When Boston singer Brad Delp hit the road with his band Return To Zero, he told Nestor his story before coming to Hammerjacks.
Brad Delp discussed his career, including his time with Boston and his current project, RTZ. He mentioned the communication breakdown that led to this interview and shared details about his family and recent gigs. Delp explained the formation of RTZ, named after a studio button, and highlighted the differences in working with Tom Scholz and Barry Goudreau. He expressed hope for RTZโs success and mentioned ongoing legal issues with CBS. Delp also touched on his respect for Tom Scholz and the challenges of balancing personal life with professional commitments.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
communication breakdown, sonโs sick, New Hampshire show, Robert Plant, Barryโs solo album, Gary Pihl, Tomโs studio, RTZ band, third stage, Boston lawsuit, CD resale, tour plans, RTZ success, vocal arrangements, Phoenix show
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Brad Delp
Brad Delp 00:01
Hi. Nestor Aparicio, this is E this is Brad Delft, calling. Hi, how are you fine? I hope you were expecting. Oh,
Nestor Aparicio 00:08
no, they never told me that you were going to be calling, but we had kind of
Brad Delp 00:11
a communication breakdown.
Nestor Aparicio 00:12
Thatโs okay,
Brad Delp 00:14
excuse me, communication breakdown that make a nice song. Yeah, that
Nestor Aparicio 00:19
would, why donโt you do that? Write
Brad Delp 00:20
that down, I tell you what? If youโre not busy, Iโd be happy to speak with you if you want to. No, I got I got missing me. However you want to do it? No, please. Iโm
Nestor Aparicio 00:29
fine. Iโm fine. Actually, you
Brad Delp 00:31
felt terrible because, actually, Iโm a couple days later.
Nestor Aparicio 00:34
Well, thatโs the problem. My sonโs sick today, so Iโm sort of trapped in here next time, so feeding him the childrenโs Tylenol, maybe seven, six and a half. Oh, really, you bring him out on the road here?
Brad Delp 00:48
No, my son is six and a half. My daughterโs 10 and a half, and weโre playing up in New Hampshire tomorrow night. My daughterโs going to the show. My son doesnโt want to go because he says itโs too loud, huh? Mine is when he was real small, of course, when I went out, actually on third stage, right? He came to a couple of those shows that must have just shocked
Nestor Aparicio 01:11
him. Too much, too much. Iโve taken mine to about four. Heโs been the two new kids in a block concert. Heโs been to see Robert Plant, speaking of communication breakdown, thatโs good. Plant bought him lunch one day. So yeah, so one of the big little thrills of his life, of course, he doesnโt know the importance of Robert planter.
Brad Delp 01:27
He will, because theyโll still be playing Led Zeppelin when heโs 80, probably. So I imagine,
Nestor Aparicio 01:33
right, right. And letโs see, what else has he been to? Oh, I took him to the club MTV tour this summer, so he thinks theyโre too loud as well. But anyway, youโre one of my favorites, and itโs kind of good to talk to you. I try to get interviews back on third stage, and I had severe difficulty through MCA,
Brad Delp 01:52
because generally, you know, those things go fairly smoothly for me. This one, the way I screwed this up was normally Jeff Albright will call me and say, interview such and such time, and then I just called to leave a message on my machine. But this one arrived via fax over at Barryโs house. Barry just got a fax machine. Oh,
Nestor Aparicio 02:15
neato. So we moved into the 90s. Officially gave
Brad Delp 02:19
me this slip of paper has the information on it, but not having it on my machine. Now, writing it down myself, I totally spaced. Also, I think Iโm not sure where I was, but weโve had a couple gigs. We just had a third one last night. So being in the middle of that, I
Nestor Aparicio 02:35
thought youโd be calling, but I wasnโt sure. Iโm glad we were able to finally hook up here. So anyway, so how did the whole thing with Barry come down that you guys got together? Well, why did he go out with Boston? And thatโs another question, Barry, yeah. Well, Barry
Brad Delp 02:49
left, actually four. So he really wasnโt involved in third stage at all. He was the first one, really, to lead the band. Was
Nestor Aparicio 02:56
he invited to be back?
Brad Delp 02:58
No, not for this one really, because he, as I say, right after he left, he went to solo album that was in 1980 which I sang on half of. And then he, basically, he left because he just wanted to pursue his own musical interest. So I donโt think there was a real desire on his part to go back. And when Tom was finishing up third stage. Of course, Tom wound up playing guitar on actually, not just guitar, but almost all the instruments on third stage. But he was looking for a guitar player to help him towards the end of that project, and someone to go out on the road. And thatโs where Gary peel came in. Gary, you probably know, used to play with Sammy Hagar, right? And we did almost the whole second tour with Sammy Hagar as an opening act, and Gary was in the band, so he was someone that was known to us, and everybody liked so Tom gave him a call, and he wound up coming in and finishing up third stage, and then, of course, going out. Should have Barry and Tom just not get along or well there, there was some friction there for a while, and I think that I donโt even remember specifically now, because that
Nestor Aparicio 04:07
was 13 years ago,
Brad Delp 04:08
right? Yeah, but basically, there was probably just a, maybe a personality difference or whatever, and they had certain musical differences, and Barry felt he like to just go off on his own and try some things? So again, he did two records. He did the solar one, and then he had a band called Orion the Hunter, and heโs really hasnโt stopped working on things since then. He hadnโt been out on the road since Orion, but the keyboard player that went out with him on that band has stayed with him, Brian Mays, whoโs in RTC, okay, and so theyโve been working and and the drummer, Dave steffanelli, whoโs with us now, used to play with Brian, so thatโs how he acquired him. And theyโve been working on demos, off and on, and working with different singers. And when I finished third stage, when we get off tour, you. I was at a point where the singer Barry was working with was moving, he moved to St Louis, and so Barry was looking for somebody else to come in and basically work on. They were sort of demos, and they were sort of, you know, he was just sort of putting material together, just to see what would happen. And now, whatโs
Nestor Aparicio 05:19
it like for you guys not working though. I mean, is it the thing where youโve got enough royalties rolling in from Boston that you donโt really need to work well
Brad Delp 05:25
financially? We were fortunate in that, you know, the record sold well enough, so weโre not involved multi millionaires. But we were comfortable, right? Yeah, in that sense, the
Nestor Aparicio 05:36
advent of the CD probably just resold everything back again, right? Yeah.
Brad Delp 05:40
I guess that did help as well, because we had, for a long time, we had a $20 million lawsuit hanging over our heads with CBS, which Tom eventually won. But so that didnโt make people feel real comfortable, but that was for me. I was so far removed from that that it was, it was sort of unreal, but you got it, you
Nestor Aparicio 06:01
got a nice house, and you got money coming in. You really donโt need to work. We did
Brad Delp 06:04
okay. And also, I had a couple offers during that period of time after this, between the second tour and the event, you know, years later, right? And third one. But Tom felt that he really, I donโt think he was ever really sure when the record was going to be finished, and sometimes he felt, gee, Iโm real close to getting it done, and then something would happen and it would get held up. So he, I remember asking him at one point about possibility of doing a side project or something, and at that time, he wasnโt real keen on it, because he he didnโt want people to think that the band had broken up, right? And, of course, Tom and I continued to work together anyway. So
Nestor Aparicio 06:47
Boston is not broken out.
Brad Delp 06:51
Tom is working actually right now. He just he moved within the last year or so from Boston. No, he had to move his whole studio. And took him quite a while. He decided when he moved this time and he wanted to have everything set up, you know, exactly the way he wanted. He doesnโt work with an engineer, so everything has to be placed where he can have access to all the machinery and so forth. So it took him quite a while to get a studio just the way he wanted it. But he finally did. And last time I saw him was right before I went out actually to record this record. And I went over his house and he played me some stuff that he was working on with the guys, the whole band from third stage, with probably the notable exception of me, right? Because Iโm working, Iโm doing this with Barry, but you are going to do the vocals on this stuff. Well, Iโll be quite honest with you. I really donโt know. I think scheduling will have a fair amount to do with it. I know theyโre working on music now, and stuff came together so quickly on this project with Barry that before we knew we really have a couple albums worth of material. So weโre sort of looking forward to maybe going back in the studio with our TV and doing another record. And Tom doesnโt
Nestor Aparicio 08:10
seem like the kind of guy that would mind waiting a little while for you. Well, I
Brad Delp 08:14
donโt know if itโs so much waiting or he just might have his hands full, but to be honest with you, I canโt I wish I could answer it a little more specifically, except to say that they are working so thereโll definitely be another Boston record.
Nestor Aparicio 08:27
He lives in California. Now, Iโm sorry Tom lives in California. No, he lives in he still lives out here. Okay? Because thatโs what you said. You saw him in LA or something. No,
Brad Delp 08:36
I saw him the day before I left to go out to LA. We recorded the RTZ record was recorded out in California. Okay, and you all are from Boston now. Well, actually, I live in New Hampshire. Technically, Iโm just over the line in
Nestor Aparicio 08:48
Manchester. Salem. Salem, which is, thereโs a race track. I have some friends who live in Manchester. I was going to come up next weekend to see the Patriots came because Iโm a big Iโm a huge Oilers fan, okay? And the worldโs nobody goes the Patriots. Get me to see
Brad Delp 09:05
the patriots to go see that around after last week,
Nestor Aparicio 09:09
right? Itโs becoming skeptical. Again, Cleveland sucks. Itโs the COVID stadium
Brad Delp 09:12
now, anyway, they have real grass there, right? And that should be fun. I donโt live too far from Manchester at all, actually.
Nestor Aparicio 09:21
So whatโs in? The
Brad Delp 09:22
work is around there, I got lost,
Nestor Aparicio 09:26
whatโs, whatโs the next thing for our TC, you guys going to tour?
Brad Delp 09:29
Yeah, as I say, weโve done weโre playing in Boston tonight. Weโre playing at a club thatโs been newly renovated. Itโs called The City Club, and itโs been shut down for a while. Every year they changed the motif around. So this is the kind of thing
Nestor Aparicio 09:43
I was trying to find. I was gonna come up to Boston next week, and Iโm like, Hey, let me find out. Let me hunt down a band. As
Brad Delp 09:49
I say, we had our third gig last night. We played at a little club down in Connecticut, not so little, really, called the sting, okay? And we had a we played a little place down. On down the south shore of Boston, on the cape was our first show was like, I think 350 people or something, that we packed in this little club, which was great. Had a great time. And then we played out in Western Mass too. Basically, we wanted to do a couple of warm up things before we played in town, because Iโm sure that will be reviewed tonight. So this will be, like, the first, right Biggie, yeah, the one thatโs thatโs going to get in the
Nestor Aparicio 10:28
face Steve Morris will be there for you.
Brad Delp 10:30
Iโm sure Steve will be there. I hope itโll be there. So, yeah, weโre doing that, and then weโre playing a place called The Hampton Beach casino up in New Hampshire tomorrow night. And then Iโm not sure there are some offers that have been going around, but I donโt think thereโs anything real concrete after that point, weโre trying to see, trying to decide whether weโre gonna possibly hook up on a, you know, a big tour with someone, or whether we can just set up like a club tour, or do something of that nature,
Nestor Aparicio 11:01
right? Theyโre playing your song here until your love comes back around youโre playing until your love comes back around. Here, is that really said the first single? Great.
Brad Delp 11:09
No, actually, face the music was the first single. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 11:13
theyโre playing, I mean, that song is getting played five, six times a day. Itโs heavy, heavy rotation.
Brad Delp 11:18
Thatโs very Do you know, Russ motla, yes, well, I know, I think Iโve talked with him. Heโs
Nestor Aparicio 11:24
from Worcester. He was at BBM. Is that the correct stationer? Which the rock station? He used to be there, and heโs here now, and heโs just like he hits Aerosmith, you guys, extreme. And, you know, the cars very hard. Only thing he doesnโt play is del Fuego. He plays all the rest of the ball. He plays Boston all time to hear rock and roll band and stuff like that every day.
Brad Delp 11:54
But thatโs interesting. Yeah, as a matter of fact, just recently, I heard that the label was considering releasing that as a single. Theyโve already released, I donโt know how it works, CHR radio and AOR and all that stuff, but they released the second song on the CD. Thereโs another side to the I guess, AOR stations, and theyโve released the third song. All youโve got to CHR.
Nestor Aparicio 12:21
Well, I guess anybodyโs discerning here, it sounds like Boston. Can you argue with that? Or
Brad Delp 12:28
one song in particular, or just in general? I think the fact that Iโm singing on all that is probably thereโs going to be, you know, an unmistakable reference there, and the fact that Barryโs guitar, I think, is recognizable as well. But what we and I think when we did the record, we really didnโt try one way or another to say, letโs try and sound like this, or letโs try not to sound like this. With the whole idea was just for us to play stuff that we enjoyed. And actually, the name RTZ came about kind of fortuitously. We had, we had a bunch of material, but we had no name for the band at that time. And of course, the more you try and sit and think of a name,
Nestor Aparicio 13:12
the harder it is. Yeah, thereโs a band in Baltimore that said that, and they sat around and they were thinking, and theyโre thinking, and the one guy said, Wow, what a burst of silence. And that was it. They named their band
Brad Delp 13:26
extreme. Was kind of interesting.
Nestor Aparicio 13:27
I donโt even know that I interviewed them the other day, years when they used to play in
Brad Delp 13:31
town before they could sign, they used to be called the dream. And then they found out that somebody else had copy written that name or something. They couldnโt use that. So they started out calling themselves extreme. Oh, extreme. It turned into extreme. But I thought that was pretty cool, okay. But anyway, RTZ, again, we had no name for the band, and Barry has a 16 track studio at his house that we demo everything at. And I just finished doing a vocal, and I went into the control room to listen to what I had just done, and Barry had to go upstairs and take a phone call. So as he was leaving, I said, Barry, what do I have to do to get this tape to play back? Because I donโt do
Nestor Aparicio 14:17
anything in the studio. Your studio? Idiot.
Brad Delp 14:21
Totally illiterate. So he said, thereโs a little button on the console. RTZ just hit that, and itโll I looked at, and obviously itโs for the tape counter, you know, return to zero. And I thought I just liked the way it looked on the little button. And Barry came down and said, What do you think about this for a name for the band. And again, it made sense, because Barry and I really started playing. First time I met him, we were both in high school, and he came to audition for a band that I was in. So we go back quite a ways, and we wanted to the way we work is Barry will usually give me a cassette with a bass. The chord changes on it, and then just let me do what I want with it. And Iโm a big Beatles fan. Always have been, so I think we just tried to sort of let our influences show up on this. And thereโs a couple songs here to me, anyway, that sort of have that influence. One of them is, this is my life was written very much in that kind of style. We even had, we had Brian use the cello samples and things like the George Martin type stuff on it. And so thereโs a lot of that. But as you say, I think that the fact that Iโm singing and Barryโs playing on it, thereโll definitely be a sound is somewhat reminiscent of that. But Iโd like to think that it maybe, you know, takes a couple of different directions as well.
Nestor Aparicio 15:48
Is it a situation where Tom just takes too long for you? I mean, were you as antsy as the whole world was in 1985 when, you know,
Brad Delp 15:55
it was frustrating in a way, and to be perfectly honest with you, I think to some extent, I took great advantage of that. I found it to be a good excuse not to have to do anything, and Iโm guilty about admitting that, but Iโve got two kids and I and I got to spend a lot of time at home with my family. And if someone says, Well, you know, what are you guys doing? I said, Well, weโll wait for Tom to do this. And that was partly true, as I say, as I started to mention before, he wasnโt real keen initially on me doing other things. And so I took full advantage of that and said, Well, okay, Iโll stay home and play with the kids, and Hell
Nestor Aparicio 16:35
Yeah, as long as you got enough money. But it
Brad Delp 16:37
really for me, created sort of an insecurity, feeling of insecurity, because the more time I took off, itโs like when you go back to school after summer vacation, you know, you get so used to it, and then when you have to go back. So I had kind of mixed feelings about it, but it was a hole that I dug for myself, and it took a while to get back into it. When third stage came out, I had a real insecurity complex, which I havenโt totally mastered yet, but I looking at it from both sides. Now, I would say that trying to keep busy is probably the best thing in the long run. Yeah, I
Nestor Aparicio 17:16
think the jury was way out. You know, when I went to see you, I saw you in Philadelphia because I was very excited that you guys were playing again. I saw you in Philly in June. You didnโt make it down here till the end of September on that tour. And I went up there, and Iโm like, I gotta wonder how his voice sounds after eight years ago. I mean, did you do any singing or Well,
Brad Delp 17:33
I worked off and on with Barry, actually, over that period of time, on things. And I was working on some stuff on my own, not not real. I wasnโt playing out at all. I didnโt play any clubs or anything. Before we went out on third stage, we rehearsed. We spent tremendous amount of hours in rehearsal. So from a singing standpoint, I really I felt pretty good when we went out. But from a personal, kind of emotional standpoint, I think, I think the lawsuit and everything is as far removed as I was from, and then Tom was right in the thick of it. I donโt know how he did it, but I think emotionally that that kind of stuff has to take a toll on you as well. Changes your perspective on things. Because for me, the whole enjoyment of this, you know, was not really the business end of it. It was just going out playing, and that kind of got shoved in the background. We
Nestor Aparicio 18:29
must piss you off to see everybody try to get a hand in your pie, you know. I mean, itโs
Brad Delp 18:33
not even so much. Again, it really isnโt. Itโs not so much the money. Itโs just all the music, you know, whatโs the point of, I didnโt really see the point of going into all that stuff that had nothing to do with playing music, right? You know, I talked
Nestor Aparicio 18:47
to Billy Joel, and heโs been ripped off so many times over the years. And, you know, he had the same feeling, itโs just that the fact that these people are making a living off of him, and they havenโt done anything, yeah, it does. It
Brad Delp 19:01
is, I guess, it is kind of frustrating from that standpoint. I would see Billy Joel storefront tour because it happened that his tour manager was the tour manager for third stage. Who is that? Max
Nestor Aparicio 19:15
lubier, okay, right. I talked to Max. Max is a great
Brad Delp 19:19
guy. I enjoyed that a lot. I keep skipping
Nestor Aparicio 19:25
around. I was talking about the success and what youโre expecting from RTZ. You donโt really need this to be successful. Or is this really your big project now? So
Brad Delp 19:33
weโd like it to be successful, because that would mean that itโs accepted. Really, for me, thatโs the real criteria. I love for people say, gee, you know, I like the way it came out, or you like for people to be able to relate to it, record sales. I mean, you know, itโs, it certainly doesnโt hurt to sell some records. Thatโs fine. But for me, that was just, I just feel fortunate that Iโve been able to to. To do this all these years and not be working at hot water, where I used to work, this place making heating elements, you know, I havenโt done that since, since Boston really took off. So thatโs nice, you know? Iโm hopeful that people would kind of take to this. Hopefully itโs doing okay at this point, and Iโm really looking forward to going back in and doing up the other songs that weโve demoed. Thereโs two or three that we do in the show now, and I like them as well as anything on the on the record here also. So itโs just, itโs exciting for me to go back in and do something I just, I like it, to get out on the radio so that other people can hear it. I think itโs kind of notion of, you know, thereโs no point in seeing the beautiful sunset of nobody else sees it. So when you do something, itโs great for other people to be able to hear it. And to have a few people come back and say, I get what youโre doing, right? Thatโs kind of a nice thing.
Nestor Aparicio 21:03
So you said you had been asked to sing for other bands during the eight years.
Brad Delp 21:07
Well, there was just a couple of small projects that it wasnโt anything like, will you
Nestor Aparicio 21:12
leave and join this group? Dan halen did come recruiting unit.
Brad Delp 21:15
Sammy Hagar had talked to me at one point about doing a song with him that was before he joined Van Halen, just, I think he wound up doing it with with Mike Reno he did a song Iโve never heard that. Remember the heroes at the close call. I never heard it. But anyway, thatโs a thatโs really kind of a minor point. I guess one thing I did want to mention you had asked about working with Tom, and the fact that he took so much time, my whole feeling was working with Thomas, he has such a strong idea about what he likes, you know, and what he wants. And we started working in 1970 so at this point in time, when we were doing third stage, I had a pretty good idea of what he liked and didnโt like about my voice, and he knows, you know, what he wants to hear from me, so when I go in, I donโt really try and, you know, I donโt have any real heavy opinions generally about the songs, because I know that by the time he calls me, and heโs got it pretty well thought out, as far as the melody, He writes most of the lyrics and everything. So he worked for him pretty much. Thatโs really how it is. And Iโm happy to do that because I really feel, I know, that heโs real sincere about what he does. And so Iโm happy to go in and, you know, help him try and get the sound that he wants, whereas working with Barry, Barryโs interested in playing guitar, and he wants somebody to come in and do the do the singing, he doesnโt sing. And so thatโs a great situation for me, because I can just take these chord changes, because I donโt consider myself a very good guitar player. I can place rhythm, play some chords, but Iโm not as at home with that. So itโs great because I get, you know, he gets play guitar, and I get to just do what I want. So itโs a nice, a nice merger that way. And then thereโs, I just feel like thereโs a little more me in there, right? And those are things I think every musician has to get out eventually. When I first met Tom, actually, Tom and Barry, say, back in 1970 I had never written anything at all. I was all the bands I was in up to that point were cover bands. So I learned a fair amount of working with them, and got my confidence up a bit to where now I really kind of enjoy doing, you know, writing. So
Nestor Aparicio 23:42
with the shows youโve been doing the last few nights and tonight, are you just doing straight RTG stuff, nothing else.
Brad Delp 23:47
Yeah, weโre not doing any Boston stuff at all. And the reason for that, there are a couple reasons for that. One is for me, personally, sort of out of respect for Tom, because, as I say, music, without me, there will be another Boston record, and the majority of those songs are his, and so, you know, heโll play them again someday, and people will get to hear them. So Iโm confident of that. And the other thing is that we are we donโt want to confuse people. As far as the RTZ thing, itโs real. It isnโt sort of like, you know, weโre not trying to reform Boston. Weโre trying to sort of stand on our own. So far, people have been very understanding of that, and Iโm real appreciative that, because I can, I can see where people would, you know, might expect. Do you think Tom would
Nestor Aparicio 24:37
really go through with it and not have you on the album? What is Boston without you? I
Brad Delp 24:42
mean, I think if he did, I think people would be surprised to find out how much when people say they like the singing on the record and they like the guitars on the record, I think a lot of times what people donโt realize not that they have to, but from a musician stand. Point is, I think what they really whatโs really impressive on those records to me, not to belittle myself, but are the vocal arrangements, which are Tomโs. Itโs what he did with my voice. And actually, the difference to me is very apparent between my singing on RTZ, the RTZ project and on Tomโs records. Not that itโs any better or worse, but itโs just different. In the, for example, there might be maybe one song on this new record that where the vocals are double tracked, yeah, like
Nestor Aparicio 25:35
cool, the engines in the last album, thatโs, I think thatโs total production, isnโt it?
Brad Delp 25:40
I mean, yeah, I mean, itโs his credit, that sound he gets. But like almost all the vocals on all the Boston songs, not all of them, but a great deal of them, are double tracked. The harmonies are double tracked. Itโs a big fat sound. How
Nestor Aparicio 25:53
did you do it live?
Brad Delp 25:56
Well, Tom, of course, came up with the Rockman and a number of inventions, and they have, there were a number of doubling machines and things like that that you can use. We didnโt use any pre recorded stuff. He was very adamant about that, to his credit. So it was all live. But there, you know, you can use delays and things on vocals, which also helped to fatten it up. It wasnโt,
Nestor Aparicio 26:19
you guys had it perfect. I mean, I saw the show three times. I was real happy with the band, and when we went out, we I walked away the first night, blown away. I mean, I just couldnโt believe it.
Brad Delp 26:29
Iโll tell you what I canโt think of one one show and then hold tour where I where I really thought it was horrendous. Generally, I felt very comfortable for the whole tour, and that was nice. And part of that was due to the fact that the other guys, I think, covered the covered their part so well. And when we auditioned people to put the band together, that was a big criteria was that theyโd be able to sing the part, you know, as well as it was
Nestor Aparicio 26:54
just such a solid show to come out and do like this six hits, and then this roll right through third stage and they come out at the end. I mean, I figured out, like you had 27 songs in your catalog, you play like 24 of them. Mean, what more could people want? I mean, we
Brad Delp 27:06
didnโt leave a whole lot out. And thatโs that was another reason why I felt I was real. We had, it was a great crew, you know, Max and everybody else. We had a great organization. We had a great bunch of guys in the band. And like I say, we we tried to cover as much as we could. So when I finished that tour, I really felt obligated. You know, over the years, Tom was working on its third stage, and nobody knew when it would be finished, because he had legal hassles and everything else. We nobody knew if he ultimately ever even want to finish, right? So when we finally did, I really felt strongly about, you know, going out and promoting it and doing the tour. And when we finished that, I really felt like we had said a lot, you know, as far as that and that, I think, made me feel more comfortable about delving into something else. When I got off the tour initially, I had some things that I wanted to do myself. I was working on a solo album, and I was real pleased with the band that I was working with. I put a band together, but I my big mistake was I tried to produce it myself, and Iโm not a producer. I found that out from trying to do this so. And it was around that time that I was working on those demos, that barrier called, you like to work on these. And I mean, we just had so many songs before we knew it. We had, you know, label interest and everything people call them, wanted to do this. So I had a set my little project aside. And I, someday, I would like to go back and work on that, because that stuff musically is different from either one of these other projects. So itโs just something that you know you have, you got something inside you want to get out. And thatโs the whole motivation for me.
Nestor Aparicio 28:55
So when do you expect to be on the road with this? Well,
Brad Delp 29:01
wish I could tell you concretely, I think Barry would like to be on the road yesterday Christmas. And itโs, yeah, I would hope. I actually, I would hope, probably this fall. I just when we when we played last night, I talked to Barry, and he said we had an offer to play out in Phoenix in a couple of weeks. Thereโs some kind of outdoor show going on out actually, thereโs one in Phoenix and one in Tucson, I think heโs and then we had an offer to do something similar to that out on the west coast. So when we spoke last night, they were trying to line something up to sort of make it worth the time and travel and everything going out there, maybe do a few other gigs on the way you.