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.
