Music:
Member Since: 3/30/2006
Band Website: hirshgardner.com
Band Members: ..Hirsh Gardner-Drums, Vocals
John Fannon-Guitar-Vocals
Jimmy Waldo-Keyboards, Vocals
Gary Shea-Bass
New England is a four-piece rock and roll band hailing from Boston, MA. John Fannon (guitar & vocals), Hirsh Gardner (drums and vocals), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards and vocals) and Gary Shea (bass) broke out of the local scene with the release of their self-titled album on Infinity/MCA in 1979. The first single, "Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya", became an AOR smash and even cracked the Top 40. The album was produced by Mike Stone and Paul Stanley of Kiss, whom New England toured with for much of 1979 and 1980. For their sophomore effort, entitled Explorer Suite, the foursome once again called upon veteran knob-twirler Mike Stone. Highlights from this album are the orchestral title track, "It's Never Too Late", and "Conversation", which features New England's trademark lush background vocals. The touring never let up for the boys from Boston as they split their time on the Explorer Suite tour between headlining large clubs and sharing arena billing with Journey, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, and Kiss among others.
For the third album, Walking Wild, the legendary Todd Rundgren was at the helm. The results of these sessions were hard-driving anthemic tunes such as "Don't Ever LetMe Go", "L-5" (co-written by Fannon, Waldo & Rundgren) and the kick-ass rocker "Holdin' Out On Me", which features Hirsh Gardner on lead vocals. The frustration over the lack
of label support grew and the band parted ways. While Fannon & Gardner went on tosuccessful careers as producers and Shea & Waldo former Alcatrazz with Graham Bonnet & Yngwie Malmsteen, nothing seemed to match the excitement of New England. The real
strength of New England was the combination of four strong & diverse individuals: Fannon's lead vocals & songwriting, Waldo's whirling keyboards, Gardner's driving skin-pounding and high-pitched vocals and Shea's thunderous bass lines.
While the records speak for themselves, the fans are the reason New England lives: Waldo explains,"I would tour all over the world with Alcatrazz and every country we'd go to people would have New England albums for me to sign. It really shows you the power of music. We have fans all over Europe & Japan, places we never even toured. It's amazing."
1998 marked the 25th anniversary of the birth of New England. The first new music heard from New England in 15 years was released as part of the CD entitled 1978, whichfeatures the original versions of seven classic New England tunes plus three never beforereleased songs. The CD was released worldwide along with the re-issues ofWalking Wild and Explorer Suite. All titles are available on the GB Music labelin the United States & Europe, and Marquee/Avalon in Japan.
Greatest Hits Live was released in late 2003, displaying a full New England concert from their heyday. The disc showcases many of the group's trademark tunes and shows how four musicians can create that wall of sound all by themselves, without any of the trickery used in many of today's top tours It's 2004 and the members find themselves working on a variety of projects, however the demand for a New England reunion is strong. In May John, Jimmy, Gary & Hirsh got together to start recording again.
"Who knows where it will lead," Gardner quips. "We have been talking about a reunion album and world tour. We will take it one step at a time, but you never know."
Influences:
"How you feeling" screams Hirsh Gardner to 20,000 fans at Madison Square Garden."Are you ready to rock with me?"
It was a long journey from a small Canadian town to the top of the rock and roll heap, but one the mop top drummer and vocalist takes great pride in.
" I started pretty young. Elvis, The Beatles, jazz records that my Mom and Dad had, Buddy Rich and other jazz greats. Most of the kids liked the guitarists. I always gravitated towards the drummer. He was the guy who got the audience to their feet," says Gardner.
Upon journeying to Boston from the great white north, Gardner played in various groups including Fatback, Berkshire and Target, in which he hooked up with the other future New England members. There was a magical chemistry within the group and during endless hours rehearsing they refined their sound. The five-some stripped down to a quartet and changed their name to New England. Rather than play the local club circuit as they had done before, the band worked day and night in their rehearsal space putting together a show that would highlight the strength of each band member and would play to an arena audience, both musically and visually.
A showcase for Bill Aucion, Kiss' legendary manager, brought the band to the attention of numerous major labels. After a bidding frenzy, the group signed with Infinity/MCA and Paul Stanley produced their debut album. The disc included the John Fannon-penned classic Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya. Primed and ready for action the band set off to tour with Kiss, AC/DC, Journey, Styx and others. The band recorded two more albums, Explorer Suite and Walking Wild, produced by John Fannon/Mike Stone and Todd Rundgren respectively.
After New England broke up in 1983, Gardner received a call from an old friend Gene Simmons, the tongued wonder of Kiss, who turned Hirsh onto Vinnie Vincent. Together with bandmates Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea they put together the group Warrior in Los Angeles. Just prior to the band being signed to a major label deal Vinnie got the offer to join Kiss. Hirsh left L.A. for his home in Boston and began producing numerous acts in the northeast. His experience working with producers Mike Stone, Paul Stanley and Todd Rundgren would prove to be a tremendous tool in his own celebrated producing career.
"It was a great education. They all taught me aspects of recording and performing that I have used ever since" notes Gardner. The education paid dividends for Gardner, who was nominated for Boston Music Awards Producer of the Year 5 times, voted Producer of the Year for the Boston Phoenix Best Poll, and was sought out by numerous record companies to produce acts like Mass, Axminster, Shyboy, 8084 and Vice.
With all his production work Gardner took a break from being an artist. He may never had returned to being a solo performer had it not been for the response from fans on the world wide web. In 1998 GB Music released the New England catalogue on CD. Fans flocked to the New England web site...the response was tremendous. The emails poured in, most people asking if there would be new music in the future.
"With the resurgence of New England's popularity it got me thinking. People were writing in that they loved the band. I realized we had built a loyal following. Although the band went away our fans never did. That's when GB Music approached me to sign a multi-album deal and it was a great opportunity to get back to basics. Playing, writing and singing. The things that took me by storm in my parents basement when I was 6 years old," states Gardner.
The results of Gardner's efforts can be heard on his debut CD, Wasteland For Broken Hearts, due in stores this November. The disc is full of AOR anthems and powerful ballads. Hirsh even reunites with his New England pals for the track, More Than You'll Ever Know. bridging the gap between New England's heyday and the year 2003.
Sounds Like: Hirsh Gardner - Wasteland For Broken Hearts
AOR/Pomp Rock from UK
Original 2002
Band:
Hirsh Gardner vocals, guitars, synth bass, drums, keys
Andre Maquera guitar
Jim Smith guitar
Buddy Sullivan guitar
John Fannon guitar
Dave Smith guitar
Jim Sambartino bass
Chris Carvallo bass
Gary Shea bass
Jimmy Waldo keyboards
Dave Smith keyboards
Tracks:
1. Wasteland for Broken Hearts
2. Don't You Steal
3. She's Love
4. Thunder
5. Bad Cowboy
6. When the Sky Cries
7. Your Love
8. Hold Me in Your Dreams
9. She Will Never Love
10. Welcome Home
11. More Than You'll Ever Know
12. Welcome Home Reprise
Hirsh Gardner is best known as the drummer for classic cult pomp band New England, whose late '70s/early '80s music was correctly described as a mix of The Beatles, Queen, and ELO. Call it power pomp, if you want - it was a smartly orchestrated yet still leanly energetic embellishment of Beatlesque power pop. Gardner's vocals are as strong as ever (listen to the New England rocker "Holdin' Out On Me"), and his background vocals are stellar. Not only is he one of the best hard rock drummers in the biz, but he also does a great job on all the other instruments listed in the credits. An album you should have.
Record Label: GB Music-www.gbmusic.com
Type of Label: Major
