"We are in Skokie, Illinois, just finished up in Canada and we're playing Chicago tomorrow," said Billy Bob Thornton, a.k.a "Bud" of The Boxmasters as he and guitarist/producer J.D. Andrew discussed the band's formation, recording equipment, sound and a rainy day in West Long Branch as they prepare to return once again to the intimate confines of Monmouth University's Pollak Theatre for a 7 p.m. show on October 11.
Forming circa 2007, The Boxmasters at their core have always been Thornton and J.D. but Thornton's career in music extends far beyond that of his film exploits and when asked, he readily tells the story of how the current band came to be.
"Well, here's the quick sketch of it," he began, "I was making my fourth solo record and my engineer got a job working for Fox Sports. I still had two weeks left to go and the band had gone home and I was just there by myself and I needed to do some extra drum parts and some harmony vocals and a mutual friend of mine and J.D.'s suggested him to do all of the overdubs and stuff that I had to do and so we started working together. So, after about two weeks, we started jamming together a bit and hanging out and we discovered that we had a really good sound writing things and playing together and that's where The Boxmasters were born; from my solo record when J.D. became the engineer on it. So, we were born out of necessity but it became magic (Laughs)."
"Billy had a house with a studio in the basement," added J.D. "He bought that house from Slash and I guess it was the "Snakepit Studio" when Slash had it and Billy bought it and had it for 13 years of which I was there for the last five of them I guess. He sold the house in 2012 and for almost 10 years, we mainly went to Henson Studios which is the old A&M Studios in Hollywood and we'd go there every month or two and work for three or four days and crank out some songs. Then about four years ago, Billy bought a house that has a free standing stand alone studio on the property and it's like, ah, the heavens opened up and it's everything I've ever dreamed of in having a recording studio. It is big enough where we can put all of the junk that we need in there, we've got our console again, big speakers in the wall, we've got almost every instrument that we can think of for what we need and do. There is one other keyboard I want and of course another hundred guitars but we've got an upright piano, an organ, a full drum set plus a giant bass drum. We've got a Continental, a Jaguar, a Farfisa, amps galore; everything I've ever hoped for and everything is wired up and ready to go. So, if anybody wants to record a part, no matter what it is, it's all ready to go. So, anytime inspiration peaks its head out, we jump on it. Those instruments are the kind we sort of gravitate to; stuff with a very defined or definitive sound. There is nothing else that sounds like a Farfisa, there is nothing that sounds like a Continental, even though they are similar they sound different from each other even though they were made in the same era. Same thing with different guitars and amps and for us, it's kind of like channeling heroes of ours; if we want a certain sound it's like, what did David Gilmour play? What did George Harrison or Roger McGuinn or any of those guys play? We're so steeped in those '60s rock 'n' roll guys and it (The equipment) is mostly vintage stuff from the era that we are able to go grab whatever guitar because that's what we think of when we think of that artist. So, I don't know, it's just a magical place and ever since we've had it, we've recorded a ton in so much shorter a period of time than it would take if we went to a studio and had to set everything up, get everything mic'd, get the sounds and get everything ready. Now, it's just there, we plug in, turn it on and know it sounds great already and we get a lot done. One of the other reasons we like to have our own place is that we do want to record so much or just sit around and watch TV, listen to stuff; it's a great place to relax off the clock. The reason we use a computer to record is because if we still recorded on tape, we'd need to take out mortgages on the house just to pay for reels of tape. Hard drives are cheap these days so we just record on there; we still mix to tape but it's so much cheaper to do it on the computer and using all of the vintage stuff, we get as close as we can to the sound of old records while using a computer to record it. We still treat it like a tape machine and just play our parts from the top of the song to the end of it and move to the next track."
"Our board is an old Trident ADB board from England," continued "Bud." "I've had it for 25 years. I bought it from Slash and it's a really warm piece of equipment. It's a great board, we've never changed it out. We've basically added stuff from Pro Tools but we run everything through the board and we mix to tape. We have trouble, even when we're mixing, finding tape; we have to order it ahead of time from Nashville."
The Boxmasters do not shy away from their influences and they will be the first to tell you that they are a "60s influenced unit; a unit that is enthusiastically carrying on some of the sounds of that time.
"The solo records that I made were somewhere between Americana and traditional sort of Roots rock," says Thornton. "The Boxmasters, we're a '60s influenced rock 'n' roll band and we write original songs but we do it under the umbrella of our influences; Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds and a lot of other people too. The Kinks, The Kinks especially, we love The Kinks. If I was asked to pick out one band that we kind of sound like and of course, we'll never be as awesome as they were; I would say The Kinks. The Kinks and The Animals maybe but we've got a more modern sound obviously."
When told that upon first listening to their music it was hard to put it in a definitive category; Thornton's enthusiasm grew quickly.
"That's awesome," he said with a laugh."That's probably the best thing we can hear from you; that we have our own stamp on stuff. When we were growing up as little kids and teenagers playing in bands and probably into our 20s and 30s and all the way up; the idea in those days was to be different. You had James Taylor, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath and Danny O'Keefe all on the same radio station and it was just "Rock music;" you know? Everything is so compartmentalized and now James Taylor is on the old guy's soft love channel or something like that (Laughs), it's just a different time. We really try to be who we are; we're not going out there to make hits or something because I think, if you're an artist and you're going for a result and that result is to make money and have a hit and be on all of those creepy awards shows with the marble stage and tracks playing behind you; I think you're kind of disrespecting the history of rock 'n' roll. So, we're trying to keep rock 'n' roll going with our original music and we have to do our part to do that.There are plenty of rock 'n' roll bands out there but they have really no outlet or a medium for their music because there are Pop stations, Nashville Country, Indie Rock and all of these different things on maybe Sirius XM or something but mainstream radio now is Pop, Hip-Hop or Nashville Country and really, any rock 'n' roll stations where rock 'n' roll bands have original material on them; because if you listen to a classic rock station now, they play only the hits from the old days like ZZ Top, Styx or Foreigner or whoever it is. They're not selling records anymore that much and they are making their money from touring. So, they have to tour constantly and there is really no station that plays their new music. So, we're really hoping that changes somehow; I don't really have a lot of hope for it but at least it's a good dream to have. We get airplay but they always throw us on Americana or sometimes Adult Contemporary because they don't know where to put rock 'n' roll bands anymore. So, they put you on Americana and we're on there with Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris and Phish; it's like the weirdest thing you've ever seen. When you're a rock 'n' roll band, they don't have a category for you anymore so they just put you on those; it's kind of like, what was that thing on "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?" The Island of lost or misfit toys? It's kind of like that (Laughs) really but look, we grew up in the golden age of rock 'n' roll. Which really, if you think about it, from 1954 when Bill Haley came along until the late '70s, that's when it was really going strong. Not that there weren't great records made after that but essentially, rock 'n' roll in the form that we knew it as lasted about 25 years. We're still trying to bring it back and you mentioned Slash and Billy Gibbons, they are both old friends of ours. We've known them forever and I've done some work with both of them and when I see both of those guys go out and have a tour to promote records that don't have a market really; they're having to tour constantly to make money for them and they're both from very famous bands. ZZ Top can sell out a certain place and so can Guns N' Roses but when it's just Gibbons or Slash with their bands, they're playing smaller venues all around just trying to keep it together but the fact that they love what they are doing with their solo stuff and they are doing it anyway is a real tribute to those guys. Also, entertainers have some kind of ego or you wouldn't have become one. So, you'd like your new stuff or what you're putting out to people now to be recognized and of course it is recognized by certain people like fans they've had for a long time but I guess I don't quite understand; I get it with fans but I don't quite understand why, if you're a Guns N' Roses fan and Slash is out with a blues band; get in line, that's awesome! It still just doesn't translate as much, they want to see the whole thing. When we were talking about those classic rock stations, you said, "You'll hear the same song at 7 a.m. and again at 7 p.m.," the other tragedy to me is if you hear Boston, you hear "More Than A Feeling," if it's ZZ Top it's "La Grange," if it's Foreigner it's "I Want To Know What Love Is," they don't even dig into their records to play something different on those stations, it's just whatever hit connects with people the most. When I was a kid in Little Rock, Arkansas, we had a station called KAAY and the morning DJ was Doc Holiday and he was the peppy guy who had too much coffee and he had this upbeat vibe and we listened to that all day and they played what was on the Billboard Top 100 and then at night, on the same station at like 11 o'clock at night I think it was, they had a show called "Beaker Street" with a guy named Clyde Clifford. He played spooky music and as opposed to being the guy in the morning who said upbeat, "Hey everybody! Good morning! This is Biff-o and Boff-o in the morning," instead of that it was in low tones, "Hi, this is Clyde Clifford and you're listening to Beaker Street on KAAY" and we would hear underground songs. They used to say it was for, "Freaks only" and you would hear Pink Floyd or an entire side of The Allman Brothers "Eat A Peach;" I got my musical education from radio in those days. Can you imagine these days where they have shows like "American Idol" and "The Voice?" Some of the greatest singers that ever lived, say, Johnny Cash, John Prine, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Warren Zevon; because a singer is a person who is doing their songs, interpreting them their way in their voice and to me, that's a singer. So, on "American Idol," you can hold a high "C" for two-and-a-half minutes but that doesn't make you a singer. I guarantee you, if Dylan, Prine or Johnny Cash had shown up on the sidewalk to try out for "American Idol," they'd be kicked out immediately (Laughs)."
As one can see, their passion for carrying on true rock 'n' roll is intense and Thornton and the band's dedication to keeping the genre alive is far beyond admirable. So, what can we expect when they return to Pollak Theatre on October 11?
"We have played there and it's kind of an interesting story," he began with a laugh. "The last time we were there in West Long Branch, New Jersey, we didn't realize at the time when we got there that we were at Monmouth University which of course we had heard of because J.D. and I are sports fans and we see the basketball scores. So, we get there and it's this beautiful place, the performing arts center that they have is amazing but we were there on a Sunday in the summer and it was raining. It was a dreary Sunday, drizzling rain all day and I think we probably had, I don't know, 85 people or something in the audience. School wasn't in session and it was a rainy Sunday and I was talking to one of the people who worked there and I said, "I'm sorry we didn't sell more tickets" and she said, "That's OK, school is not in session and nobody is here" and I said, "Well, thank you for having us anyway" and this year, when our agent sent us the tour schedule and I saw that was on the schedule, I thought; really? They're having us back? (Laughs) Then I thought, well, at least this time school is in session so I hope a lot of the students come out; that's what we're hoping for, hopefully we can at least double it this year. We play the same show no matter what. Our motto is, we play the same for 12 people as we do for 10,000 because you're playing for the people that are there and not for the people that aren't there. So, whoever comes there and buys a ticket, they deserve a show. We go out there; the worst feeling in the world and I've been doing this since I was a kid; I can remember playing for giant crowds when I was 16 at festivals or opening for a big name act and the worst feeling in the world is when the lights go down and you can hear a pin drop (Laughs). We play raucous rock places and what happens when you get in the theaters and the lights go down and people are sitting there like they're about to see "Peter Pan," it's a little disheartening but when we go out there, what we try to do; we engage with the crowd a lot and what we try to do before the end of the show, is to get everyone up and come see us down at the front of the stage. We wait until the show is about two-thirds of the way through but before it's over, we let a theater audience know that it's OK to go a little nuts and treat it like a rock show. Usually, at the end of the night, they are always very happy and they can't believe it happened."
Oh, and about that other career of Thornton's, you know, acting: "The acting thing was an accident, I don't even know how it happened but thank God it did because it took care of my family. I just grew up in music and here we are, still doing it after all of these years."
Shall you be more local to Pennsylvania, The Boxmasters will be at the Sellersville Theater on Thursday October 10 so, that's two chances to see the band within 24 hours.
To discover more about The Boxmasters and/or to purchase tickets to their shows, please visit https://theboxmasters.com/home
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
