The duo (operating under the handle of Pure Management) convinced Scholz they could get him a deal and dutifully flushed out Epic Records, a CBS label, as a likely home, a place where they had some influence. But out of the blue, in 1975, Scholz was contacted by Charlie McKenzie, then working as a rep for ABC Records, who had accidentally heard the tape in a friend’s office at RCA Records, and Paul Ahern, a former Atlantic Records promotion executive. Once again, the demos were summarily dismissed by virtually every label. He wasn’t there for the recording of the instruments – it was just me and the tape deck.”ĭon't look back, Boston in 1976 (Image credit: Getty Images) He came in after I had all of the instrumental tracks – oddly enough I heard years later that Brad didn’t realise that he was just singing along to a bunch of overdubbed tracks. Scholz on Delp: “I knew Brad could do all the singing and that he would do an awesome job. Between the three of them, they honed and polished several tracks, including San Francisco Day (later to be renamed Hitch A Ride), It Isn’t Easy (re-titled Something About You), Foreplay (originally composed in 1969), Peace Of Mind, Rock ’N’ Roll Band, Don’t Be Afraid (eventually included on the 1978 Don’t Look Back album) and the final track to be demoed, Ninety Days (later called More Than A Feeling), featuring hand claps from Scholz’s first wife, Cindy. The other component at this stage was drummer Jim Masdea. By day he was a factory worker, making heating coils for coffee machines, but at night he was an amateur vocalist who had been in a number of bands before teaming up with Tom. Working side-by-side with Tom in the studio was vocalist Bradley Delp, who was in many ways a secret weapon. ![]() It was the old adage: ‘If you want it done right then do it yourself.’ I knew that if it failed then I would have no one to blame but myself.” I was never able to do that when I tried to work with other musicians. I played all of the instruments and by doing that I could finally get everything that I was imagining and hearing. I quit playing with bands at that point, set up in my basement and went to work. I even started a couple of bands myself, but I knew that it was going nowhere unless I started doing it myself. I had been bumming around playing in local bands that didn’t have a future. Scholz himself explained: “I had been working for five years at that point and I took all the money and spent it on recording equipment that was good enough to make the demos which landed the Epic Records deal. It was a never-ending quest for perfection all right, one that produced little success as labels continued to pass in droves. With his technical know-how and inventor’s panache, the 12-track studio (christened Foxglove) provided him with a perfect place to create, critique and pull apart songs. Spending an inordinate amount of his income on these sessions, it wasn’t long before he had the idea to convert basement space in his Watertown home into a studio. Recording in a number of local studios, his efforts to impress initially fell on deaf ears. But, quickly sensing that it was all going nowhere fast, he focused on making a string of demos that would do justice to the sounds he was hearing in his head. True to tradition, Tom’s early bands initially played the Boston circuit. Sporting names such as Middle Earth, Freehold and Mother’s Milk, his early bands featured musicians who would later play an important role in the launch of Boston – especially Mother’s Milk, with a line-up that consisted, at various points, of Scholz (playing keyboards), Brad Delp, Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea. The traditional method of gaining recognition and, in turn, a record contract, was to perform live, playing seven nights a week anywhere and everywhere. It wasn’t long before Tom sensed a schism between playing live and recording songs. Writing songs and playing in a handful of local Boston bands, his thoughts turned to a professional career in music… a dream that would dominate his life for the next six years. As a young man he’d learnt to play the piano and developed a healthy interest in pop and rock music. But that wasn’t all that he was interested in. ![]() In many ways it was a dream job for anyone who loved tinkering with electronics, a place where you could have an idea and spend your time figuring out how to make it work. He graduated with flying colours, gaining a bachelor’s and then a master’s degree before taking up a prime position with the Polaroid Corporation as a product design engineer.
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