ZAGORO MOJA
Ante Tešija
Hrvoje Bubić; ALBERT BOUCHARD INTERVIEW
Hrvoje Bubić
Albert Bouchard je američki glazbenik, najpoznatniji kao bubnjar rock benda Blue Öyster Cult. Za SolinLive, govori o sebi, svome radu, suradnjama, kao i ovom kultnom bendu
First, can you introduce yourself and tell our readers something?
My name is Albert Bouchard and I started playing drums in 1950 at 3 years old. I am a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, educator and vlogger. My first professional recording was with Tom Paxton on the album, Things I Notice Now in 1968. Since then I have played, sang, and or produced over 80 commercially released records and in 2020 charted in Billboard twice, first with his former band Blue Oyster Cult (playing cowbell, of course) and then again as a solo artist.
In 2016 I visited the White House to be honored as an educator by President Obama at the educator of the year ceremony. Later that year I toured with my old band, Blue Oyster Cult as guitarist, percussion and vocals).
In recent years I have appeared with the Yacht Rock Revue, Joe Hurleys Irish Rock Revue, Joey Ramone Birthday Bash, Mike Pineras Classic Rock All Stars, Blue Coupe, Shakin Street and many others. I am currently playing drums and singing with punk rock legends, The Dictators.
How did you meet the members of Blue Öyster Cult and come up with the idea to start the band?
I played in grade and high school with my brother Joe. Then in college I played with Don Roeser. It was then that we decided to drop out and become professional musicians. We played with dozens of other musicians before we got my brother Joe to join and we became Blue Oyster Cult.
Blue Öyster Cult is one of rock’s most influential bands, so I was wondering what your thoughts are on that and the band’s legacy.
When I was young I wanted to be an inventor. In a way I got my wish. I dont see myself as a star, just a hard worker.
The Imaginos album, which was supposed to be your solo album, is a Blue Öyster Cult album, so I would like to ask you to tell us something about that album.
While I was writing and recording the original Imaginos album I thought I was creating my masterpiece, an album I could never top. After the first year of working on it things went sideways. First the people who signed me left the record company.
Other people came in with different values and imposed different criteria on what the record could be. I felt like I was being flexible enough but others felt that I should be taken out of the loop in order to please the big wigs at the company. In the end no one was happy. The record flopped and everybody moved on. I got the last laugh because I redid the record, called it ReImaginos and topped it in 2020.
You have collaborated with names like Mike Watt, Richie, Stotts, Dennis Dunaway, and the band Dictators. Tell us more about these collaborations.
Any day you make music is a good day. Any day you make music with your friends is a better day.
I met Dennis when we opened for Alice Cooper during the Killer tour. All the guys in that band were nice to us and we had a lot of fun on the road with them. More than that, though, was that by hanging around with them we found that we could move an audience and still be our own unique selves. Dennis had a band with Neal and Joe that practiced all the time and hardly played any gigs. When we formed our trio without Neal we played gigs all the time and never practiced. We have all been involved with different projects since covid so we havent done many gigs but we still record together and that is something I see as ongoing.
Ive known the guys in the Dictators since before they were the Dictators. We have been close friends for many decades.
Playing with them at this time was inevitable and very rewarding artistically.
I was introduced to Richie Stotts by Billy Hilfiger, Tommys brother, who said Richie was looking for a drummer to play in his solo band King Flux. Richie is an extremely intelligent guy, hes actually a geologist, and his music is highly nuanced.
Ive known Mike Watt since he formed Firehose. I started seeing them when they came to NYC and he would have me sit in with him every time, still does. Hes the Jimi Hendrix of the bass.
One of the collaborations that he would like to single out specifically is with the sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock, be it with Blue Öyster Cult or a solo project. Can you tell us how the collaboration came about and what projects you worked on together?
We first collaborated with Michael Moorcock when Eric Bloom wrote to him and asked him for lyrics. I was also a big fan of the Elric series and I didnt know he wrote lyrics so I guess Eric was a bigger fan. BOC recorded 3 songs of Mike on 3 different records. The current project I have going with Mike is something dreamed up by a guy named Don Falcone from San Francisco who makes records, mostly remotely, with a large group of musicians called Spirits Burning. I have been working with him on Spirits Burning since 2007 and when he told me in 2017 that he was going to work with Mike I said Im all in. We still have one last record to complete the Dancers at the End of Time series but it is mostly done. I was just looking at the last chapter of the book that I promised I would write so when Apple sends me my new computer (my old Mac Pro died after 8 years of faithful service and innumerable recordings) that will be one the first things Ill use it for.
In addition to music, is there anything else you do besides music?
I love to exercise. Walking, running, biking, dancing, Pilates, core, yoga you name it. I like to draw but Ive been too hyper since I stopped smoking pot to do it. I like to travel just for the fun of it. I am learning Chinese because it will be helpful in the future. Everybody should. I like to make videos even though I dont make any money off them. I guess that can count as a hobby.
As for the end, what are your future projects, and plans with Blue Öyster Cult? What would you recommend to our readers?
Im planning on making a prequel to Imaginos that will involve as many members of BOC, both past and present, that I can convince to do it. Im going to China in 2025 if I can and I hope to get some gigs there too. They can pay me in a BYD electric car! I already have a Rivian electric truck and if you have never driven an electric vehicle, I highly recommend it. It will blow your mind.
HRVATSKI PRIJEVOD
1. Prvo, možete li se predstaviti i nešto reći našim čitateljima?
Moje ime je Albert Bouchard i počeo sam svirati bubnjeve 1950. s 3 godine. Ja sam multiinstrumentalist, tekstopisac, pjevač, pedagog i vloger (kreatori sadržaja koji koriste video kako bi komunicirali sa svojom publikom, op.prev.). Moja prva profesionalna snimka bila je s Tomom Paxtonom (američki glazbenik, op.prev.) na albumu “Things I Notice Now” 1968. Od tada sam svirao, pjevao i/ili producirao više od 80 komercijalno izdanih ploča, a 2020. dvaput sam se našao na Billboardovoj ljestvici, prvi put s njegovim bivšim bendom Blue Oyster Cult (svirajući kravlje zvono, naravno), a zatim opet kao solo umjetnik.
Godine 2016. posjetio sam Bijelu kuću kako bi me predsjednik Obama odao počast kao pedagoga na ceremoniji proglašenja pedagoga godine. Kasnije te godine išao sam na turneju sa svojim starim bendom, Blue Oyster Cult kao gitarist, udaraljke i vokal).
Posljednjih godina nastupao sam s Yacht Rock Revueom, Irish Rock Revueom Joea Hurleya, Birthday Bashom Joeya Ramonea, Classic Rock All Stars Mikea Pinera, Blue Coupeom, Shakin Streetom i mnogim drugima. Trenutno sviram bubnjeve i pjevam s legendama punk rocka, The Dictators.
2. Kako ste upoznali članove Blue Öyster Culta i došli na ideju o pokretanju benda?
Svirao sam se u osnovnoj i srednjoj školi sa svojim bratom Joeom. Zatim sam na fakultetu svirao s Donom Roeserom. Tada smo odlučili prekinuti studij i postati profesionalni glazbenici. Svirali smo s desecima drugih glazbenika prije nego što smo pridobili mog brata Joea da nam se pridruži i postali smo Blue Oyster Cult.
3. Blue Öyster Cult je jedan od najutjecajnijih rock bendova, pa me zanima što mislite o tome i nasljeđu benda.
Kad sam bio mlad želio sam biti izumitelj. Na neki način ispunila mi se želja. Ne vidim sebe kao zvijezdu, već samo vrijednog radnika.
4. Album Imaginos, koji je trebao biti tvoj solo album, je album Blue Öyster Culta, pa bih te zamolio da nam kažeš nešto o tom albumu.
Dok sam pisao i snimao originalni album Imaginos, mislio sam da stvaram svoje remek-djelo, album koji nikada ne bih mogao nadmašiti. Nakon prve godine rada na njemu stvari su krenule u stranu. Prvo su ljudi koji su me potpisali napustili diskografsku kuću. Drugi su ljudi došli s drugačijim vrijednostima i nametnuli različite kriterije o tome kakav rekord može biti. Osjećao sam se kao da sam dovoljno fleksibilan, ali drugi su smatrali da me treba izbaciti iz petlje kako bih zadovoljio velike perike u tvrtki. Na kraju nitko nije bio sretan. Rekord je pao i svi su krenuli dalje. Zadnji sam se nasmijao jer sam preradio ploču, nazvao je ReImaginos i bio na vrhu 2020.
5. Surađivali ste s imenima kao što su Mike Watt, Richie, Stotts, Dennis Dunaway i bend Dictators. Recite nam više o tim suradnjama.
Svaki dan kada stvarate glazbu je dobar dan. Svaki dan kada stvarate glazbu sa svojim prijateljima bolji je dan.
Upoznao sam Dennisa kad smo pjevali Aliceu Cooperu tijekom turneje Killer. Svi dečki iz tog benda bili su simpatični prema nama i bilo nam je jako zabavno na gostovanjima s njima. Međutim, više od toga, družeći se s njima, otkrili smo da možemo pokrenuti publiku, a da i dalje budemo jedinstveni. Dennis je imao bend s Nealom i Joeom koji je cijelo vrijeme vježbao i jedva da je svirao. Kad smo osnovali naš trio bez Neala, stalno smo svirali i nikad nismo vježbali. Svi smo uključeni u različite projekte od pandemije tako da nismo imali mnogo koncerata, ali još uvijek snimamo zajedno i to je nešto što vidim kao kontinuirano.
Poznajem momke iz Diktatora od prije nego što su bili Diktatori. Bili smo bliski prijatelji mnogo desetljeća. Sviranje s njima u to je vrijeme bilo neizbježno i umjetnički vrlo isplativo.
S Richiejem Stottsom upoznao me Billy Hilfiger, Tommyjev brat, koji je rekao da Richie traži bubnjara koji bi svirao u njegovom solo bendu King Flux. Richie je iznimno inteligentan tip, on je zapravo geolog, a njegova je glazba vrlo nijansirana.
Poznajem Mikea Watta otkad je osnovao Firehose. Počeo sam se viđati s njima kad su došli u NYC i on bi svaki put htio da sjedim s njim, i dalje to čini. On je Jimi Hendrix bas gitare.
6. Jedna od suradnji koju bi posebno izdvojio je suradnja s piscem znanstvene fantastike Michaelom Moorcockom, bilo da se radi o Blue Öyster Cultu ili solo projektu. Možete li nam otkriti kako je došlo do suradnje i na kojim projektima ste zajedno radili?
Prvi put smo surađivali s Michaelom Moorcockom kada mu je Eric Bloom pisao i zamolio ga za tekst. Također sam bio veliki obožavatelj serije Elric i nisam znao da je on napisao tekstove pa pretpostavljam da je Eric bio veći obožavatelj. BOC je snimio 3 Mikeove pjesme na 3 različite ploče. Trenutačni projekt koji imam s Mikeom nešto je o čemu je sanjao tip po imenu Don Falcone iz San Francisca koji snima ploče, uglavnom na daljinu, s velikom grupom glazbenika pod nazivom Spirits Burning. Radim s njim na Spirits Burningu od 2007. i kada mi je 2017. rekao da će raditi s Mikeom, rekao sam “U potpunosti sam za.” Imamo još jedan posljednji zapis za dovršiti seriju Dancers at the End of Time, ali je uglavnom gotova. Upravo sam gledao zadnje poglavlje knjige koje sam obećao da ću napisati, tako da kada mi Apple pošalje moje novo računalo (moj stari Mac Pro je crkao nakon 8 godina vjernog rada i bezbrojnih snimanja), to će biti jedna od prvih stvari koje ću koristit ću ga za.
