The good things of 40 years of Bodeans music gets us closer to free

It’s always a pleasure to spend time with Bodeans founder Kurt Neumann, who brings the 40th Anniversary of “Love and Hope and Sex and Dreams” magic to Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis on May 8th. Plenty of good things and good work of the music, touring with U2 and recording with T Bone Burnett with one of Nestor’s all-time favorite bands and singer/songwriters, whose first love was beating on the drums.

Kurt Neumann, founder of BoDeans, discussed their upcoming 40th anniversary show at Rams Head Annapolis on May 8th. The band will perform two-hour sets, focusing on fan favorites and celebrating their long-term supporters. Neumann reminisced about their journey, including their first record produced by T Bone Burnett, which emphasized lasting song quality over trends. He also highlighted the impact of their hit “Closer to Free” and the challenges of performing without longtime partner Sam. Neumann shared plans for new music and expressed gratitude for the band’s loyal fanbase.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend Koco’s next Thursday in the Bodeans tour shirt and participate in the Maryland Lottery scratch-off promotion.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Participate in GBMC’s Safe Walk ‘Walk a Mile in Their Shoes’ program on Friday.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Be at Rams Head Annapolis on Friday, May 8, wearing the Bodeans tour shirt and ready to sing along to ‘Good Things’ during the show.

Kurt Neumann’s Return to Rams Head Annapolis

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show and mentions various local events and sponsors.
• Nestor reminisces about his first interview with BoDeans and their upcoming performance at Rams Head Annapolis.
• Kurt Neumann discusses the band’s 40-year anniversary and the excitement of performing at Rams Head.
• Kurt explains the band’s plan to split their set into two hours to play more music and celebrate the fans.

Memories and Influences

• Nestor shares a personal story about a colleague who loved BoDeans and wanted an interview.
• Kurt recalls a memorable show where T Bone Burnett joined them on stage to sing “Good Work.”
• Kurt praises T Bone Burnett’s influence on their first record, emphasizing the importance of creating lasting music.
• Kurt shares advice from T Bone Burnett about focusing on the soul of the song rather than trendy sounds.

Intimacy of Small Venues

• Nestor and Kurt discuss the unique atmosphere of Rams Head Annapolis compared to larger venues.
• Kurt appreciates the intimacy of small venues where the audience can feel the music more intimately.
• Nestor compares Rams Head to other intimate venues he has visited, highlighting its special place in his heart.
• Kurt mentions the challenges and joys of performing in different types of venues, including small clubs and large outdoor shows.

Setlist and Audience Engagement

• Nestor asks Kurt about the challenges of keeping the setlist fresh and avoiding a jukebox feel.
• Kurt explains the balance between playing fan favorites and introducing new songs to keep things interesting.
• Kurt mentions the use of video playback to enhance the performance and create a cohesive presentation.
• Kurt discusses the impact of “Closer to Free” on their fan base and how it changed their performance dynamics.

Personal Connections and Fan Loyalty

• Nestor recalls a memorable performance where Kurt went acoustic and quieted the entire room.
• Kurt explains the importance of the right venue and audience for such a performance.
• Nestor and Kurt discuss the connection between BoDeans’ music and small-town America, particularly their song “My Hometown.”
• Kurt shares the story behind writing “My Hometown” for a Netflix show and how it resonates with fans.

Adapting to Change

• Nestor asks Kurt about the transition after his longtime partner Sam left the band.
• Kurt describes the readjustment period and the support from fans that helped him continue.
• Kurt praises his current bandmate, James Hurtless, for their harmonious collaboration.
• Kurt emphasizes the importance of the band’s connection with the audience and the energy they create together.

Future Plans and New Music

• Nestor inquires about Kurt’s current music projects and future plans.
• Kurt mentions having 15-20 new songs recorded and plans to release a new record soon.
• Kurt discusses the challenges of releasing music in the modern era and the importance of quality over quantity.
• Kurt expresses his gratitude for the fans’ support and excitement for their upcoming performances.

Final Thoughts and Fan Appreciation

• Nestor thanks Kurt for his contributions to music and expresses his personal appreciation.
• Kurt encourages fans to come out and sing along at their upcoming show at Rams Head Annapolis.
• Nestor and Kurt discuss the special bond between the band and their fans, emphasizing the shared experience of their concerts.
• Kurt looks forward to celebrating his wife’s birthday at the show and the possibility of performing a special song for her.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Bodeans, Kurt Neumann, Rams Head Annapolis, 40th anniversary, fan celebration, T Bone Burnett, songwriting, intimate venues, setlist, audience engagement, new music, touring, Maryland crab cake tour, GBMC Safe Walk, music history.

SPEAKERS

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Kurt Neumann, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. Mixing it up around here. We had a lot of rock stars on lately, with all these Canadian bands running around the country as well. But I’m still out doing the Maryland crab cake tour. We will be at Koco’s. I’m wearing the shirt next Thursday. I had a little coconut shrimp the other night. We’ll be there on Thursday with our Maryland lottery scratch offs of the Maryland treasures. Also our friends at GBMC doing the Safe Walk on Friday with them walk a mile in their shoes for their program, which is very, very important. As well as our friends at Farnham and Dermer. This guy always makes a little time for me when he comes through. I’ve I think the first time I interviewed Bo Deans was on the home tour when they played over Johns Hopkins and Shriver Hall. Many, many, many moons ago. Bodine is coming back to Rams Head in Annapolis, one of my all time favorite bands, one of my all time favorite artists, Kurt Newman always makes a little time down in Austin, Texas, where he calls home. I was thinking you guys as Milwaukee guys, but I know it’s been, like a couple decades since you escaped Wisconsin, but it’s always great when you come around. You always make time to come to this part of the country. And I know you’re a huge fan in the Midwest, and always have been, but always nice to be able to get out and see you play. And I know you have a little theme going on this time around with with an anniversary for the band and for all the years of making this incredible music. And I’m looking forward to see what you have you up your sleeve.

Kurt Neumann  01:23

Kurt, yeah, well, it’s been a lot of years, as you mentioned, going door to door, knocking on people’s doors, saying, Hey, you want to hear a couple songs, and we sing songs for everybody, but yeah, we’re celebrating 40 years of doing that now, which is a mighty long time, and to be out there. So we’re coming to ram said we played there a lot. I feel like it’s kind of a beautiful like everybody knows us there. Everybody shows up for the music, and we all create a great energy in the room. So I’m looking forward to that this year, being 40 years, we’re trying to hit on a lot of the all the records. We’re splitting it up into two sets, two hour sets, so that, you know, people can get a little break, and we can play more music that way, and fit fit in as much as possible. But it’s not so much a celebration of like bodine’s just touring for 40 years. It’s really, to me, a celebration of the fans in the band. You know, people have been there for us for 40 years, and some for 20 years or 10 years or whatever, but it’s a long time that we’ve been singing these songs together. And my purpose has always been to try to come to your town and make people feel good for a night. You know. So 40 years of that, I think, is worth celebrating. So that’s what we’re shooting for. Yeah, I’m

Nestor Aparicio  02:40

kind of weird with my fanboy of your band, and I had to think about this woman I worked with at the sports department the Baltimore Sun. Her name was Marcy Hartle, and she loved your band. She was from Buffalo. She had a funny western New York accent, but she loved your band. She always wanted me to interview your band and talk to your band. And one night the you two was playing at down in Norfolk Virginia, put the Hampton Roads Coliseum, and you were the opening band. Now you’re laughing. They were filming parts of rattling hum at that period of time. And I had sort of a side backstage seat in that crazy old arena there, and you open for the biggest band in the world. And I noticed you, and I came back to the office, and Marcy’s like, phone, Dean’s open. They’re the great day of Heartland rock and roll, Americana, and she got me, like, really turned on to you. And I think, all these years later, when I whenever I hold love and hope and sex and dreams and obviously still surviving on the streets, a great rock and roll reference unto itself. I think a Tebow and Burnett, who I had a chance to see perform at various points, has worked with all sorts of bands when you see it or hear it or think of those songs, does he pop into the world for where your world was 40 years ago?

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Kurt Neumann  03:49

Yeah, I first of all, let me just say the Hampton arenas show was the only show out of like 30 shows we played with you two where they actually came on stage with us and sang one of our songs, which I have a recording of. If anyone’s

Nestor Aparicio  04:04

looking for it, I want it. I want it. I was there that night. You can hear me sing in the back.

Kurt Neumann  04:08

We sang good work with them, and they were great fans of the band, and we had a great time with them. But to the subject of T bone, yeah, I always talk about T bone when I’m speaking interviews with people, because he, you know, I think it was such a great choice to work with him, first and foremost, on our first record, and really show us what making a great record was about. Rather than trying to make just a trendy current record, he made us dig into what it takes to create a record that’s going to last and people are going to always love and it may not have been what a major label like Warner Brothers wanted, but it was the best thing for us, that’s for sure, and he gave us that. He taught us what making great songs, making great records, were really about. And. And stuff that would last a long time, which is what we wanted to do. We didn’t want to just come in and then disappear after one record. So he set that standard for us, and taught me a lot about making records and and I say to people all the time, I would work with him anywhere, anytime, at the drop of a hat, because he’s a really great person. His knowledge of music, his knowledge of history and life. He’s just a great person to have around anytime you’re working on something creative like songwriting. What do you hear when

Nestor Aparicio  05:31

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you said he taught you so much? What’s the overriding advice or one little piece or something? You remember that it comes back to you every time you record music. Because I find that as I get older, and I’m getting older as well, the mentors you had all those years ago, there really is a little like, like in the Flintstones, the great kazoo would come and give that wisdom, and once it’s imparted on you, whether it’s a father or friend, whoever it is, but I would think, you know, given his stature and you being young and impressionable At that point, I would think that you bring that with you everywhere you go, right?

Kurt Neumann  06:04

Yeah, yeah. No, he would, you know, a lot of bands go into the studio and they’re like, oh, I want to get my great guitar sound, or I gotta get this big, giant snare drum sound, or I want this trendy sound or something. But with T bone, we never ever worried about the sounds that we were recording ever we we talked about the songs. He used to say, you need to get to the Soul of the Song. And so we would just play songs completely different than we ever had. You know, we would play a fast song like a slow song, a slow song like a fast song, and just change stuff, and and, and T bone would come in with his actual like moods. You know, we would talk about like, I’m feeling this way today. I’m pissed, or I’m happy or whatever, and, and all that is really part of the process. It’s really part of being a human being. But it wasn’t just like, let’s get this specific sound that might get on the radio. Was like, create a song that people want to sing 20 years from now, you know? And that’s, that’s what he brought to the project. It’s what I really thought was the most incredible advice we could get early on in our career, because we were listening to great song singer songwriters like the Everly Brothers, or Springsteen or Tom Petty, these guys who really wrote great songs, great performances and stuff, and that really mattered to us to do that. So he was the perfect producer for that. Didn’t try to change who we were, trying to develop who we were. You know, one of the earliest things he said to us, the first time he came to see us live, was, y’all need to go home and learn how to play your instruments, you know, because we didn’t know what we were doing. We just knew we had a lot of energy to do it with. So I think he took that and worked with it as best as he could, you know, like, this is what these guys do over there. So that’s what we’re going to do, you know. And not every producer does that. It’s, I’ve worked with plenty of producers who said, Go do what I do. You know. And I’m just like, why don’t you? Go do what you do? Because I have no idea what you do. You know,

Nestor Aparicio  08:09

Kurt Newman is our guest. He is the founding member of bodine’s every plane of Rams Head Annapolis. And anytime I have anybody on who has played that venue, and I’ve been to a lot of venues, I don’t need to tell you I’ve seen your band all over the place, and all sorts of bands i i run around at this point and try to go to places like I finally made it to the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, little circle theater that was like painter’s mill here all these years later. It’s like a National Historic Landmark. So I go to these places, and maybe I take Ram’s Head for granted for How peculiar and unique and dinner theater and small and intimate it is. I mean, so intimate. The last time you played here, two years ago, you played, like, take it tomorrow. You played, like, a really rare song, and I had Jack wagons talking during it, and I’m like, the fuck up. Yeah, you know, like, there’s a little bit of that that goes on. I think it’s small venues. And now you’ve had the cell phone era where everybody’s recording everything. But Ram said, like, Of all the places you play, it ain’t Ravinia, right? I mean, it’s not, it’s a different kind of place.

Kurt Neumann  09:12

Yeah, no. People are right on top you you really can’t fake it there, you know, they see everything that’s happening because they’re three feet away, you know, so they’re really feeling the music. They’re really feeling where we’re at. You can’t fake anything in an environment like that. I really like that, you know, personally, I mean, I love playing big venues and big outdoor summer shows, but it’s really nice to come into those intimate places and be right up there with people playing a song, and then, like, singing it right along, they can feel it. I mean, they can really feel where you’re at. And that’s, I think, why people pay to go there and see a show, because that’s why it’s called intimate, right? You’re just right there with the performer. And so it’s a wonderful room for that, and they’ve been great. Throughout the years, letting us come back and play there, and it’s always packed full of people, and everyone’s just kind of getting into it. It’s a wonderful time. My buddies

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Nestor Aparicio  10:09

from the Smithereens are playing there a couple weeks after you play. And I was always close with Pat before he passed away, and he did a living room tour. And I remember back in the day, he said to me, I’m going to do a living room tour. And damn if he didn’t, he played in people’s living rooms, and he would come through here every six months and rams. It feels a little bit like it. It feels like if I hired your band and had you come and play at my place, that’s what it would kind of feel like.

Kurt Neumann  10:32

And that might not be, that might be stretching it a little bit, but because I’ve played in people’s houses, not as a hired performer, but when, like, people have asked me, they’ve had sick family members who were big fans who couldn’t come to the show, and I’ve gone and played songs for them, and it’s that’s that’s a whole different level of personal connection with somebody who’s sick and struggling, and you’re right there with them in their home. I would say, you know, Ram said, certainly a step away from that, but, but I get to your point, it’s very much, very close. Well, there’s no place I

Nestor Aparicio  11:13

see where your band plays in all these strange towns in the Midwest. And I’m thinking, hey, maybe I’ll sneak in and do that and do something else, or see you play in all sorts of towns. And I think it won’t be like seeing your Rams Head, though, because it Ram said it’s a little different. That way

Kurt Neumann  11:26

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you’re saying that, yeah, yeah, it might be different. Because sometimes we’re in bigger venues. We just played 1800 cedar the other night in Illinois. So you know, it’s, it’s, it can be different and not as intimate. Certainly, on the east coast, we play a lot of smaller, intimate, more clubs and, and it’s great, you know, it’s great for people to see us, and it wasn’t always the case, but it’s nice to be able to do it now. And, and I love having people close a lot of times, though. Speaking of those weird shows, they’re playing somewhere, I’ll meet someone after the show. They’ll be like, Yeah, I flew in from Cincinnati. I’m just like, what? And he’ll be like, Yeah, I just saw you were playing, and I just wanted to come see you. And so people are traveling a lot more these days, and it’s weird. How many people just like, Oh, they’re there tonight. I’ll go see them and just fly off and see your show. It’s really interesting.

Nestor Aparicio  12:14

Well, I do that. I mean, I just got back from South America chasing AC DC and Brian Adams having a good time. And I’ve been in the sports space, and every arena, every stadium, Super Bowls and all that. I like seeing new places and and seeing the life that you have as a musician, touring and seeing towns and seeing unique places. But you put the set list together, and I’m coming down to see the show, other than allowing me to do your set list, how do you keep it from turning into a bit of a jukebox, to some degree, because we all want to hear mean the hits and once closer to free happened for your band. Things really changed around that song and around who was coming to see your shows at that point. But I think a lot of that’s fallen out at this point. I don’t think there’s anything you could pull out of your back catalog. And you surprised me two years ago, pulling something out. I’m like, wow, he pulled that out. Next thing you know, he’s going to pull out something for you know, forever on my mind, or something for me, but for you, in doing this with your band and learning songs and bringing them out and presenting them, and I think I had you on right after covid, where you were doing some wacky stuff on covid, mixing songs, doing videos, reworking your own music in some way. What what are you bringing to town here this time?

Kurt Neumann  13:23

Um, well, you know, with every band, there are favorites you want to play for people because they love them. So, you know, there is a part of the set list that does become that it it doesn’t get stale for me, because people love the songs and they bring great energy to them. But I always, every year, I do try to add a few new ones for people that they wouldn’t expect. To give them something different, something new. And because we have a lot of songs, we try to change it up, you know, so it’s not the same every night, and there’s some differences and and keep it fresh for everybody. We’re also doing kind of a video playback with the music, which is going through the years and date stamping it all so people can remember back when that you’re like, Oh, I remember that record. I remember that song. So some of that works together. So it restricts us a little bit, because we want the whole presentation to go together. So it’s not so much just to call out a song, although we know quite a few songs. So it’s we do the best we can to accommodate. You know, what people want to hear. But I’m always trying to make it fresh and keep things interesting and play something a little unexpected for people.

Nestor Aparicio  14:27

How much the closer to free really change things for you. I mean, I noticed that as a fan of your band, that once it happened that much Well, I mean, when you played it the crowd, it felt like there was a point where the crowd, like that was recognizable to them, where I had five albums underneath and and, gosh, that song was a year and a half before it wound up on the television show. I knew that song well as an album track, and then all of a sudden, it became the track that people know you by, but they would know you by you don’t get much or good the fans of your band. Would know that the people that came to you through closer to free that was a big that was a seminal moment for your band, where I felt like a change, and I felt like, gosh, they’re finally making a lot of money. I was happy for you guys. You know,

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Kurt Neumann  15:13

yeah, the funny thing is, it didn’t really boost our sales. Like people would think I hit single wood, maybe because it had been out three years before that and stuff. I think it introduced us to a lot of people around the world, but it from our fans perspective, they had already picked their favorite songs, you know, and they knew closer to free they liked it. It’s a great rock and roll song. But for them, you know, I think good things is still the biggest song for fans, and still the night, you know, these songs that they’ve been able to sing along with, the way they do, they’re always happy to hear closer to free because it’s got great energy. But I think they still have their favorites that they still like. So it was a little weird having the closer to free thing happen, because long time fans, our fan base, didn’t really connect with us. All of a sudden, having just one hit single and some new people coming in to scout for that song. You know, they were, they were more educated on our whole catalog, so they liked everything. So once that year kind of passed, and we’re able to get back to just being their band again. I think a lot of our fans were happier about it, you know, because we weren’t restricted to being a one hand wonder, as much as we were there man that played their favorite songs again,

Nestor Aparicio  16:33

saw you do something several times on a tour, and it’s going back 30 years ago, where you quieted the entire room to hear a pin drop. And I’ve seen Springsteen do this too. And so you got to be quiet for this one. And you literally went straight acoustic, not even into the microphone, doing only love. You don’t do that anymore, do you once it’s been a long time since you’ve done that because it’s such a party trick. I mean, it’s one of the cool rock and roll things I’ve ever seen done.

Kurt Neumann  17:01

Yeah, I know it’s great. It requires a certain kind of room and a certain kind of audience. You can’t pull that off everywhere. I mean, maybe Springsteen can. But for us, it had to really be in a theater situation where people were sitting down and it wasn’t so much a bar and food and noise and waitress kind of restaurant or something like that venue, because then you can really quiet them down, and then it works. You know, I would always be up for doing it, though, when it, when it to make it work like that, because it was a wonderful thing to do. And really the way theaters were originally set up to do, you know, plays and music both, and so when we can, I love it, but sometimes it’s just not possible.

Nestor Aparicio  17:44

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Saw Bruce play the Minnesota show to be flying off and doing crazy things. I flew to Minnesota two weeks ago to see the first night of the tour, and the Americana part of that you were always associated with my hometown, and you done the cover on the Springsteen thing that’s going back almost 30 years ago, and that’s been a part of your show most of the time when I’ve seen you in the modern era. What was it about that song that connected with you, and I always think of you, and the first time I interviewed you and Sam, 40 years ago, was Waukesha, and talking about home was the name of the album, and making that album in the sweaty summer, sultry heat of Milwaukee and Wisconsin summers, my hometown and your connection to that song. And maybe I didn’t, I don’t listen to your music and hear Springsteen but, but maybe I have more, maybe more Nebraska sort of feeling of the spare part of that, but my hometown really connected with you, and it became part of your identity to some degree. You play it,

Kurt Neumann  18:39

yeah, yeah, no, I wrote my hometown or my song because the folks at Netflix were looking for specific songs about hometown, small town America, so they literally asked me to write songs with that theme. I wrote about four or five different ideas for them, one of them being my hometown, and that’s the one they picked. And so I worked on that one for them and developed it so they could use it in their show. At one point they were one of the producers really wanted it as the theme song for the show. So that’s what it was. That’s what I really wrote it about. And and, you know, I think it came out as a really good song. So for years, I would just travel and play it with people, because of that kind of pushing the whole Netflix show, because they had worked with me. I had done so much music for them, it was a great working relationship. But now I play it because, yeah, people really identified with it and connected with it. So it wasn’t really about necessarily. I was trying to write a song just like Springsteen. I was just trying to write a song about your family and your community and growing up in small town America, and what it feels like, and how it becomes your hometown, which is really those people and those experiences you had. No matter where it was, that’s what makes it your hometown. And so that’s what I was trying to really convey with that message. I remember

Nestor Aparicio  20:09

so many years ago, when you did she’s a runaway, you would do the del Shannon part into that. It almost feels like a little an extension of a song you heard, and saying, Here’s my interpretation, and let me add to it and take it in my own direction to some degree.

Kurt Neumann  20:24

Yeah, certainly, we grew up inspired by all the music that was going on around us. And early on, I tell people, it was the am radio, when I was a kid, that inspired me. And as we grew up, Springsteen, petty, all those great rock and roll bands of that era were, and it’s the Rolling Stones, all of them great inspiration to us and what we were doing. So you you want to honor them back, you know, because when we were first starting, we played their songs, and then we ended up learning how to write our own. But they were certainly an inspiration in those Was

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Nestor Aparicio  20:59

there somebody you tried to sing like what’s that was there somebody you tried to sing like that you would emulate, and you have a beautiful voice, and it’s yours. But I try to think about like, who those influences were in the 70s.

Kurt Neumann  21:13

Here’s the thing. I grew up as a drummer most of my whole life. I didn’t pick up a guitar till I graduated high school and wanted to learn how to write songs. So I was really happy sitting in the back of the stage playing drums. I loved playing the drums. I was really good at it. Somehow I got kind of stuck in the guitar role, which was okay, it was interesting. I was trying to learn it. But then they were like, oh, you should sing some songs too. I had never sang a song in my life before that ever. So when I’m singing a song, for me, I’m just white knuckling it the whole time. I don’t consider myself like a singer songwriter, but I am a singer songwriter, so I’m kind of doing the best I can with it. Is what I try to do with singing, but it’s trying to emulate someone. I wouldn’t even go that far because other people are such good singers. I’m just trying to hang in there. Wow, you’ve

Nestor Aparicio  22:11

been doing alright for 40 years, and I guess, and I listen, I love having you on the show and being a part of this. And I know your your personality, I think is a little bit more shy to not do all of these things, all of these years, I did not know you were a drummer. I guess I just learned something about you all

Kurt Neumann  22:25

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these years I loved I drummering is my natural instrument. I can play drums to anything, anywhere, anytime, and not even have to think about it. So that’s easy. Singing and playing songs is a lot harder for me. You know, it’s not where I grew up doing it, and it wasn’t natural for me. So it’s, you know, it’s weird, because I had when I found myself out in Hollywood with T bone Burnett singing songs he picked Fay away as the first single. You know, it wasn’t us, and I had only been singing for a couple of years then, you know. So it was very strange for me to be singing a song that became our first single and then became our first video and everything. And in my mind, I wasn’t a singer, so I was always trying to make sense out of it, and it’s still going. And you’re right, it’s pretty incredible that I’m still doing it, because I had never planned on it. It just kind of happened on its own.

Nestor Aparicio  23:22

Well, in the first 25 years, you had a partner in your band, and Sam, where you’re I’m assuming you wrote things together. I would get the album, I rip it out, whether it was blend or whatever it was, or red roses or new songs, and say, well, that’s a Samsung, that’s a Kurt song. And I felt like you probably sang the songs you wrote. And maybe there was some overlap, and certainly your harmonies in the Everly Brothers, part of what you did, then he’s gone, and now you’re writing. I mean, to some degree you get empowered, and to some degree you’re like, you’re missing that left arm for a period of time. No How normalized has that gotten for you?

Kurt Neumann  23:57

It took massive amount of readjustment. You know, when, when everything went down, it was a real, real struggle for to carry on. And what I had said is, I’m leaving it up to the fans, because I don’t know what’s going to happen here, really. And people showed up and they really helped me. I mean, they’re really stayed there was a real foundation, and it gave me a break on trying to find where it was all going to end up and and continue to show up and sing with me and support me. Now I’m singing with James hurtless, who plays bass, and he’s got that register that works with my voice so well. So it’s back to that kind of ringing harmony sound again, which was hard to find. It takes a long time to you don’t just walk out and find someone else to do that, but James is just, he’s doing such a great job, and it’s it’s so much fun singing with him again, to have someone where your voices work together again, like that.

Nestor Aparicio  24:55

My shirt that you’re wearing that I got a couple years ago, I was going to grab it and play. Play it, you know, do do a little video thing about your because it’s colorful and it’s fun, and I wear it all the time. I remember the night I showed up at Rams Head and Sam wasn’t in the band anymore, and I looked up and I’m like, Well, what happened? And then I read, and as we’re 15 years gone on all of that, I felt some loyalty to you as a fan and as a music guy and out on the road, and you were the one taking the name, bringing the music, bringing it out. And I’m like, I wonder what he’s gonna do, and Stefano and the different guys in your band, and talking to them over the periods of time. I even ran into Ramos doing the Jim Irsay band stuff with Mike Mills a number of years ago, and I wound up at the at a four seasons in New York City, talking about bodines with him at two o’clock in the morning one night. I you know, I think for your fans that are still there, that come and love this music, whether they just love a couple of songs, or whether they’re a deep catalog, not like me from 40 years ago, that wants to hear really weird, obscure stuff that you may or may not play. And I’m crossing my fingers, in a general sense, the loyalty to you when you do come out. I know how appreciative anyone that’s been in a band that’s had a breakup, or is a different kind of band, that there is a point where, you know, picking sides and all of that, and the divorce, I you know, I have you circled. I have Bodine circled. I’m excited about coming out and seeing you, and I know you are appreciative all the people that have done this. I sense that when I’m there, because it really is sort of a fellowship of all of us who love your music, having that one night, that Super Bowl, we get to come out and and sing together. It’s fun.

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Kurt Neumann  26:30

Yeah? Well, to me, it’s the band is always about that connection you have, that energy you make and and then you make all these great songs that you want to they feel to me, they feel like they had their own life, and they create memories and they create experiences with other people. It’s not so much about I’m standing here, and I’m such a great performer. I’m not Prince, you know, I’m not. I always felt like I was just part of the experience that was going on in the room and that we were all in it together. And so when I carried on with boudins, that’s what I wanted to do, was like, hey, you know, we have all these great songs and we have all these experiences together. I’m happy to keep playing my part in it. And if you all want to join me. That’s great, you know, that was kind of my perspective on it. And so it still is, and people still are showing up to participate in it, you know, I’m just there to have a good time like everybody else is, you know. And that’s what, that’s why I’m there, and together, we create that. And so it’s still going on. I’m still having fun doing it. People are still showing up, singing with us, having fun. So it works out well, I will be having

Nestor Aparicio  27:45

fun and singing with you. Bodine’s is playing down at ramset. I want to make sure I get the date right here, because they are in the area and they’re touring on the East Coast. It is Friday May the eighth, so we’ll be down to ram said Annapolis. I will have my shirt on, singing good things, and I’ll have it all I’ll have it all pressed that you cut you cut you cut yours all up. I might mine still old school for working out. That’s showing off your muscles. That’s all good, um, new music and things you’re working on when you’re not out with the band, doing stuff and you’re back and mixing things together. And I always ask older musicians like yourself, this used to be like you said you weren’t Prince, but you went to Paisley Park, I still haven’t been there yet, and did an album, going off and producing an album with a T Bernard or whatever, little different than being in the basement. But I’m sure. I’m not sure I know. I mean, I saw your covid act. You have all the buttons, all the tools, all the fun, all the guitars. You are a drummer making sounds do you fiddle with, making new music as a course of like, getting up and having a cup of coffee in the morning when you’re home, because, I mean, you’re a musician, it’s what you do, right?

Kurt Neumann  28:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. Music is just it’s always been there part of my everyday life. So yeah, I’ll pick up a guitar throughout the day, and I’m constantly putting down song ideas, and I’m constantly creating demos of new songs and seeing where they go, how far they go, looking for stuff that works really naturally and simply, and concentrating on that. But yeah, it’s still a big part of my life. I have about 1520, songs recorded right now, new stuff that you know, I’m considering finding somewhere to get them out in the next year or so, maybe, maybe next spring or something, I’ll be coming out with a new record full of stuff. I’m I’m always trying to get stuff out to people, but I want it to be good, and I want, you know, it to make sense for people. And these days, music is really, is real differently than it used to be. So I leave all that just, you know, put it in someone else’s hands to figure out how to get it out there.

Nestor Aparicio  29:45

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Good. Well, I’m looking forward to the show, and I would be self indulgent, make requests and ask you why I even played red roses in a while. And, you know, some stuff that like that. I that shows up in my playlist that’s personal to me. But that’s the beauty of all. This and the music he made with Sam 40 years ago, and it’s all of my if I want it, it’s there on demand for me to set a mood, to think of a memory, or a night that I saw you in Tampa at a bar 35 years ago, or over at Shriver Hall, or the places you’ve been, or even that night with boat with you too, down at Hampton Roads, but for you to come out and play the music. Are there things that rehearse that don’t make it to a stage? Or is it, it’s it’s a job and we need to deliver it. You bring extra songs with you in your repertoire to pull out.

Kurt Neumann  30:33

I’m always trying. We’re always trying new songs out at shows, and then I kind of judge the audience response to it. You know, if it’s something they really were happy to hear, glad to hear. I like doing that. I like kind of basing it on their how they feel about it. I don’t want to just pound some set list down their throat. I want it to be feeling good to everybody and and a lot of times people contact me about songs and stuff, and I’ll consider or we’ll try it and see how well it, you know, translates to the audience and stuff like that. But I have to say, people come out to see us. They really are looking for that energy, and they really like the high energy stuff. So a lot of our set ends up being that up energy and and sometimes I try to slow it down for a song or two, and they’re just like, come on. So it’s, it’s hard to really fit in the soft stuff, as much as I might in another scenario,

Nestor Aparicio  31:35

but I can go play in my basement right now. If I want, like this,

Kurt Neumann  31:38

people might want to slow down, but they don’t. They believe they wanted to rock they wanted to be up and uplifting. So a lot of what we do is that

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Nestor Aparicio  31:47

what’s good work if you can get it and you still have the work. So my thanks to you for all the years of the music. I’m always especially with guys like you that you have no idea what a big fan I am. I just want to say thanks for rocking me out and putting me in different moods. And when a song comes on, I don’t ever go through your song. I don’t ever you know forward ahead. I’m always ready for a boating song. So my thanks to you, and my thanks to you for still putting the band together and coming out, being healthy and being able to perform. And I know that may it’s going to be a great night for me in Annapolis. I got a circle, my friend.

Kurt Neumann  32:18

It’s going to be a good time. I appreciate all your time. I appreciate the interview, and I appreciate all the fans. Please come out and sing with us. We have a great time, and I will see you soon, probably right. All right, you got to go

Nestor Aparicio  32:30

crazy one night of the year, so we’ll do that on may go crazy Absolutely, or go nuts if you don’t. Kurt Newman is here. He is the founding member of bodines. They are coming back. And if you have never listened to the bodines, you just heard that the party five song or whatever, you know, um, go deeper into the catalog. People always say, What music are you listening to? Unless there’s some great stuff that was written years ago that some people have have managed to miss. So I want to make sure they don’t miss you and they won’t miss you. On May Kurt, Thanks for always making time. My thanks to Barb and your staff as well for making me so

Kurt Neumann  33:01

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much and it will be her birthday when we’re there that night.

Nestor Aparicio  33:03

So is she? Is she shellfish intolerant? I know where to get a good crab cake. I’m a crab

Kurt Neumann  33:08

cake guy. He is not,

Nestor Aparicio  33:11

all right. Well, she likes some crab here in Maryland, you’re in Anna’s

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Kurt Neumann  33:14

Maryland, she’s not a seafood person

Nestor Aparicio  33:16

at all. Or I’ll get her a steak or some chicken or

Kurt Neumann  33:19

something diamonds and stuff like that. You know?

Nestor Aparicio  33:21

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Well, it’s her birthday, so we’re gonna you, I have a feeling you might sing her a special song that night, or we might work that out. I’ll, I’ll start yelling at the back of RAM. Said, the yell from the back of RAM said to the front, you’ll definitely hear me. There’s no

Kurt Neumann  33:33

time I’ve tried to do that. Something has gone terribly wrong during it. So like we just now, we just let it all happen. We’ll get cake.

Nestor Aparicio  33:42

My thanks to you and to her. And Bodine is one of my favorite bands. And they always stop by and say hello, and they stop by and play here too. That’s good. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, rocking your world, and Luke will keep you up on everything going with the Orioles and the Ravens too. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.