid. Adding drummer Erik Anderson and Producer T.W. Bond along the way, they’ve done everything from metal to country to rap… anything as long as they can make it funny and weird.

Keith Hoerig, formerly of the band Five Iron Frenzy, once said about their debut album: “I got an incredible demo from a band called The Hayden Elders, check them out! Everyone in FIF who has heard their CD likes it. It’s quirky rockin that They Might be Giants / The Dead Milkmen / Breakfast With Amy kind of way, but at times sounding like Bob Dylan if he suddenly decided to write really funny songs about eating meat, and sometimes sounding like Ed’s Redeeming Qualities. Anyway, this is all to say you should find out about them. They are good, and nice, and they play Scrabble well.”