Brad Delp Brilliant With Boston - Burning For The Beatles
by John Scott

In 1977, you couldn't pass the dial on any rock radio station and not hear "More Than A Feeling", "Peace Of Mind", or "Long Time". I was 16 years old then, and the band Boston was taking the country by storm. I remember dreaming, like most kids my age, of meeting my rock idol, Brad Delp. Well, I came pretty close.

I was at the Gannon Municipal Golf Course, which we called "Happy Valley" (I think it may now be a country club) in Lynn, MA. I was with my best friend, and we were both junior members at the course, enjoying summer vacation from high school, rockin' and rollin', trying to get girls and having the time of our lives.

We were on the first tee with no one ahead. Behind were two guys heading in our direction coming off the practice green. As my friend hit his ball, I looked at one of the guys coming toward us and thought he looked a bit familiar. I put my ball on the tee, looked back at him and said, "You look like the guy who plays drums in the band Boston." I would have known, having diligently studied every inch of that Boston album jacket. He replied, "Next time I see him, I'll tell him". I hit my ball with a horrendous trademark slice that went directly into the woods, creating that horrible knocking sound as the ball struck trees, broke branches and smashed limbs 200 yards deep. Sensing that this may be a particularly "long day," the guy asked if he and his partner could play through my friend and me, since they were in a hurry. The only thing on my mind was, "He knows this cool drummer.....Who is he?" We let them play through, and as this mystery man stroked his golf ball (no better than my shot, I might add), he then grabbed his clubs and briskly walked past me pointing to a faded, tattered concert t-shirt that faintly read "Foghat with Boston."

Stunned, I started following him, forgetting we offered to let them play ahead. As he tried to make his way down the fairway, with radar precision, I kept hitting my ball in his direction. By the end of the third hole, as if worn down by the torment of a teen or the constant dodging of my golf ball, Sib Hashian, drummer for the band Boston, asked me to play along.

I would later play 18 holes with him again that summer, and we became buddies. (Of course, none of my friends believed me.) Then we met again by chance, on a crowded frozen pond to play a game of ice hockey, which had to be cut short because of constant interruption by his fans. After he pulled away in his green Cadillac Seville, my friends seeing that I really did know him showed me a new respect, and a few girls who had never spoken to me before now suddenly did.

During this time of Boston's tremendous success, they had a top 5 single "More Than A Feeling" and subsequent hits "Long Time" (#22) and "Peace Of Mind" (#38). To this day, their now 16-times platinum first release holds the record for best selling debut album of all time! Boston's sound dropped jaws in music circles worldwide, with an incredible array of screaming harmonic guitar leads, space age power chords and rich layered vocal harmonies provided by lead singer, Brad Delp.

Brad Delp's vocal work speaks for itself. The long time Danver's native created his own individuality and a place in rock n roll history. Through it all, he maintained a deep burning sentiment and passion for his main influence, The Fab Four. Brad Delp is crazy about The Beatles; John, Paul, George and Ringo had a profound effect on his life. So much, in fact, that for the past 6 years, Brad has taken to the road with Beatle Juice, his Beatles tribute band, in which he plays the songs that fill his life with happiness. The band sounds so much like The Beatles that if you close your eyes when "Beatle Juice" is performing, you'd swear it really is The Beatles.

It's unclear whether Brad understands that the passion that he carries for The Beatles is echoed by a devoted core of his own fans who hold those exact feelings for him. The incredible music he gave us with Boston inspires joyous memories to a whole new generation that also knew The Beatles but grew up idolizing him. While I'm not certain that I began studying percussion as a result of my meeting Boston's drummer on that fateful day in 1977, I'm sure it was the catalyst of inspirational motivation. And perhaps Brad himself received similar inspiration on a special day in 1966 when he saw The Fab Four live in concert that fueled him to keep the spirit of their music alive and kicking as we "Get Back" with Beatle Juice.

How long has Beatle Juice been together?

We've been together for about 7 years now. Most of the guys in the band I've known for about 15 years, and the drummer, Muzz, and myself go back close to 20 years.

In addition to you on lead vocal/rhythm guitar, who are the other members of the band?

Steve Baker is the keyboard player, Bob Squires is the guitar player, Joe Holiday, also of The Fools, plays bass and of course Muzz, formerly of Farrenheit, is on drums.

Obviously, this band is a "labor of love" for you. Is that what it's all about?

The whole point of this band was to try and not turn it into a job. The last thing we wanted to do was cut the set down and play fewer songs, so we could play 4 or 5 nights a week. Personally, I like it when we play once or twice per week, because when you're playing 60 or 70 songs in one night, you don't have the voice to play 5 or 6 nights a week.

How did forming the band come about? Was it your idea?

We were all influenced by The Beatles growing up. That's why I first got into the band. Most of us grew up in those times, back in the early 60's; therefore, I'm not sure if anyone in the band is a bigger fan than the other. However, the guitarist Bob Squires had been in two other bands that played all Beatles songs. The band came about through my getting together purely on a social basis for years with Muzz, and of course he had numerous drum kits set up at his house. We had talked about getting together to jam and possibly putting some songs together. I think in the back of our minds we thought that it would be great to play some Beatles music and really try to get it as close to the record as possible. So that's what we did. It's funny. The first gig we ever did as Beatle Juice was at a little backyard barbecue with family and friends, which gave us something to get ready and prepare for, and it was low key enough that if we didn't go over well, it wouldn't matter. The first time we played out in public was at Bleachers in Salem, MA, during mid week. I really didn't want to marquee the band as "the guy from Boston doing Beatles songs"; we simply presented it as "Beatle Juice: all Beatles, all night."

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