sign in sign up
<<
Home , David Uosikkinen, Eric Bazilian, John Lilley, Karla with a K, Nervous Night, Patty Smyth

ROCKING AROUND THE DECADES WITH ROB AND ERIC

appointing ends. And before breaking The pandemic has hit pause on 20+20— through with they’d spent the planned 40th anniversary tour for their fi ve years performing around Philadel- phia as evolved from an is- iconic 1980s band the Hooters—but Rob landy -punk brew (fi rst heard on their indie release Amore). Hyman and insist the show Those professional immersions schooled will go on (20+20+1), while keeping them early in the dark side of the music business—the pileup of advances and musically busy in the meantime. promotional expenses and unfulfi lled promises that eventually cause most By Jonathan Takiff groups to call quits. “Making music has always been its own reward for us,” said Hyman. “That’s what’s kept us go- ing, through thick and thin.” ife was looking good—maybe too a richly melodic, one-of-a-kind pop-rock, Making the thin years less lean, both good—for C’72 and Eric /ska and folk-fusing group that have also written songs, fi rst covered by Bazilian C’75 when we fi rst recon- earned “Best New Band of 1985” honors other artists, that have become modern nected back in February to refl ect from . Their major label de- pop classics and are often licensed for on and toast their topsy-turvy ca- but album from , Ner- fi lms and TV shows—the musical equiv- Lreers in : A marathon gig as vous Night—featuring the infectiously alent of annuities, earning “enough to , arrangers, band front men, danceable, keyboard-vamped (Hyman) live on,” Hyman says. These signature and featured sidemen. And a verging- and a-blazing (Bazilian) anthems songs have also opened the door to col- on-half-century-long friendship that “And We Danced” and “Day by Day,” and laborations with the likes of , began when they met in an electronic the heavy hitting, apocalyptic thumper Jon , , and the Ger- music class at Penn when Rob was a se- “All You Zombies”—quickly amassed two man Scorpions. nior and Eric a freshman. million sales, just in the US. For Hyman the annuity is “ After “If we’d been just one year apart, By that time, these guys were already Time,” a haunting ballad that was a hit we’d never have intersected, our lives would veterans of two prior bands that had fi rst for (who shares the be drastically diff erent,” mused Hyman. sprung out of their Penn experience, Wax writing credit and royalties), with Hyman The two are best known as the lead per- and , both of which had gar- singing backup. The song has since been formers and for the Hooters, nered record deals before coming to dis- covered by everyone from country legend

44 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Sep | Oct 2020 ILLUSTRATION BY JAY BEVENOUR Sep | Oct 2020 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 45 in its 1980s “big hair” days ...

Willie Nelson to great The more provocative themes and mix , in rock, jazz, and who’ve and has maintained pop currency with of Celtic folk, Cajun, and sing-along pub earned ‘most respected abroad’ status,” 21st century takes by American R&B sing- ballad fl avors that emerged in their second he adds, name-checking edgy originals ers INOJ and Javier Colon, the punk band and third Columbia , One Way such as 1950s rocker Eddie Cochran, who Quietdrive, Eurodance project Novaspace (1987) and Zig-Zag (1989), in songs died at 21 in a UK car crash; cool jazz and British synthwave group Gunship. like the jaunty TV preachers’ mocking vocalist and trumpeter Chet Baker; “God- Bazilian’s ticket to ride was (and re- “Satellite,” lovestruck “,” the mother of ” Sister Rosetta mains) “One of Us,” introduced by Joan ominous “Johnny B,” and their dub-beat Tharpe; and blues icon . Osborne. A sly, spur-of-the-moment, remake of “,” have won the group Chertoff and Hyman met as freshmen one-take improvisation by the writer, a huge and disparate following overseas. in biology lab, where they were dissecting —which is “how the best ones often hap- Even heavy metal fans “go crazy when frogs. They decided that going back to the pen,” he says—the song ponders the we bring out an and mandolin dorms to listen to albums would be more question What if God was one of us? productive. Chertoff would become Just a slob like one of us?” the drummer in two college years bands with Hyman, fi rst the bluesy ut a can’t live on song- Buckwheat, which was strictly a fra- writing royalties alone. With a ternity party thing, and then - feeling of “let’s do this while we ming, prog-rock Wax, which also in- B still can,” back in February the cluded David Kagan C’71 on vocals now 70-year-old Hyman and 67-year- and Rick Levy C’71. old Bazilian were the The latter band endeavor lured launch of a major tour for the sum- them away from classes to record an mer of 2020—billed as “20+20”—to album in City for a fl edg- mark their 40 years as the Hooters. ling label run by , already Hyman, who now also functions as famous as cowriter and producer of the band’s manager with his wife hit songs for , Sally, had spent much of the last two among others. But that adventure years organizing the tour, which was abruptly ended for our guys when to have started on Memorial Day the label went bust, shut its doors, weekend in their still most welcom- and ate their tapes. A long-lost, cut- ing hometown, on a big bill at the Mann and our namesake Hooter,” a harmonica/ live Wax studio session made a belated Center with fellow Philly-rooted duo Da- keyboard hybrid, aka Melodica, said Ba- album debut as Melted in 2010, issued ryl Hall and John Oates. After that Hy- zilian. When I suggested that those by LightYear Entertainment, a label run man, Bazilian, and Hooters bandmates sounds could strike a rootsy, familial by a Penn friend who had been a big , , Fran chord for the Euros, he agreed but added, and publicist for the band, Arnie Hol- Smith Jr., and Tommy Williams, and their “It’s also because we rock them—hard.” C’71 L’74 [“When Wax Was Hot,” mostly Europe-based of 14 Many of the scheduled summer 2020 Sep|Oct 2010]. were set to jump on the fi rst of many shows were already sold out in frosty When Chertoff went to work after “planes, trains, buses, and automobiles” February, Hyman marveled then. “We’re graduation at , he signed for 35 rock-hall and festival dates abroad, headlining a mix of 1,000 to 1,500 [per- and produced Baby Grand. With Hyman, before returning home for more gigs into son] capacity venues and some of the Kagan, and Bazilian at the core, Baby the fall. biggest festivals—major events that go Grand aspired to be the next , The tour was to feature an especially on for three or four days.” even utilizing one of the same studio strong focus on festival and large club “A US band that’s bigger overseas is a musicians employed by the jazz-pop shows in Northern Europe—, rare phenomenon but not unheard of,” group’s founders Donald Fagen and Wal- , Sweden, and —where says veteran Rick - ter Becker. Baby Grand released a pair the band is most popular these days. Iron- toff C’72, a roommate of Hyman’s at Penn of albums in 1977–78 that “didn’t have a ically, European listeners fi rst picked up whose life and career in the music world hit single between them,” Bazilian said on the Hooters “just when our American is tightly intertwined with Hyman and (though “Alligator Drive” and “Never album sales were drooping and our label Bazilian. “Historically, it’s been signifi - Enough”—later covered by new wave was losing interest,” Hyman noted. cant but less commercially successful singer- —had po-

46 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Sep | Oct 2020 Photo by Columbia Records courtesy The Hooters and now(ish), playing at Circus Krone in Munich, Germany, in 2015.

tential in this listener’s opinion), before going bankrupt and disbanding. After moving to Columbia Records, Chertoff shepherded Hyman and Bazil- ian’s three Hooters albums for the label. He wasn’t involved in their 1993 album for MCA, Out of Body, or their most ma- ture, life-affi rming set—2007’s , self-produced by Rob and Eric on their own label—but in 1998 he did collaborate with Hyman on an inter- esting side project, the album Largo. Chertoff also had a hand in Hyman and Bazilian’s respective “annuities.” In 1983, before their fi rst Hooters set was record- ed for the same label group, he show- cased their talents on Cyndi Lauper’s 16 million-selling breakthrough album She’s So Unusual, which featured “Time After Time.” Rob and Eric, who arranged and played on the whole set (also famous for their reggae-cized “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”), were eff ectively “the band before I had a band,” Lauper would de- clare. Then in 1995, Chertoff called on the Hyman/Bazilian team to work the same magic for bluesy singer . They shaped the studio band sound, ar- ranged and collaborated as songwriters pursuit in the often upbeat Hooters mu- on nine of 12 tracks of three million- sical world), they delivered the news to seller Relish, including radio hits “St. fans with a posted video performance (at “We’ve never Teresa,” “Right Hand Man,” “Pensacola,” hootersmusic.com) of the heartening and the gangbusters “One of Us.” That song “Silver Lining,” a relative newbie broken up, song and the album were nominated for from 2010 that counsels Take the burden multiple Grammys in 1996. from your back/Somewhere there’s a sun but we took a that’s shining/In your deepest shade of surprise, a month after our initial black/May you fi nd a silver lining. ‘one-year break’ conversations for this story, hell As things stood as of July, all but a few froze over for the Hooters and of the European shows have been re- that turned No the world. Sparked by the rapid scheduled for 2021, Hyman says. And as spread of COVID-19, their grand tour was a longtime music journalist friend (me) threatened then decimated. First the big pointed out, that means the Hooters into eight.” Philly show was optimistically pushed to could still legitimately call next year’s early September (and later postponed delayed outing their “40th anniversary again). Then, like falling dominoes, all 35 party,” since an anniversary celebration Easing the pain of this summer’s tour dates booked for June, July, and is traditionally marked at of a postponement, and helping to explain August fell by the wayside. calendar year of togetherness, not the their long-lived partnership, Hyman and When the Deutschland bureaucracy of- beginning. (And if you go west around Bazilian cheerfully allow that they’ve fi cially cancelled Oktoberfest, the guys the world in 81 days, you’ve crossed the never put all their eggs in one basket. Or knew their Euro summer was kaput. But, International Date Line, so it’s really only let their dreams outrun reality. Or spent turning lemons to lemonade (a favored 80 for a few hours, right, Mr. Verne?) too much time in each other’s face.

Photo by Heiko Roith courtesy The Hooters Sep | Oct 2020 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 47 “We like each other, but we don’t spend cally share or stream the nearly two-hour in a basement home studio “ ev- every waking hour together,” says Bazil- show for a charity project—a popular ery day,” he says. A most playful and ian. “We’ve never broken up, but we took pursuit in this season of struggle. chameleon-like creator, he’s been known a ‘one-year break’ that turned into eight I whimsically suggested they stage some to sometimes get wrapped up in “nutty (from 1995 to 2003), as we pursued side sort of safe-distancing Drive-in Movie concepts like a series of iconic covers projects and raised our families.” Rob and Event—real or virtual—to reference the sung with a Philly accent—think ‘Sad- Sally Hyman have two grown sons, Matt, look and plotline of their fi rst hit MTV dest Faction’ and ‘Bridge Over Trouble 28, and Nicky, 26, NYU and Pratt grads, for “And We Danced.” That Woerters,’” he says, “recorded under the respectively. Eric and Sarah Bazilian have video was shot 35 years ago at the nearby pseudonym Biff Hoagie and the three children, all Penn grads or grads- Exton Drive-in, just a few days after the Passyunk Ramblers.” to-be: Emma C’10, who is 32, Simon C’18, Hooters had opened the US portion of the Is there even a speck of commercial 23, and Maia, 19, a sophomore this year, landmark concert in potential here, or just lots of laughs? It are the fourth generation of Bazilians to on July 13, 1985. (They haven’t pursued it, doesn’t matter; he’s only trying to please attend the University. but other musicians, including Garth himself. “I’ve never done anything that With six-and-a-half albums worth of Brooks, , and Los Lobos, wasn’t for my own satisfaction that sat- Hooters material to perform in concert, would also get the drive-in concert idea isfi ed somebody else,” he says. “I’ve tried the gents say they’ve given up the chase this summer, then fi nd locations pandering and it failed miserably. I’m for another hit single. “We already have to pull it off . The Exton is long gone.) only good at doing me.” a big brood of beautiful musical children Soon after our fi rst studio conversation, With just a little streaming-service to attend to. Now it’s time to let them I enjoyed a very long-distance follow-up searching, it’s possible to fi nd two well- give us grandkids,” Bazilian jokes. FaceTime chat with Bazilian, who was by wrought solo albums by Bazilian, The Op- But they’re still striving to fi ne-tune their then back (and locked-in) at his home- timist (2000) and A Very Dull Boy (2002). material with fresh twists and sonic away-from-home in Stockholm, Sweden, Finally nearing completion in forced isola- quotes, Hyman adds, with tweaks that a fl at he’s taken for three years with his tion is a long overdue follow-up tenta- keep the band and the audience in the mo- Swedish-born wife and the sometime tively titled “Songs in the Key of B”—even ment and nod to their musical infl uences, presence of their three off spring. though “not all really are,” he snorts. from Jamaican singer-songwriter and Besides cementing bonds with Sarah’s producer Buster to to family, the Stockholm has allowed the ccording to Hyman, every time Ba- British folk-rockers Fairport Convention. hyperactive Bazilian to plug into the Euro zilian returns to Philly he’s “lugging The band has had its share of “person- rock scene, working with the likes of Got- a new instrument.” His latest acqui- nel issues” through the years. “What thard (“the biggest band in Swit- A sition is an oud, a lute-like, pear- group hasn’t?” Hyman ponders. “We’ve zerland”) on their recent single “Bad shaped (and paired strings) instrument had the maturity to work through them,” News” and collaborating in with long favored in the , North he adds. “Four-sixths of today’s band are production partner Martin Stibernik on Africa, and Central Asia. It’s now spark- the same guys that were on the Nervous an album with ing him to compose in complex Balkan Night album.” fi nalist Manu. Another international eff ort time signatures. “I get a few pointers “We’ve been together so long we’re is “What Shall Become of the Baby?” a re- here and there, but basically I’ve been friends again,” parries Bazilian. ally terrifi c album project that pairs Bazil- self-taught on everything,” from mando- When we met, pre-lockdown, in Febru- ian with Mats Wester of the seminal Swed- lin to saxophone to harmonica, Bazilian ary, it was at Hyman’s well-appointed Elm ish folk-rock band Nordman. says. That’s been true “since I turned 12, Street Studios in suburban Conshohock- In the US, Bazilian has been collabo- when I realized I could fi gure tunes out en, Pennsylvania. He and Bazilian were rating with and promoting another fe- better than my teacher.” mixing and fi nessing a 2018 video concert male pop talent—Alexis Cunningham, Hyman used to be busy running his shot at the massive Rock of Ages festival strong on voice, tunes, and attitude— elaborate recording studio complex. The in Seebronn, Germany, that they had with her group/album project as Alexx- business hasn’t been helped by COV- planned to off er as a souvenir item for the is and the Medicine. “After seven years ID-19, nor by contemporary artists (like summer showgoers. “Putting this thing of woodshedding, we’re fi nally ready to ) who record multi-Grammy out is not a money maker, but the fans launch,” he says. Award-winning music in their bedrooms expect you to have new merch,” Hyman Because Bazilian can play every band and then brag about it. explained. With the tour put off , they’ve part himself, he’s also been keeping busy He’s also a major collector and restor- been contemplating other ways to physi- in the pandemic, writing and recording er of classic electric keyboards, including

48 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE Sep | Oct 2020 several examples of the heavy vibes, Meanwhile, covers of Hyman and Ba- plained. “For the fi fth season they fi - heavyweight Hammond church organs zilian’s signature songs keep popping up nally said, ‘We want you to perform “And co-opted by Philly jazz legends like Jim- in fi lms and TV shows, off ering new in- We Danced” on the show.’ We said, ‘Have my Smith, Richard “Groove” Holmes, terpretations—and helping to pay the you seen us lately?’ They said, ‘We can and Shirley Scott, and by British classical rent. Halsey performed “Time After Time” make it work.’ So we all fl ew to LA. They rockers like Procol Harum (think “A with a haunting, minimalist ar- took us to the production side. They had Whiter Shade of Pale”). Hyman’s ware- rangement to score the touching “In outfi ts, they had wigs for us”—the Hoot- house also holds “way too many” (he Memoriam” segment at the last Emmy ers had big hair for a couple years in the groans) examples of the dinky, early elec- Awards TV show. Soon thereafter, in the 1980s—“and there were no close-ups. tric and synth keyboards that dramedy Where’d You Go, Bernadette, The episode is called, no surprise ‘The likewise scored al- the song reemerged as a meaningful on- Hooters.’” (Exercise fanatics, Hyman and bums—Hyman and Bazilian’s coming-of screen singing duet by the characters Bazilian do look just as lanky now as age-inspirations, along with the ska and played by and Emma they did way back when.) reggae originals Rob discovered on vaca- Nelson. I heard it anew this summer, the At our initial meetup, the two were also tions in Jamaica. Hyman has been put- Lauper/Hyman version, scoring the buzzing and sharing tales from their re- ting some of those instruments to work Hulu romantic comedy Palm Springs. cent run as a performing duo in Night of writing and recording a series of classi- Earlier this year, Bazilian’s “One of Us” the Proms, a multi-artist “Classics Meet cally toned pieces “that will hopefully set the mood for an episode of the heady Pops” arena extravaganza with symphony see the light of day soon.” HBO series High Maintenance, “Back- orchestra, band, and chorus accompani- Hyman has also recently reconnected lash.” The bemused evocation is sung on ment that sold out 17 arena shows in Lux- at a socially safe distance with Cyndi screen by diff erent spiritual characters embourg and Germany at the tail end of Lauper. “She invited me to join her in an in both the opening and closing scenes 2019. Alan Parsons and a Euro-touring online fundraising Zoom event with and is now embraced by the edition of Earth, Wind and Fire shared the about 100 people. We’ve also done some as “my second favorite use of the song,” pop-side duties with Hyman and Bazilian. online writing. Hopefully more will Bazilian says. Still fi rst in his is Dr. “So diff erent than what we’re used to, come from that.” Evil’s performance—and brash lie, “I touring with the Hooters,” Hyman said. And he’s hoping his pal wrote that,” afterward—in Austin Pow- “You do four or fi ve songs a night, hardly can rekindle interest, after the theater ers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. break a sweat. We even had time off to do world’s restart, in a stage adaptation of Bazilian also pulled out and played a some songwriting, which we haven’t had their 1998 album Largo. It’s an ambi- “One of Us” cover for me that had “recent- a chance to do for a really long time. tious trek through Americana-fl avored ly come to my attention, sent by the sing- “And yet, that experience still made us music and situations inspired by and er’s manager,” he said. “Kind of sounds like miss the bone-aching, sweat drenching borrowing themes from Czech compos- the Prince version [on his 1996 triple al- work that is touring with our band of er Antonin Dvořák’s two-year visit to bum Emancipation], but you should hear brothers,” he confessed with a laugh. “The America and resulting folkloric sym- it because it’s also got a signifi cant Penn Hooters’ travel regimen is a killer. But the phony From the New World. connection.” It was a performance by the time on stage, striving to connect and “Rob and I felt Largo was some of our student vocal group Counterparts, and the make each night of music the best we’ve best work ever,” says Chertoff in a sepa- recording “took them to the fi nals—and ever had, is our favorite thing in the rate chat from his home in upstate New honors—in the 1998 national champion- world. We’re sure hoping we can York, “though the album stumbled out ship of collegiate a cappella at Carnegie on that horse again, next summer.” of the gate even with an all-star cast” Hall,” Bazilian noted. The lead singer was that included , Cyndi Lau- a Penn senior named John Stephens, bet- Jonathan Takiff C’68 has long celebrated Rob per, , Joan Osborne, and the ter known these days as contemporary Hyman and Eric Bazilian’s talents as an enter- Band’s and . pop/R&B star C’99. tainment reporter/critic for the Philadelphia “We’ve gotten development interest from I also was directed to seek out a 2018 Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer (1971– Oskar Eustis, the Public Theater chief episode of , the TV sitcom 2018). He also spun their early platters as a who shepherded , and done based on creator Adam Goldberg’s real- weekend DJ on WMMR (1971–80). Daughter some workshops. The stage adaptation life experiences growing up in Chelten- Hilary Takiff Weiss GFA’03 is the blurred play- is in the able hands of Eric Overmyer, a ham, Pennsylvania, in the 1980s. “We’d ground fi gure seen swinging like a metro- writer best known for shows like St. Else- been trying to get them to use stuff on nome behind musicians at the open and close where, , and Treme.” the show since it began,” Bazilian ex- of the “And We Danced” video.

Sep | Oct 2020 THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE 49