You have to love a guy as open, honest and nice as Roger Boyd. The keyboardist and only remaining original member of Head East recently agreed to speak with me and it was one of the easiest conversations I’ve ever had with someone from the golden age of the 70s. During the course of our chat, I never felt Boyd was anything more than a dude with some great stories, and a quick and easy-to-laugh nature. But he’s much more than that. He’s an astute musician who has seen his share in the over 40 years he’s been heading out (east, west, north and south) with his Illinois birthed and raised band.
On the heels of their blistering live Raise A Little Hell CD, Boyd talked about where a band like Head East fits into the rock and roll firmament and where they are headed from there. He also lamented on what the 80s meant to him and explained his famous synth solo on “Never Been Any Reason,” Head East’s hit from 1975.
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I really dig the new CD. It’s all-around pretty rocking.
Well, I really appreciate that, thank you. A lot of people said, “Why do a live album instead of a studio album?” And my response to them is that for over four decades we have been considered one of the premier live acts in rock and roll, and we think that the energy we bring to our live shows is really special, as is that energy we have with our audience. We were looking forward to getting that down on a record, and since we hadn’t had something out in a while, why not make it a live record?
With the new and old songs included, I think there’s a little something for everybody here.
For the fans that’ve seen us recently or have been following us for years, we like to think when they take this record home, they can immediately trip back to the show and all the fun they had. For folks who haven’t seen us in a while or people who have never seen us who know of heavy rock acts who have lots of energy, we’re thinking “Hey, let’s us show you some energy” and really turning them on.
For an elder statesman, playing live seems to be the only avenue to get the music heard anyway, seeing what the state of radio is for anybody of a more vintage background.
Yes, unfortunately the state of radio now presents a serious problems of getting out and getting your stuff heard when your band is about playing music and not necessarily about what kind of costume you’re wearing, this that or the other. Because of social media, lots of the stuff that goes viral is just a way out there for groups that just play, play and sing, that presents itself some issues.
Considering Head East’s history, like lots of vintage rock acts, the 80s weren’t especially kind but you guys have survived.
Actually the 1980s was the worst decade I have lived through since I was born! Not only musically but I was going through some personal stuff, too. And then MTV dealt a big death knell in lots of ways to all the great music that had been going on before. In my opinion, albums were like books and when people got them, they tapped into the listener’s fantasies and perceptions of what was going on, which is what books do. And all of a sudden, we had MTV and suddenly we have the video thing changing the perception of everything that was going on, plus people started paying attention to the visual more than the audio, what was the latest style, which festers right until today. Yes, funny though, we were called dinosaurs in the 80s. Now we’re called a classic rock band (laughs).
Do you think Head East, or really any band coming from Illinois, has a specific sensibility being from the Midwest?
I definitely think so. REO Speedwagon and us both came out of Champagne. It’s very much like San Francisco in that it’s a big place but there is a Midwestern combination still here, a neighborhood friendliness with a let’s-have-fun attitude. And we’re influenced a little bit by country, singing in the church choir. I played organ in church myself.
You know, like any place, Jersey has Bruce and the horns, Seattle the grunge thing, different parts of the country certainly have their specific sounds. And there’s no question about it that Midwestern bands are mostly classic rock bands. You don’t have as many unusual bands as you do on the coast coming out of the Midwest. Between the mountains I’d say, is pretty much rock and roll country.
I was reading about the “Never Been Any Reason” keyboard solo, which I think is one of the most distinct keyboard solos in rock. Can you tell me the story behind that?
Well, thanks for the compliment. Humbly, I’d have to state that I believe what I played there is one of the elements that helps make that song what it was and keeps it around today. Back in those days though we didn’t have the technology you have now. Basically you mixed like you were mixing a live band because you couldn’t save the tracks you had played or were limited to 16 tracks, well before 24 and the unlimited amount you have now.
What happened when we were going through the one mix is I forgot to hit the mute button while I was putting down the second moog solo, and I thought, “Oh crap,” but went back to listen to it and I realized it sounded neat. I thought, “Think we got something here.” Then I went back to do some extra stuff with the second synth to match and follow a bit the initial idea all because I forgot to hit the mute button.
And that was played on one of the very first Minimoogs, right?
Yes, it was actually one of the first Minimoogs ever made. I helped a local music store in Champagne get the franchise for Moog by ordering two of them! In fact, it was so new — and (we were) talking about REO — I had to send that synth down to them in Nashville and that’s my synth on “Riding the Storm Out.” My synth is still waiting for its royalty check (laughs).
And that’s the one you’re still playing live today, right?
Yes. People come on stage — roadies, others musicians — just to look at that synth. In fact, there’s only one guy on the planet that I even let touch it. He’s a good friend of mine. I’m actually seeing him for dinner tonight. He’s an electronics wizard. One time, I had a problem with it out on the road and for some reason, he wasn’t out with us and I gave it to this guy to look at, and he comes back just before that evening’s show and says: “I really did some things to this now so it will stay in tune. I switched out those old oscillators.” And I and I just looked at him and I said: “Dude, you got about 30 seconds to tell me you didn’t throw those oscillators away and you can get them back in.” Luckily, he had them and got them back in because that’s the sound. The drift those original oscillators make is what Emerson used and I used that make that sound, and if you get rid of them, the sound goes away.
So, where’s the band presently? What shows are coming up?
We’re not out with anybody presently, though we like to be on the road. It’s a really good tactic. We’re playing the Illinois State Fair with REO, which is a huge gig, draws mega amounts of people, and we’re going to do a thing with Winger and Warrant and a couple of festivals and fairs on our own.
For the next two months or so, we are going to be going full blast, so at this point in time beyond what we have scheduled, we’re planning on going into the fall as soon as we see where we might be able to go in and boost sales. Hopefully, we’ll continue touring the fall into winter which we haven’t done in 10 or 12 years because I was a college professor so we could only play in the summer time. We’re definitely planning for the future on getting to East coast since we haven’t been in a while.
