Five Firsts: John Brodeur
BAND AFFILIATION: N/A
INSTRUMENT: guitar, vocals, drums, etc.
1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … Pretty sure my first LP was Blondie’s “Autoamerican,” though that wasn’t purchased with my own money. First cassette: Beastie Boys’ “Licensed to Ill.” First CD: LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out.”
2. THE FIRST CONCERT THAT I EVER SAW WAS … My folks took me along to see the Charlie Daniels Band at SPAC when I was 4 or 5. The first concert I opted to go to was Starship and Cutting Crew, also at SPAC. I think there were 40 people there.
3. THE FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT I EVER OWNED OR PLAYED WAS … I had one of those toy drumkits with the paper skins when I was a tot. Beat the living shit out of that thing.
4. THE FIRST SONG THAT I EVER PERFORMED IN PUBLIC WAS … Not counting elementary-school concert band? It was probably an AC/DC cover, or the Black Crowes’ version of “Hard to Handle.” I played my first original song at a talent show during my senior year of high school. It’s no longer in the repertoire.
5. THE FIRST BAND I WAS EVER IN WAS … First “real” band, in which I wrote the songs and sang, was called Norman, in 1994-95. But going way back … a friend and I made a cassette when we were 10 or so, under the band name Smooch. High-school bands included Love Buckets and Dïerlÿza. (style note: there should be umlauts over the I and Y) Lots of awesome band names back then.
John Brodeur and the Little Hopes perform at Valentine’s Music Hall in Albany on Saturday night, opening the show for the Whigs.
What an odd bag of influences, from Hip Hop to Southern Rock, from Bad Rock as in Cutting Crew to Bad Rock as in Good, AC/DC. The end result is one of the finest song-writers and purveyor of Power Pop the Capitol region has every produced!