“The producer of the show, Toby Ludwig has been doing this since the early 2000s and we found each other a few years ago when they were looking for a bass player with a little bit of a pedigree to join an all-star band,” explained bassist and vocalist of “It Was 50 Years Ago Today” Jason Scheff as he discussed how he became involved with the unit and their upcoming March 1 appearance at The Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ. “They went out to do “The White Album” and I found out it was Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Micky Dolenz and Joey Molland of Badfinger and I said, absolutely; I’d love to do it! So, I got involved in their world a few years ago and it’s such a blast; it’s really, really a lot of fun.”
“It Was 50 Years Ago Today” is comprised of an all-star cast of legendary rockers who are united by a common thread; a love of Beatles music. Scheff, along with Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Joey Molland, Denny Laine and Rascal Flatts mainstay Jay DeMarcus have “Come Together” to present a performance of iconic Beatle albums along with some of their own individual hits as well and this time around it is “Revolver” and “Rubber Soul.”
Scheff, who with the departure of Peter Cetera took over the bass and vocal role in one of rock music’s greatest bands; Chicago, says that even though he is an experienced musician that he too has those “Pinch me” moments with this assembled cast both on stage and off.
“Absolutely,” he began with a slight laugh, “We didn’t have a lot of time to rehearse and prepare for “The White Album” tour and there wasn’t really a lot of time other than to dive in and get to work; which was great but once we were out on the road and playing shows, it was really fun to see these guys and see their fans just light up over them. That definitely took me down “Memory Lane” as to how I learned about these artists and covered them as I was coming up as a musician myself and then to all of a sudden see that you’re “In the club;” we did a cruise after “The White Album” tour a few years ago, the “‘70s Rock & Romance Cruise” which I’m actually going back out on with my band right before this Beatles tour and the first time around, we had just done “The White Album” tour and all of a sudden, I’m doing my first of two shows on this cruise and I look up and there was Todd Rundgren and his family in the audience. He wanted to be at my show and that was a moment where I went, wow, that is so cool.”
“Christopher Cross and I ran into each other years ago when he and Chicago were on the same bill,” he continued, “Christopher wasn’t in the studio but I played bass on a track for one of his records that a friend of mine was producing. We ran into each other a little bit but we got to spend a lot of time together and put our voices together on this Beatles tour and it was just magical and a lot of fun.”
Scheff’s musical lineage extends back to yet another legend; Elvis Presley. His father Jerry was the bassist in Elvis’s TCB Band as well as the bassist on The Doors “L.A. Woman” album; their only album to employ the use of an actual bass guitar and not Ray Manzarek’s left hand on the keyboard. So, even with that influence is performing and auditioning for bands such as Chicago or this current line-up daunting? Jason says, not so much and offered up some advice for those in the business and even some for kids and their parents.
“Yeah, how about that,” he said with a laugh when told it hardly seemed like more than three decades that he fronted Chicago. “That’s when I replaced Pete Cetera when he went solo in 1985; right when it was all hanging in the balance. I don’t think any of us thought it was really going to work; I think they were hoping but I walked into the studio on day one thinking that maybe this is my one and only day there but something happened and I felt comfortable walking to the microphone with David Foster on the other side of the glass. I always love to share that with kids who are so freaked-out about when their opportunity comes; so much is in fate’s hands as to you’re either going to feel comfortable or you’re not and I look back now and it’s amazing that it all worked. On paper it looks impossible but half of the ‘80s are my years with that band, half of the biggest hits of Chicago’s career, “Will You Still Love Me,” “What Kind of Man Would I Be?,” “Look Away;” that’s all our stuff. So, at the end of the day; when parents say to me, “How can I motivate my kid to practice?” I always say, nobody had to motivate me; in this day and age people are always trying to push so much on people and I say relax, it’s either going to happen or it’s not and accept it because it’s OK.”
Like many who make their living off of being creative, Jason has multiple irons in the proverbial fire both before and after the Montclair show and ensuing tour.
“I’ve got the cruise coming up and then I have a band with Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts called “Generation Radio” and we have an album that’s going to be released any second now and we’re going to be playing some dates ourselves throughout the rest of the year. So, we’ve got these Beatles shows and I’ve got my band with Jay and I’m booking my own shows; I just got booked for a festival that’s just outside of Chicago on July 2 called “Frontier Days” with the Jason Scheff Band. So, it’s really three projects and I was also just asked by Mike Clink who produced “Appetite for Destruction” and who made a lot of great rock records like “Eye Of The Tiger,” he is producing a Triumph tribute album; I haven’t sung it yet but I’ve played bass on my track and that’s going to be people like Mickey Thomas, Nancy Wilson and Joey Belladonna and Anthrax, Sebastian Bach; so, there’s a lot of good stuff going on these days.”
Producing and bringing a show such as this, let alone an entire tour, can be a large task. Every detail from song choices to stage set-up must be manicured for the best possible presentation. Scheff says that, “The show is about an hour and a half” and contains most of the selections from the two albums but that those attending will get some “Bonus” tracks.
“I saw a third version of the songs that are being chosen and it seems that we are doing most of them. I think there’s a few titles that aren’t on the latest list but that can always change. We did most of “The White Album” but the songs are pretty short on “Revolver” and “Rubber Soul” so we can fit a lot of them in there; it’s going to be a blast. I’ve been practicing the stuff lately and it is just such a great body of work.”
“I think people that come are really going to enjoy this because we are not only playing the bulk of those two albums but we’re sprinkling our hits throughout the night. You’re going to hear Todd Rundgren singing some of his biggest hits, I’m singing some of Chicago’s biggest hits, Joey Molland doing Badfinger, Denny Laine the Moody Blues and Wings and Christopher Cross. I’ll tell you what, one of my favorite things in life is to be singing alongside of Christopher Cross; it’s a beautiful sound. It is pretty spectacular, we’re going to rock you out so, come on down and see!”
Show time is listed as 6:30 p.m. and tickets start at $79; please visit https://wellmonttheater.com/ to purchase yours and to discover more about Jason Scheff, go to https://jasonscheff.com/contact/ .
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
