The Guitar Player's Resource
The arena rock group behind one of the fastest-selling debut albums in history, "Boston" was essentially the vehicle of studio wizard Tom Scholz, born March 10, 1947, in Toledo, OH. A rock fan throughout his teen years, he began writing songs while earning a master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After graduation, he began work for Polaroid, and set about constructing his own 12-track recording studio in the basement of his home, where demos were recorded that earned Scholz and vocalist Brad Delp a contract with Epic in 1975.
Reading in Rolling Stone about Scholz' back story was a giant motivation to me as a young guitarist, triggering an intense interest in recording, song writing and guitar and keyboard playing.
In this 10-minute video, Scholz takes us behind the scenes for a one-of-a-kind tour of his studio and his life.
Despite the overwhelming success of Boston's debut record, Scholz spent over two years working on the follow-up, 1978's number one hit Don't Look Back; a perfectionist, he only then released the album because of intense label pressure for product. Unsatisfied with the results, he swore to produce the next album at his own pace; as a result, the chart-topping Third Stage did not appear until 1986, at which time only Scholz and Delp remained from the original lineup.
Dan McAvinchey is a guitarist and composer living in Raleigh, NC.
He believes every musician or composer has the power to write, record and release their own music.
His 1997 CD release on Guitar Nine was entitled "Guitar Haus".
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