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Brian Maes | |
|---|---|
| Instruments | Vocals, Keyboards, Harmonica |
| Associated acts | Peter Wolf, The Brian Maes Band, RTZ |
Brian Maes (born August 8, 1956 in Lynn, Massachusetts) is an American musician. He graduated from Lynn Classical High School in 1974 and from Berklee College of Music in 1979.
Maes' music studies began at the age of eight when he began trumpet lessons with Louis Pascucci which lasted until the age of fourteen when he switched to playing baritone horn at the request of Lynn Public schools senior band director, Fancis Pagnotta. By the age of sixteen, Maes had decided to focus primarily on singing and playing the keyboard. Private instruction from North Shore organist, Marie Fairfield as well as piano studies from jazz pianist, Joe Carlton prepared Maes for his audition and acceptance to Berklee in 1975. While at Berklee, Maes studied classical piano under Emanuel Zambelli and scored an A− on his senior recital, performing an hour of memorized classical pieces and an hour of memorized original material.
After graduation from Berklee, Maes began touring with Boston-based pop rock group American Teen as keyboardist and vocalist. In 1982 Maes auditioned with RCA recording artist, Robert Ellis Orrall, and was hired to tour in support of the release of the "Special Pain" album on RCA Records. In 1983 Maes travelled to Wales to play keyboards and sing backing vocals on the follow-up album, "Contain Yourself."
Maes was commissioned to return to the United Kingdom to work on other recording projects, acting as arranger, performer and conductor with Orrall bandmates, Charles (Kook) Lawry, David Stefanelli and Don Walden.
In 1984, Maes began his long-standing relationship with Barry Goudreau when he successfully auditioned for the keyboardist/backing vocalist chair with Orion the Hunter. The band toured as the opening act for Aerosmith on the "Back in the Saddle" tour during the summer of 1984. After their first tour, Orion the Hunter disbanded. Maes and Goudreau made the decision to stay together and work on new material.
In 1985, while still writing and recording with Barry Goudreau, Maes began collaborating with Peter Wolf, The J. Geils Band frontman, doing pre-production and arranging work in the recording studio for Wolf's solo record "Come As You Are". Maes, Lawry, Stefanelli and Waldon all worked together in the studio recording the songs that would later be on this record and all received credit on the label. This collaboration between Wolf and Maes began a long-standing personal and professional relationship that would bring them together on numerable musical endeavors. It was during this time that Maes presented Wolf with the song "Until Your Love Comes Back Around" for consideration but Wolf passed on the song. Brian and Peter would come together again in 1993 to tour the United States and Japan in support of Peter's Long Line album. The band was then called "Peter Wolf and the House Party 5" with Tim Archibald on bass, David Stefanelli on drums and backing vocals, Johnny A. on guitar, Doug Dube on Hammond B3 and backing vocals, Brian Maes on keys and backing vocals and Peter Wolf on lead vocals. [1] Maes was also a member of RTZ. [2]
Maes released the solo album Songs for Madeline in 2004, dedicated to his daughter. [3]
Maes was currently the lead singer and keyboardist for Ernie and the Automatics which features original and former members of the band Boston, Barry Goudreau on guitar and Sib Hashian on drums. Fellow RTZ and Peter Wolf's House Party Five bandmate, bassist, Tim Archibald is also a member of Ernie and the Automatics , along with tenor saxophonist, Michael "Tunes" Antunes from John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band. The Automatics' new album, Low Expectations, was produced by Brian Maes and was set for release on February 17, 2009 on "Open E" Records, the new label owned by Ernie Boch, Jr, who is also a guitarist in the band.
Maes also leads the Brian Maes Band, which also features Archibald and guitarist Kook Lawry. [4]
In late 2011, Maes co-wrote several songs on the newest Billy Shake album, Crashing Down . [5]
Maes is currently[ when? ] touring with Barry Goudreau's Engine room in support of their 2017 album “full steam ahead” fronting vocals and keys.
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in Marietta, Georgia, in 1984. Their discography includes eight studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the following year. Their follow-up, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, reached the top of the Billboard 200 in 1992. The albums Amorica (1994), Three Snakes and One Charm (1996), By Your Side (1999), and Lions (2001) followed, with each showing moderate popularity but failing to capture the chart successes of the band's first two albums. After a hiatus from 2002 to 2005, the band regrouped and toured for several years before releasing Warpaint in 2008, which reached number 5 on the Billboard chart.
Boston is an American rock band from namesake Boston, Massachusetts, that had its most notable successes during the 1970s and '80s. The band's core members on their most popular recordings included multi-instrumentalist founder and leader Tom Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the debut album, and lead vocalist Brad Delp, among a number of other musicians who varied from album to album. Boston's best-known songs include "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", "Rock and Roll Band", "Smokin'", "Don't Look Back", "A Man I'll Never Be", and "Amanda". The band has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 31 million albums in the United States, of which 17 million were from its self-titled debut album and seven million were for its second album, Don't Look Back, making the group one of the world's best-selling artists. Altogether, the band has released six studio albums over a career spanning over 47 years. Boston was ranked the 63rd best hard rock artist by VH1.
The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The original band members included vocalist Peter Wolf, harmonica and saxophone player Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz, drummer Stephen Bladd, vocalist/keyboardist Seth Justman, and bassist Danny Klein. Wolf and Justman served as principal songwriters. The band played R&B-influenced blues rock during the 1970s and soon achieved commercial success before moving toward a more mainstream radio-friendly sound in the early 1980s, which brought the band to its commercial peak. They performed a mix of cover songs of classic blues and R&B songs, along with original compositions written by primarily by Wolf and Justman, as well as some group compositions written under the pseudonymous name Juke Joint Jimmy, representing compositions credited to the entire band as a whole. After Wolf left the band in 1983 to pursue a solo career, the band released one more album in 1984 with Justman on lead vocals, before breaking up in 1985. Beginning in 1999, the band had several reunions prior to the death of its namesake, J. Geils, on April 11, 2017.
Walk On is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Boston, released on June 7, 1994 by MCA Records. It is the first album not to feature vocalist Brad Delp, though he did assist in the writing. Vocal duties were handled by Fran Cosmo, making this his first appearance on a Boston album. Delp and Cosmo shared leads during the album's supporting tour and the album’s follow-up Corporate America.
Long Line is the fourth solo album by Peter Wolf, released in 1996. The album marked a shift in Wolf's music from pop rock to a bluesier rock with more personal, introspective lyrics. It had been six years since the release of his previous album, the delay largely due to legal problems with his previous record company MCA. In the interim, Wolf performed gigs in the Boston area with his band Houseparty Five, who then served as the backing band on his tour for this album under the name The Street Ensemble.
RTZ was an American rock band that featured Boston band members Brad Delp and Barry Goudreau. The band was formed in the early 1990s.
Bradley Edward Delp was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who was the lead vocalist for the American rock bands Boston and RTZ.
The Kooks are an English indie rock band formed in 2004 in Brighton. The band consists of Luke Pritchard, Hugh Harris and Alexis Nunez (drums).
Barry Goudreau is an American musician, best known as one of the original guitarists for the rock band Boston.
Orion the Hunter was a 1980s rock combo and offshoot of the popular band Boston. It featured former Boston members Barry Goudreau on guitars and Brad Delp on backing vocals, as well as future Boston lead vocalist Fran Cosmo.
Return to Zero is the debut album of the band RTZ. It was released in 1991 by Giant Records.
Lost is the second and final album by American rock band RTZ. It was released in 1998 by MTM Music and Avalon Japan. It was reissued in 2000 with a bonus track, and again in 2005 under the title Lost in America.
Jackie James Barnes is an Australian drummer, percussionist, pianist, songwriter and singer. He has been performing since the age of four and has appeared on over 60 releases since 1990. He is currently the drummer in the Australian rock band Rose Tattoo.
Ernie and the Automatics were an American blues rock band based in Boston. Guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Sib Hashian are both former members of Boston.
Robert Ellis Orrall is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Signed to RCA Records in 1980, Orrall debuted that year with the album "Fixation". His first Top 40 single was "I Couldn't Say No", a duet with Carlene Carter. By 1990, Orrall had found success as a songwriter, having penned Number One singles for Shenandoah and Clay Walker. He returned to RCA in 1991 and charted the singles "Boom! It Was Over" (#19) and "A Little Bit of Her Love" (#31), from his first country music album, Flying Colors. Orrall then joined frequent songwriting partner Curtis Wright in the CMA-nominated duo Orrall & Wright, recording one more album and charting two singles. They split up in 1994, however, and Orrall returned to his solo career, writing singles for Reba McEntire, Taylor Swift, and Lindsay Lohan, as well as producing records for Swift, Be Your Own Pet, and Love and Theft. He also performs and records as an indie rock musician in the band Monkey Bowl.
Orion the Hunter is the only album from the band Orion the Hunter, which was an offshoot of the band Boston. Guitarist Barry Goudreau and backing vocalist Brad Delp were members of Boston, and guitarist/vocalist Fran Cosmo would join a later incarnation of the band. The group also included Michael DeRosier on drums and percussion, and Bruce Smith on bass.
James Montgomery is an American blues musician, best known as the lead singer, blues harp player, frontman, and bandleader of The James Montgomery Blues Band. Montgomery collaborates with many star performers and recording artists. He is also the past President of The New England Blues Society.
John William Schlitt is an American musician, who was the lead singer of Christian rock band Petra from 1986 until the band's retirement in late 2005. Prior to joining Petra in 1986, Schlitt was the lead vocalist for Head East until retiring from the band in 1980.
Delp And Goudreau features Brad Delp and Barry Goudreau with Tim Archibald, Brian Maes, David Stefanelli, Patty Barkus, Lou Spagnola, and Jack o-Soro. The album was recorded in Goudreau's home studio, featuring new tracks written by Delp and Goudreau. Archibald, Maes and Stefanelli also served in Delp and Goudreau's post-Boston RTZ and played on their first and second records.
