Hardy Mums, “Good Day For A Bad Tattoo”
Producer Eddie Ashworth’s recording project Hardy Mums is releasing the final single ahead of their highly anticipated debut record. Featuring vocal and flute contributions from Kari Ann Rutushin (Bent String, Swap Meet, Larry Elefante), “Good Day For A Bad Tattoo” recounts those spur-of-the-moment decisions that lead to permanent consequences.
Ashworth has a knack for writing songs that have no particular reference point. From the driving rocker “Whip-Poor-Will” to the soft shuffling “Something New To Find,” Ashworth’s songs are kaleidoscopic fragments of American pop culture. One song sounds nothing like the other. Working with longtime collaborators Pete Sebastian (Guitar), Bryan Gibson (Drums), and Rebecca Harrison (bass), Ashworth crafted a potent, refreshing soft-rock canvas for Kari Rutushin’s incredible flute and vocal melodies.
“Good Day For A Bad Tattoo” reveals meaning through its music and lyrics in equal measure. It starts out with an inquisitive, fingerpicked chord progression that eventually gives way to a groove that lives somewhere between Sergio Mendes and Nick Drake. By the bridge, the band chugs chords with the subtle, controlled power that only recording masters could summon. When Rutushin sings the titular refrain, the meaning of the song becomes revealed in that beautiful bloom where syllables and sounds collide.
Rutushin recalls the writing and recording fondly, saying “I think [the song] is about peeling away the regret and moving forward learning that you’re right where you need to be.” It’s a refreshing sentiment for the beginning of 2026. The past is truly the past. And we’ve just caught a glimpse of our future – and it’s soundtracked by Hardy Mums.
“Good Day For A Bad Tattoo” is the last single before the release of Hardy Mums’ debut Return to Doggerland. Listen and get ready for a hostile soft-rock takeover this spring!
The singles you’ve released so far have been all over the place sonically. Will Return to DoggerLand feature that same wandering creative spirit?
EDDIE ASHWORTH: Kind of inevitable, I guess. Once it became clear that every song on the album was gonna be its own thing (with a different lead singer on each song, varying writing collaborators, and a rotating cast of musicians) it was just too much fun to take each song to its logical extreme without worrying about keeping things consistent genre-wise. So yeah, there’s everything from hard rock, jam band, west coast reggae-punk and soft rock, chamber-pop, singer-songwriter, lounge, and ersatz bluegrass, sometimes in the same song! It kind of reminds me of those two LP Warner-Reprise loss leader samplers from the 70’s—all sorts of styles by (at the time) up and coming bands and artists they were trying to break. They were entertaining, good party records. Hopefully this one is, too.
Is there any sort of theme that unites the songs, lyrically or musically?
EDDIE ASHWORTH: They seem mostly to be about the destinations in life and the people you meet along the way. There are songs inspired by Ocracoke Island, West Virginia, Southeast Ohio, some California musings, and even Mt Everest! My collaborators broadened the song palette considerably, too. Karen Allen (who co-wrote “Good Day For A Bad Tattoo”) added groovy driving imagery and a key hook that really elevated the track. The lyric to one of the other songs “Something New To Find” was written by some of my students, and it involves the lure of road trips to undetermined locations. Ashley LaRue and Benny Coleman’s lyrics for “Muldoon” are about dealing with the roadblocks of life with ebullience, so it ties in with the rest of the songs as well, I think.
Musically the record is all over the shop as you mentioned, but there are definitely some through lines—basically anything that you’d hear on FM radio in the 70’s (which was defined by its eclectic playlists and warm sonics) is fair game. I’m a sucker for big choruses and guitars so a few of the tunes work themselves into a bit of a lather, I suppose. Also, the overall lyrical vibe reflects the influence of some of my favorite songwriters, like Robyn Hitchcock, Ray Davies, Aimee Mann, Pete Ham, among others.
Were there any exciting moments during the sessions for “Bad Tattoo?” Was there a “Eureka!” moment where the song came together?
KARI ANN RUTUSHIN: Anytime I get a chance to visit Athens and work with Eddie is an absolute delight. It’s the Austin of Ohio… that is, if Austin was still weird.. anyways lol. Eddie is so great at what he does and always makes record making such a comfortable laid-back experience.
My favorite eureka moment in the recording process itself, as it always is with Eddie, is being able to explore and experiment just enough until it just locks in. The moment in the intro just before the first verse hits, the flute syncs up with the guitar…It’s like we’re buckling up and hitting the gas, the journey begins.
Do you have any bad tattoos with good stories? Tell us one.
KARI ANN RUTUSHIN: My very first one, which of course happened immediately following my 18th birthday. My best friend (still is to this day) and I drew a sun design and of course it being the early 2000’s, we wanted it on our lower backs. No research on the shop, just the closest, and cheapest around. I went first.. it’s massive. one of the rays is crooked. She goes next, requests it be three times smaller and of course a bit neater.
I added to it a few years later but it just made it worse. It’s rarely exposed, but once it is…here come the tramp stamp jokes!
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