What kind of music do you listen to these days??
Brad Delp: "I guess Im kind of a retro guy. If you look inside my CD player these days youll find two CDs from Steely Dans Citizen collection, Donald Fagans The Nightfly and three Bob Dylan CDs (two from his Biograph collection and Nashville Skyline). Wonder how I forgot to mention Bob Dylan in the last question?"
What do you think of the rock climate these days in the US?
Brad Delp: "Of the more current bands I like Smashing Pumpkins a lot. I like Soundgarden. I also remember being out on tour with RTZ when Tim (Archibald) came in raving about this new band called Nine Inch Nails. While it isnt considered rock, I think Urban Music (Rap, Hip Hop) is going to be as important to the development of new rock music as soul music and R&B was to the Rock & Roll of the 50s and 60s."
How did you become a member of Boston?
Brad Delp: "In the summer of 69 (sounds like a Bryan Adams song) I was playing in a cover band with Fran Sheehan. We didnt have many gigs, we were mostly just rehearsing. The drummer from that band mentioned that there was a group playing at a nearby club who was looking for a singer for their band. I went down to see them at a little club on Revere Beach (outside of Boston). It was a three piece band then, because their singer has just left. The guitarist was Barry Goudreau (who had auditioned for a band that I was in four or fiveyears earlier). Tom Scholz was playing Hammond Organ and kicking bass with the base pedals of his Hammond. Jim Masdea was playing drums. Barry was the only one singing at the time. Two songs that I remember them playing were Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs and Casey Jones by The Grateful Dead. I spoke with them after their set and they said they had recorded some original songs at a local recording studio and wanted a singer to go back in with them and record some more. I auditioned for them about a week later and got the gig, partly because I could sing Rocky Mountain Way (Tom was a big James Gang fan) and partly because I dont think they had anyone else come down to audition."
When youre looking back in the mirror...What are your feelings today about Boston?"
Brad Delp: First of all, when youre over 45 you shouldnt spend a lot of time looking in the mirror. Recently I went to the Diamond Awards ceremony in New York where, among other albums, the first Boston album was recognized for selling over 10 million copies. Its really quite an honor think that so many people cared enough about something you were involved in to go out and by a copy ebony porn
(in many cases several copies). I consider myself as much of a music fan as the next guy and I know what some of those albums in my collection mean to me. Ive had many people come up and say that More Than A Feeling was their song when they were in high school or college. Its nice to feel that youve touched so many people in some small way."
How was it/ and is to work with such a "special" person as Tom Scholz ? Are you friends?
Brad Delp: "I do think of Tom as a special person. Im not one to throw the term genius around and apply it to just anyone. I think Tom certainly had an ingenious approach to making music and I give him credit for taking an amalgam of songs, and or sounds, that he liked and melding them into something unique. I certainly consider us friends but, for whatever reason, weve never really socialized all that much. That may speak as much about me as it does him."
Please tell me something about the fantastic Orion The Hunter - album. Were the tracks you wrote with Barry such as All Those years and Too Much In Love meant for a third Boston LP in the first place?
Brad Delp: "Were getting into a little hazy area for me (memory wise) on this one but I believe that those songs were written around the time of Barrys first solo album (Which Fran Cosmo and I both sang on). When Barry decided to do another record I had committed to doing the next Boston record so Barry pressed on and formed Orion with Fran as the singer. Conversely, when Tom was working on the Walk On album I had made a commitment to tour with RTZ and so Tom decided to press on with Fran as the vocalist for that record. When I originally came up with the vocals for All Those Years I had pictured as a sort of R&B duo with a female vocalist. When we went on tour with RTZ I had the pleasure of performing it that way live with Patty Barkus who was one of two female backup singers who toured with us."