Bostons Tommy DeCarlo 40th Anniversary Tour

Hey, Tarot and I hard radio. It's about to happen. Boston's 40th anniversary tour kicks up April 29th in Hollywood, Florida

Making its way through Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Baltimore, Fort Wayne and so many more

To find out more about the shows go to bandboston.com or just hit them up on Facebook

We are unplugged and totally uncut with the frontman on vocals top of your Dakar law

The Boston on the road is gonna make it's me

How do you prepare mentally and physically for a tour like this?

Well mentally for me I actually go back and I listen to a lot of shows that we've already

done and I listen to things that I think I can improve on, you know, things that I could

do a little better vocally and how I might be able to achieve that.

And sometimes that's going to my vocal coach.

Great vocal coach, Mark Baxter, he does quite a few, you know, really high end celebrity

type singers.

Great guy, but a lot of it is just, you know, I go to the gym every day and I'm not, you know,

I don't try to be hercules, but I do a lot of cardio.

Yeah, and that really helps.

And a lot of times what I'll do is, you know, there was a point on the whole way tour where I wasn't in the greatest

of shape.

My first tour as I am now and people have asked me, what did you do to get in shape?

They said, well, I put on Boston greatest hits.

I walked on the treadmill.

Yeah, because you've got to live the lyrics, don't you?

Maybe like a second skin.

Yeah.

You really do.

You have to perform, you know, you got to have the, you know, the music, you got to have that feeling.

It's got to give you the feeling of excitement.

Tom's music, the music of Boston.

Absolutely does.

Absolutely does.

And it just, it charges you out.

Do you have to also do the memory test and making sure that you know those lyrics?

Yeah, you know, any of the classics?

Pretty much everything off the first three albums.

And a couple off the later albums, you know, there's never a problem.

But every now and again, we'll do something that's kind of not a mainstream song.

And I'll have a cheat sheet down on the screen.

Just to be sure, you know, just to be sure, so I don't mess anything up, you know.

Yeah, because I can't imagine the pressure that you're under when you've got fans out there that are singing words.

But what happens if you're looking at them and you follow along them?

Or do you have to create that wall?

Well, that's happened.

I have, I have been singing.

I remember we were doing, don't look back.

And you get so caught up in the audience and you're looking out and having a great time.

And all of a sudden, you know, you realize that they're singing the first verse,

but you're on the second verse.

You really got it, you know, you got to stop and just stop looking at them.

Look at, look somewhere else and remember the lyrics.

But fortunately, I've never really had a lyrical meltdown.

I think I did with a song Amanda once.

Oh, wow.

And that was, it was tough because that was a song where, you know, it's a ballad and beautiful song.

And I sang like the second line in the song or somewhere along there, saying it twice.

I remember looking over it, Tom.

You just smile like it happens, you know.

Yeah, because, I mean, you can't, you can't be perfect every night.

No.

And does the audience even pick up on any of that?

Well, I think some of them do.

Wow.

You know, I do think some of them do.

But, you know, there's one thing that I learned over the course of my time with the band Boston and touring is

you prep to sing the best you can sing at every show.

You know, for me and probably most of other singers, that's the most important thing.

I don't, I play a little bit of keyboard.

But my main instrument is my voice.

And, you know, so I take care of it and I do everything I can do to be prepped and ready to go now.

If I do all those things that I'm supposed to do before the show,

mentally, that puts me where I need to be.

Even if maybe I feel a little funny and my voice isn't, you know, quite a hundred percent that night.

And just knowing that I did all the steps that I needed to to get to the show and to be prepped helps me get through, you know, get through the show.

Vocally.

But, again, you prepped to be the best you can be.

But what I found is where you're really challenged is how are you going to perform on the night that you know that you don't have it.

And you don't know you don't have it until you get to the second song.

And you're like, wow, I'm a little tight tonight.

It's not like it was last night.

You know, it's, you know, maybe it's your fourth show in a row, which we do, you know, we do many four in a row.

And that's the challenge.

It's, how do you get to those nights? How do you get to the nights that, you know, the shows that, you know, you've got to put on that show.

You've got to put on a good show and you've got to smile and you still got to do everything.

But inside, you know that your voice isn't 100% as it was maybe a couple nights ago.

You have to read your body. You've got to listen to your body.

Yeah, yeah.

So is it, because I do a lot of vocal stuff with commercials.

Do you feel it in the chest first or the first moment that you get a sniffle, you're going, oh, no.

If I don't stop this now, I'm in trouble.

Oh, man, that's, that's tough.

That's a question that does happen.

For me, every show and every song builds is a building block for the next show, for the next show, or at least on the set list.

If I hammer out our opening song, which is usually rock and roll band, and the next song I know is going to be better and better.

And every song is going to be strong.

Once in a great while, you know, you'll hit a rough note to begin with.

And it happens.

And as hard as it is, you just got to try to set it aside and take your mind off.

Because if you start thinking about that, it'll play with your mind and you'll think you don't have it for the next line.

And you'll be, you know, apprehensive about saying.

Well, the cool thing is that you guys aren't doing auto tune and stuff.

Because I remember back in 77, when Boston came to Billings, Montana, the commercial on the radio was based on.

These are real keyboards. These are not synthesizers.

And I mean, he's always been so authentic with his sound.

Yeah, that's one thing that we don't do one more out whether there's no, there's no backing tracks of any kind.

Everything that you hear is being performed right then on the spot.

Now, you know, I have heard there are some bands that go out and they don't, they don't do that.

They use some backing tracks, whatever, you know, it doesn't bother me.

I still go out and see bands. I have a good time regardless.

But, you know, that's a quality that's not a lot of, you know, not tons of bands do.

They will rely a little bit on some backing vocals and backing tracks to fill the gaps of what they can't perform live.

But, you know, no, we're very good about that.

And Tom is very particular about us pulling that off live and we do it, you know what I mean?

If you rehearse it enough, then we do.

And that sound is so tight. I mean, it's just, I mean, how you guys are able to do it?

To us out there on the outside, we're going, oh, I mean, it has to be just like the album.

Well, you know, that's one of the things that I always admired about the band Boston.

You know, years before I was in the band and when I went to go see him in concert.

I didn't go see a lot of bands in concert, but I've seen a few, you know, throughout the years.

But whenever I went to a Boston concert, I was always really happy because you knew that when you heard the song,

you were going to get the song, the way that you heard it on the radio,

because that's what brought you to be such a fan of the band.

You know, sometimes it's tough when you go out and you see a band and they're performing, you know,

you're one of your favorite songs, but then they take it in a different direction.

They put a spin on and you're like, I get it.

It's cool, but it's not quite how I remembered it on the radio, you know?

Do you give you the back history of those songs so that you can put more passion into the lyrics?

In other words, like more than a feeling, I was shocked to learn that it took him three years to write that song.

Well, you know, I really never got into asking Tom about the songs, how he came to write them,

and all the, you know, the back stories you say, I don't...

I've never asked him that.

To me, the inspiration that I get from the songs is how I grew up and where that song took me when I was a kid when I heard it.

So, when I listen to that music, it has a different meaning to me and it might to you.

Maybe you listen to it at a high school prom or something and I heard it when I was in Little League or, you know, at some point.

So, it brings back a memory and whatever that memory is, it's usually a good one if it's associated with the music and something happy.

And you just go with it, but yeah, you know, I wish it took me...

If it took me three years to write a song like more than a feeling, I wouldn't mind it taking three years for every song I wrote to sound that great.

I mean, you know, when you hear that song, to me, that's... that's just, you know, that's the best song I love that song.

Absolutely, especially the way that the thing that's always fascinated me with that song being a radio jock is the way that it fades in.

It didn't have a strong beginning, like, don't look back, but it fades and it becomes a part of the picture.

And I've always wondered if it's because it allows you to let the song become a part of your moment.

You're not interrupting anything that was going on and it becomes a part of your life.

Yeah, I think, yeah, that's a good way to put it. It does for me.

I mean, when you hear that song, you know, it's funny because whenever it comes down the radio, I love that the radio doesn't cut that out.

I love that they allow that to fade in.

And, you know, when you hear it, you know it. You know it. You know it. You know that's more than a film when you hear that song.

And that gets an incredible rise out of the crowd. That's awesome. They love it and they sing along and, you know, it's a great time.

The music is so timeless. And again, each song, you know, might spark a different memory in everybody.

But again, for me, the most exciting thing, and I think for all my bandmates too, is to go out on stage and to see so many people so happy at one time, all in one place, listening to the same music.

Of course, when you're growing up, you're hearing some of these songs either by yourself or with your buddies or your friends or whatever.

And this was like everybody together at a show that, you know, feels the same thing that you're feeling with the music.

It just gives them a great feeling. And the music of Boston definitely does that.

Now, last year at this time, you were touring on the new album. What's going on this year?

Well, 40th anniversary, which is pretty awesome, you know, of the debut album.

But I haven't gotten older. I want you to know that.

I haven't either.

I think the great thing about this, you know, again, this tour is being able to, you know, perform, you know, especially the stuff off the debut album.

That was huge. I mean, there's not a, you know, you could just keep flipping that record and playing it.

You know, it's just the best album ever.

But, you know, we do have, we are playing a couple of, I think one or two tunes off of the new album, Life Love and Hope.

But the set list is, you know, it's jam packed.

We've been rehearsing it and it's, you know, you know, it's just one hit after.

You still have that, oh wow, fact you're going in your heart when you're seeing this stuff.

Yeah, always, always, you know, I think I've gotten so used to singing.

You know, at rehearsals, there are times where we'll throw in a CD to dial into what, you know, the studio version was so we can come close to that.

Be it a guitar part or vocal harmony or something.

And all those, you know, the, you know, my first few tours with the band, whenever we would go, whenever we would do that, we would revisit, you know, one of the, one of the, you know, Boston albums, be it the debut album, don't look back or a third stage, you know.

And you hear the amazing Brad Delp, you know, you're going to be awesome to hear that, you know.

And, but whenever we've done something on Life, Love and Hope, if it was something I was singing when we throw in that CD, I would sit from across from him and I'd listen, I'd say, that's me.

It just, it was a weird feeling, but it's cool, you know what I mean? It's cool.

When, when you bring a show to life, the energy of the crowd, the energy of the band, it's got to meet somewhere in the middle.

Tom looks like the conductor of that. It's almost like he's always in control of both sides. And, and he's got to be able to have eye contact with you guys on that kind of thing.

What is that feeling like?

Well, you know, with every show, every show is different, you know, obviously we're at different venues, but it's somewhat the same.

You know, depending on the set list, whether we change it up a little here and there, but we go over this stuff in detail, so much of rehearsals that, you know, it's, it's really like clockwork after a while.

We know exactly what we're going to do at every moment, you know, that goes by in the show.

And of course, you know, there's always room to have a little fun and change things up a little bit, which we do.

But, yeah, Tom, you know, he has a knack, not only for writing songs, great songs, but he has a knack for putting together a really good show in terms of the set list itself, you know, in the flow of the set list.

And, you know, that's another, you know, one of the many qualities of his musical genius, as I like to call it, that I think is amazing.

And, you know, I'll think of the set list in my head, wonder what it's going to be this year, and then he'll come out with a set list and the order of it, and he'll send it to all of us, and I'm like a fan, I'm like, oh man, that's awesome, you know.

I mean, that's, that's a piece of rock and roll memorabilia to be able to get something like that, because all of a sudden it's going to become the layout of you, you're going out there with everybody's soundtrack to their life.

And, and to be in that moment of your rehearsing, now you're performing it, you guys live in the future.

So, what is it like for you to come back?

Well, I think it's really nice to be able to, you know, again, the music, you know, we have to perform it and perform it well.

We do, but the music sells itself, you know, there's a big part of the show that it's, you know, the music is just amazing.

And, you know, you see out in the audience, you see a lot of the moms and dads with the kids out there, and, you know, there, you, there you have the past, present, and the future with the kids.

And, you know, there's nothing better than, you know, of course you, you love to see the fans that are, you know, like our age in the band, but then you see the younger kids out there that are my kids age or even younger.

And, you know, there was a, there was a show, I can't remember where it was in the Midwest somewhere.

And, there was a, a little girl, and she had a, a banner, and it said, and I saw it from a distance. I couldn't see it, and we're doing the song more than a feeling.

And, I was getting, you know, we're getting ready to hit that high note, you know, and more than a feeling.

And, um, as I see this little girl come walk, and I see her coming, I think her dad is with her.

And, she gets up close to the stage, and I'm really close to hitting that note, and she has this banner, and it says, Tommy, you're my rock star.

And, I, I looked down at her, and I saw her holding this, and I was supposed to hit that note, and I could not, I got a little bit emotional.

And, I just looked at the crowd, and I looked at her, I didn't even hit the note, but the crowd flipped out, because I knew I was touched at that moment.

So, you know, you think, you know, her name is Rylin, that's her name.

I don't remember her last name, but what a doll, and she got to come back with her, with her dad, and, and we took some pictures with the band.

And, so yeah, you know, I mean, to, to think the music can touch, you know, all ages, it's, you know, that's a talent.

And, I'm sure that's something Tom didn't think of, of when he wrote these songs, all those years ago, but, you know, it is amazing how, and, and even in, even rehearsals, Arrow, I, I get, we all get jacked up, right in rehearsals, you know.

There are, there have been many times throughout a rehearsal session, from time to time, where each of us at one point, after the song will say, Tom.

Awesome sound, man.

You know, everybody, he doesn't seem to be the type of guy that we go, I know.

No, no, he's, he's very cool, man. You know, you know, you know, he's, you know, when we're out singing, singing at a show, when I'm out singing at a show, and, and, of course, you know, I'm, I'm out in front, and the band is, is, we're all playing.

And I'll look over at Tom, and I'll think, you know, to myself, everybody here is here tonight, because he went in the basement and decided to write some music back in the 70s, you know.

And, and it's still living on today, and, and, you know, I mean, you know, fortunately, I'm able to make a living, because he went in the basement all those years, you know, thankful I am for that, you know, that's, that's awesome.

I mean, you know, I mean, the vendors, everybody who's there, you know, merge people, I mean, you know, if he never went in the basement, at least for that night, none of us would be there.

That sounds like a book you should write.

What would have happened if he would have gone a different direction?

Well, how would things have changed? I mean, I think the 70s would be a whole completely different place.

Well, I definitely think, you know, there would be, that's a great question for, for people, you know, in terms of their favorite rock and roll music, you know.

Where would you be today without that? How has that changed your life, you know, and I think you'd probably get some pretty interesting answers to this.

Yeah, because I, I remember when don't look back, came back, I came out, I rushed home, put it on the turntable, and then when Amanda came out, I was over at 1047 here in Charlotte, and they said the new Boston's arrived.

I mean, you just said those are moments, I mean, because you can't take away those moments.

Yeah. When you get excited about your favorite band, who's now dropped a brand new album?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, the music again, you know, he townswritten some of the best rock and roll music of all time, in my opinion, and I can't believe I get to sing it.

Now, this tour is going to put you in the Carolinas in three cities, that's got to be a first.

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's what I hear. I know we're, we got a couple of, I don't know exactly the exact venues other than here, but...

Green, Bro, Raleigh, and Charlotte.

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's great. I think that's, you know, it's, it's always nice to, to play close to home, you know.

Especially when we play here in Charlotte, I'll be, I'll be at the house all day until the show.

What, what is that like to be everyday Joe average father, but I have to go be a rock star tonight.

Well, it's pretty cool, you know. I, I, I'm certainly not going to complain. It's, you know, it's, I, I definitely feel it's a, it's a privilege to be able to do that.

And for me though, it, I really feel as though I, I live my life right as, as just a regular dad, right up until that moment.

And then when we go out on stage, because everybody in the band, most of us have, you know, we're, we're, we're parents.

And speaking of parents on this tour, I'm going to be a grandfather.

Oh, incredible. Yeah. Congratulations. So that'll be an exciting, exciting, our daughter, Talia is expecting her and her fiance Craig.

And we're very excited about that. So she's just a couple of months away of, you know, and I'll be on the road, but I could be home.

Yeah. But that's going to be nice. So I can't wait till you talk about that moment where you lock eyes onto that child, because the,

what I love about being a grandfather is that I get to watch them grow up again, except this time it's in slow motion.

Yeah. And, and there's such a, and then when they learn to sing songs and they learn to do, you know, talk about books and stuff.

I mean, you're just blown away, whereas when you have your, you know, for your first kids, life is moving so fast, you have so many demands.

And then you get to help them discover things. Here's a worm, man.

Let me tell you about this.

Make sure the doctor's playing a movie.

You see this guy right here? This was grandpa back in 2015.

Life out on the road is, is it like the movie Honey Suckle Rose where the bus just pulls into the driveway basically?

Or I mean, how do you come back to Charlotte after you've been on display everywhere else?

You mean, you know, how do I come back mentally or physically?

Even physically because, you know, with Honey Suckle Rose, you know, Willie would be on that bus.

And they would just be driving down this two-lane road and here's the bus. I mean, it's like, I mean, you just show up and, you know, it's like, here I am at home.

And yet at the same time, you've seen a lot of different country artists. I just drive up in their car and park in the driveway and then walk in the house, hang at home.

Right, right. No, usually how it's how it's happened on previous tours is, of course, we'll all, you know, fly up to rehearsals.

Now, in this case, we're the tours we're opening up down in Hollywood, Florida.

So, and we have for the last couple of years and we usually, we usually go down there a couple of days ahead of time and do some production rehearsals.

But usually, of course, all the band members are from different parts of the country, most up in Boston, but a few of us are from here.

We got our, one of our drummers, Curly, he's from Arizona.

And so, we'll come in. We'll get to Florida. Tour bus will be there. Yeah, and we'll fly into Florida. Tour bus will be there.

After the show, get on the tour bus, and then we go. And then, of course, we go across the country. Sometimes we fly. Most of the time, we'll be on the tour bus.

And then, it's time to wrap it up, but usually the tour bus will bring us to our last venue. This year, that last venue, from what I understand, is in Boston.

Wow. So, after that, the bus will go away. We'll fly home. And you get with the love.

Family will pick me up. Yeah, I got him with the love. Back to the same old stuff.

But it's, you know, being on the road is really, you know, Tom really takes care of his people. You know, the band and the crew.

And we all have a great time. I tend to spend a lot of time by myself, just for the simple fact that I don't want to engage in a ton of conversations or to tear up my voice.

So, but we have a great time on the road. And it's, you know, really the great time arrow with a great time on the road are the shows. That's the great time.

You know, he do have a day off or two. That's that's always fun. But you're always looking forward to that next show. And, you know, and the excitement of that, you know, of it starts early for us.

You know, we get to the venue. And before we're even there, the crew has already been there for a number of hours setting everything up.

Everything's going. And, you know, it's really fun to go in. We have our catering all set up for us. And Tom brings out his own chef. And it's, you know, we all appreciate that.

Believe me. It's nothing that we just think is, you know, we take for granted. We really appreciate, you know, being, you know, having that first class treatment more out because, you know, we do appreciate it.

So have you had been in radio for 37 years? I have what's called radio nightmares, where you have these, these dreams were in our control room. And you can't get the 45 to start on the turntable. And we've been out of 45 since the 80s.

Do you have dreams like that? Where you're out on that stage in a city and you're going, where am I? What's some, what's this not even a Boston song? Do you get, do you have dreams like that too?

No, believe it or not, I don't. I have them. I have those dreams with sports though.

Yeah, because I never got the opportunity. Well, I never, you know, for me, I really wanted to be a professional athlete.

And so my, I've had dreams where I'm getting the opportunity to play back at my high school in a football game, but I can't find my cleats.

Or the fence is locked and I can't climb it for some reason. Or I can hear the crowd of the football game, but I can't quite pick out where they are.

It's never happened on, you know, during, or at least I've never had that in terms of a show and in the concert, but I could, I could, I'm probably glad I haven't.

I wouldn't be thinking about that all the time. That would be, that would be a nightmare if I couldn't get to the venue.

What is the best way for someone on I Heart Radio to follow you and to find out more about the tour?

Well, you can go to bandboston.com. Of course, we have a Facebook page, bandboston, Facebook page. And they have been updating the tour schedule, usually weekly.

It's any place weird you're going to be going to where it's, I mean, you go, but Montana. Why are we going to but Montana? Or is there anything like that?

No, there are always favorite places that we like to go.

Really?

Well, going out to Los Angeles is nice. One of the great venues out there is, I've got to tell you a great, funny story.

We were out at, we were playing two shows back to back in San Diego last year. I think it was called Murphy's.

It's right on the water, right on the water, a small venue, but you got a great crowd. And then off to the right, you got a marina where everybody's pulling up on their boats.

And they're there early. They're there at Soundcheck, you know, and they're on their boats. And so anyway, last year we're doing, we did two shows there. And in the second show, you know, this, I'm just out of the corner of my eye to the left in the crowd is somebody that's really tall.

I'm like, man, I see some hands that are way over everybody's. But, you know, I'm looking at this as man.

So I finally get a little bit closer and I walk over there. I walk over to that side of the stage and I'm trying to get a good look at who this is.

And it's NBA legend Bill Walden.

You kidding.

I said, you guys, that's what I said. You gotta be kidding me.

So during the break, we had a break. Well, I have a break where the band's doing a really awesome instrumental.

So I get off the stage from and I go down to tell my tour manager. I said, hey, man, I said, Bill Walden's out there. He says, you want to go out there real quick? I said, yes, we scooted out the side and I walked over to him.

And I looked at him. I said, you know, music's real loud. And I said, Bill Walden, you know, and he gives me a high five.

So we invited him back after the show. He came backstage and I got to meet him and say hello. And I mean, he lives in San Diego. And he goes to shows there.

And that was awesome, you know, to see, you know, here a guy watched in the NBA way back in the day in the end of his career, you know, when I was watching sports and, you know, so that was pretty awesome.

But yes, there are many places that we go that are really awesome. There's really not a place that we go to that where, you know, like it's weird or any place where you can go to play loud music and a lot of people show up is a good place.

I love it, man. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. We appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.