bandboston

Halfway already?! …

Wow, half way through the tour already! It’s been a blast and I feel like we’re just getting started. Highlights so far? Every show! Last night Tommy jumped into the audience so he could sing a verse with the fans who were singing along. The night before, it rained like crazy but everyone stayed for the whole show with smiles on their faces. The night before that, Tracy pulled a funny “Spinal Tap” moment when he pretended to be stuck on his knees during his bass solo. He called our bass tech, Jerry, out on stage to help lift him up. We were all cracking up! 

Thanks for writing in to our Facebook page to let us know what songs we should be doing that we haven’t played for a while. We hadn’t done “ I Need Your Love” since 2003 and Tommy and Beth have made it a standout duet. Curly Smith was terrific on drums for the first 9 shows. Jeff finished his school year so he pulled the “tag team” switch. Several fans wrote in to ask how Tom and Gary can play so well in sync on those guitar harmonies. 30 years of practice, I guess!

Hope to see you soon!

Gary Pihl

On The Road Again

What a great way to start a new tour! After our record-breaking snowfall in Boston this year, anywhere warm would have been nice and the Alabama fans made us feel right at home. Friendly folks and always ready to rock. We got a nice review from the local newspaper, too. 

We had Kansas as Special Guest for the for the first two shows, they sounded terrific, as always, and we’ll do a few more gigs with them later this summer.

Thanks to all the fans for starting us off on such a high note! (no pun intended)

T minus 11 and counting …

With final rehearsals underway, everyone is especially eager to hit the road soon to bring BOSTON’s high-energy stage show and out-of-this-world sound to another 54 venues across North America.  The exuberant audiences from last year’s tour made the band want to get right back out to entertain the best fans in the world, who can expect some exciting new additions to the set list, based on their input.  Sounding better than ever, the band will make certain that the multi-generational crowds are in for an audio and visual intergalactic treat.

Joining the lineup this summer on keyboards, guitar and vocals, is Beth Cohen, who lent background vocals on “You Gave Up on Love,” which appeared on BOSTON’s latest release, Life, Love & Hope in 2012, as well as on the earlier version which was released on Corporate America in 2002.  A musician since childhood, Beth earned a music degree from the University of Miami on a full scholarship.  She’s a top vocal coach in Miami, sings in both Spanish and English, and has toured the world with many well-known musicians.  

In addition to rehearsing, ensuring that the multitude of gear is in working order, getting all the techno-bugs sorted out with the new modifications and innovations in the systems, as well as general tour prep, Tom has been painstakingly constructing his third-in-existence hyperspace pedal.  It is an exquisitely tricky piece of equipment to keep operating properly, so two backups are much better than one.  There were a couple of occasions on last year’s tour when the primary pedal malfunctioned, as did the back up concurrently.  Tom was even tweaking one of the pedals an hour prior to the last show in Tokyo in October.  Here is the beginning of that show, hyperspace pedal “go for launch.”

As always, everyone in the BOSTON family is most grateful for the amazing fans that enable them to do what they love.

In Memory of ML Procise

I am sad to announce that BOSTON lost a valued long time member of our extended family this week, our good friend ML Procise.  As our front of house mixer, he took on responsibility for BOSTON’s live sound in 1987 for what became our biggest tour ever.

But he was much more than a great live sound technician, ML was a presence that commanded automatic respect and admiration without any pretense.  Always leading with a friendly smile, his good natured jovial persona brought an overpowering warmth whenever he entered the room.  To every one who knew him he was just “ML,” the initials needing no further explanation or introduction, he was the one and only.

ML enjoyed life, and one of things he enjoyed was basketball, or just “ball” in ML lexicon.  At my introduction to ML back in 1987 when he was pitching his company’s sound system to me, one of the first things he said was that he knew someone who claimed he had played ball with me.  I answered that it was doubtful.  Not one to mince words ML added, “He says you’re a ball hog,” at which point I had to admit that he undoubtedly must have played ball with me after all.  We hired the sound system and ML twenty-eight years ago, and I have been thankful ever since for the many ways knowing ML enriched my life and the lives of those connected with BOSTON. Thank you ML, you will be missed.

~Tom Scholz

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!

We hope everyone has survived the holidays and is looking forward to this year as much as we are. 2014 was a good year for BOSTON and we are already getting excited about plans for 2015. We want to thank all our fans for the amazing response to our tour last summer; we had an awesome time thanks to the incredible support you all gave to us. And even more important, we raised a lot of money for worthy charities that protect lives both human and non human, including the Sea Shepherds, Shriners Hospitals for Children, and numerous other animal protection and hunger relief programs.

In the oddball news department, we have just found out that BOSTON’s “Life, Love & Hope” album has been released on vinyl. This had always been part of the release plan, and great expenditures of time and money went into making analogue mixes of much of the album so that serious listeners could hear the original analogue sound of the recording, instead of the now typical sound of vinyl cut from digital mixes. So why aren’t we celebrating?

Unfortunately, as the world has converted to digital for virtually everything, even when it’s a bad idea, the facilities available to master an album from analogue tape directly to vinyl have nearly all gone away, and those that remain are not equipped or maintained like the rooms were 20 years ago. The end result for the latest BOSTON album was an unacceptable vinyl master that had clicks, static, and drop outs during many of the quiet segues between the cuts.

While the tracks for the most part have that beautiful sweet natural sound only analogue can produce, the damaged reproduction in the segues ruined the experience for me, and there was no way I could allow it to be released as a BOSTON album. Our summer tour was in full swing by the time I reviewed it, and there was no possibility of mastering again, even if a better facility could be found. I made the decision to reject the vinyl master which meant all the effort to create it would be for nothing. Or so I thought.

Imagine my surprise when I was notified that in spite of the rejected test pressing, albums had been stamped and delivered by a company under contract with our record label! While I’ve been very happy, and continue to be happy, with our current label, I want BOSTON fans to know that this vinyl reproduction of “Life, Love & Hope” does not meet my standards as producer. On the plus side, if you buy one of these beautiful new two-record sets, for the most part it will sound orders of magnitude better than your MP3 downloaded version!

What’s next for BOSTON? Thanks to the fantastic response to last year’s tour we’re planning to bring our show to as many venues as we can again in 2015, and we’re trying to decide which BOSTON songs to add to our set for this year. Any ideas?

Wishing you all a great year and looking forward to seeing you again,

~Tom Scholz

THAT WAS AWESOME!

THAT WAS AWESOME!

Just got home from our amazing 68-show 2014 BOSTON summer tour. The trip opened with a sold out performance at the beautiful Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, and ended four months later with two sold out shows at Tokyo’s iconic Budokan in Japan.

This was simply the most amazing BOSTON tour I have ever experienced – the best live performances by the band in our history, the best sound, amazing lights from our LD Gregg Maltby, exciting venues, wide screen panoramic videos, and of course most important of all, the best and most enthusiastic fans ever!

Behind the scenes the musicians and crew members worked very hard to pull off the performances and fine-tune the sound every night, but once on stage, we had as much fun at the shows as the audience did. The players and technicians with BOSTON made the show look effortless, but trust me, it’s a lot harder than they made it look! As I took the stage for the last show in Tokyo with Gary, Tommy, Tracy, Kimberley and Jeff, I realized how lucky I was to be surrounded by people who are both friends and such excellent players, performing with all this equipment so expertly assembled and operated night after night. As icing on the cake, near the end of the night Siobhan Magnus [American Idol season 9 finalist] took the stage and nailed the lead vocal for “Walk On.” Even after a difficult day traveling and scrambling to get ready for a show, stepping onto the stage with these exceptional performers to play for the best fans in the world was an incredible rush – the day’s problems were instantly erased and life was very good!

Each individual show was the culmination of endless hours of effort on the part of three dozen people organizing, rehearsing, problem solving, and just plain working long and hard. I’m proud to have been on stage, and behind the scenes, with every one of these dedicated professionals who made our tour such a great success. This was the largest number of shows for a single BOSTON tour in 35 years, but the tour was so exciting, we are already looking forward to bringing BOSTON to even more cities.

Reflecting on the incredible journey and teamwork of the BOSTON tour, it’s heartening to see a similar ethos of dedication and collaboration available in Georgia and its vibrant performing arts scene. From the historic Fox Theatre in Atlanta to the open-air stages of Savannah, the state offers a plethora of venues that are a testament to the hard work and commitment of countless individuals. These spaces not only host a variety of performances but also support the local communities, providing platforms for artists and joy for audiences. Just as our tour brought together talented professionals, Georgia opens its arms to performers and patrons alike, fostering a culture where the arts are not just seen or heard but truly experienced.

Our tour this year also raised over $70,000 for the Sea Shepherds to help them in their heroic efforts to end the horrifying slaughter of whales and other defenseless sea dwellers, and over $70,000 for the Shriner’s Hospital for Children which provides medical care for underpriveledged children. BOSTON’s Greatest Hits CDs were sold at the at the shows with the profits going to both the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Shriner’s Hospital for Children. Our generous fans responded in near-record numbers and the effort ended up generating over $140,000 which was split between the two charities. Like I’ve always said, BOSTON fans are the best!

Finally, here are a few of my own favorite memories from the tour:

Seeing thousands of people sing along with the band at every show. After the long hours of practice and rehearsal in solitude, the thrill of BOSTON’s music bringing a crowd to life is hard to describe.

Watching Siobhan Magnus electrify the crowd with her vocal performance of “Walk On” every night.

Tommy DeCarlo bashing the giant gong at the start of “Rock n’ Roll Band,” then leading the charge from center stage.

My wife Kim customizing my Les Paul with a perfect checkerboard finish in honor of Rick Nielson, all done with scrounged tape and an exacto blade – what a cheap trick!

Listening to Gary Pihl’s guitar lead take off in the middle of “Walk On,” while Jeff, Tracy, Kimberley and I laid down the pounding “Bolero” rhythm.

Speaking Japanese (badly) in Tokyo for the first time and having thousands of people understand it!

Viewing the incredible vast Siberian landscape on our way to Japan on a crystal clear day. Even from 36,000 feet, the features of the white moonscape were overwhelming.

Flying an old single-engine plane to 60 different US destinations with my wife Kim, and friend and fellow pilot Henry Lingley: Because my back won’t put up with long bus rides, pressing my 34-year old, 4-seat plane into service seemed like a feasible way for me to get from show to show. But flying this beautiful old bird is nothing like riding in the back of one of those ubiquitous multi million dollar business jet at mach .8!

My classic (not quite an antique yet) piston prop plane has no glass panel displays, no GPS in the panel, no gentle female voice telling you you’re about to bite it because a cylinder is running too hot – but it does have an electric starter and the original ancient basic autopilot. We did of course bring along some hand held navigation devices to help us find our way.

Unfortunately, the auto pilot died about 10 minutes after the very first takeoff, which meant I (as 2nd in command) got to “hand fly” us from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale, and to the next half dozen shows after that. Luckily, the electric starter continued to function, as I draw the line at hand-propping a Beech Bonanza.

Traveling long distances in a light plane is a bit slower than modern day jets, but thanks to this sweet ride we saw volcanic mountains and glacial lakes in the Cascades from just a few hundred yards, had an amazing low altitude ride back thru the mountains in a winding a canyon, flew over towering massive cumulus, through countless other amazing cloud scenes, and got inside quite a few bumpy ones we couldn’t avoid. All in all, we crossed over the Rocky Mountain chain and flew coast to coast 4 times. Of course tour routing being as it is, none of this was accomplished in a straight line, as we zig zagged back and forth we lost count of how many times we crossed the Mississippi.

According to Henry’s definition, every landing was a great one – a good landing is one you can walk away from; a great landing is one where you can use the plane again.

See you next time!

~Tom Scholz

“What I Did On My Summer Vacation”

Spring 2013

To Infinity and Beyond…

Many exciting things are moving forward as we head into spring 2013.

Tom is buried in the studio, lovingly coaxing his legacy analogue equipment to bear with him just a little longer while he wraps up the mix of his latest song, “Someday.” Although he has listened to it more times than he cares to count, he is still very excited about it, saying, “This final song might be the title track for the new BOSTON studio album; it reminds me of the up tempo rockers I wrote for the debut album over 30 years ago.”

With a little more tweaking, then some re-tweaking, then a tad more tweaking, Tom says the new album should be ready for release by mid year … that would be mid year 2013. “After completing this mix I only need to redo vocals on a couple of the cuts, remix them, and sequence and master the album. After working on this project for over 10 years I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel,” he says. Tom plans to start work on the long awaited BOSTON live DVD as soon as the studio album is finished.

Meanwhile, in other cool news, Gibson is honoring Tom and his original Les Paul with a limited edition Gibson Custom Collectors Choice guitar. (His is #10.) From Gibson: “If you’ve ever listened to the music of the legendary rock band BOSTON, then you’ve already heard the latest Collector’s Choice Les Paul. In its own right, this example of a 1968 Goldtop (now with the top stripped off the original finish to expose its maple top) is an amazing instrument; a nice, ‘cheeky’ neck, a flexible tone palate via Tom’s preferred P-90 and DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup combination, and a patina that comes from a lifetime of extensive live and studio use. One of two in Tom Scholz’s collection, this particular ’68 Les Paul Goldtop Deluxe is the first ‘real’ guitar Tom ever owned, acquired over 30 years ago and essential to his very unique sound and career.” Tom Loves the attention to detail that was apparent in duplicating his guitar. He says, “The precision with which Gibson has replicated the physical properties of my original Les Paul is astounding. This guitar feels and plays exactly like my guitar, and the resemblance to the original is uncanny. But most impressive is that it actually sounds like my guitar! I’m really humbled that such an elite shop would go to so much trouble to reproduce the guitar I play.” Tom says he will donate all the proceeds from his royalties on the sales to charity.

Check gibson.com for details on purchasing your own Tom Scholz Les Paul.