11/27/07

Chris Trapper's new Christmas CD is out! I'm playing upright bass on 4 tracks including the title track, "It's Christmas Time". You can pick the record up at www.christrapper.com right now! Yeeee Haw!

10/11/07

From the desk of Tom Bianchi.

Hey Folks!

Thanks to a phone call from my good friend and peer Hugh McGowan, all day yesterday I was in the studio playing the upright bass on 4 songs for singer/songwriter Chris Trapper of "Push Stars" fame!

Chris is throwing together a Chrismas album for this season and if all goes well in production, Hugh and I will be on it! The songs were awesome and Chris Trapper is a hell of a guy!

All and all it was a wonderful experience. Thanks for the call guys!

ToM

Check out some live in studio footage!

9/30/07

From the desk of Tom Bianchi.

Bass Playah. That's how you say it in Boston... and I am a Boston bassist. Don't be confused, I've never played with "Boston", but as of this month I have officially jammed with 1/5 of Boston band/legend "The Cars".

My good friend Tim Mann http://www.timmannmusic.com released a brand new CD this month called "Distant Strangers". The musicians credited on this record are, Tim Mann, (duh) Dave Rizzuti, Steve Chaggaris, Zack Hickman (Josh Ritter), Tom Bianchi (me) and..... yes, Greg Hawkes, the man behind all of the electronic hooks that made The Cars the superstar band they were.

The reason this means a little something special to me is easy. The Cars were one of those bands you pretended to be in as a kid. EI: Mom and Dad are out for the night. Your sister is at her friends down the road... it's nothing but you, The Cars self-titled debut recording on vinyl a spoon to sing into like it's a microphone and a 2 liter bottle of coke.

My folks had one of those coal stoves that were popular during the “oil-crunch” days. The brick landing it sat on was my stage and all the living room was my audience. To this day I can play that whole Cars record blind folded because I listened to it so much. “Moving In Stereo” may have been the first ‘power chord’ song I ever learned.

So now, so many years later I have the privilege of being on a record with Greg Hawkes. Wow. Life is pretty damn cool sometimes.

Sure, The Cars were huge… that much is certain, but to give you an idea of where this dude has been in his time…. I share with you a story; Pauly Chiasson and I were chatting, even light-heartedly arguing about what microphone is better, the Shure SM58 or its younger son, the Beta 58. My point to be made was that the old skool 58 has been around for ever and always would be around. I tried to make my point by asking Greg, “For example, what is the biggest show you’ve ever done?” Thinking…. Yeah Greg will back me up…. He’s probably used the ol’58 on dozens of stages…..

To which Greg Hawkes casually replies, “Hmmmm…. I don’t know. Maaaaaybe Live Aid????”

Live Aid. Philadelphia 1985. 90,000 fans in JFK Stadium, watched by 1.5 Billion people live on television.

The conversation came to a screeching halt and 4 of the 5 people realized the 1 other guy sitting at the table was Greg fucking Hawkes.

Hey folks! I’m on a record with Greg Hawkes. Nice.

ToM