Suzanne Rothberg
examiner.com

Get ready BOSTON fans! The band is gearing up for their U.S. summer tour which includes their one and only appearance at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, on July 22! The iconic classic rock band from the town of the same name has been a mainstay on classic rock radio with the tunes, 'More than a Feeling,' 'Peace of Mind' 'Rock And Roll Band, 'Smokin', 'Foreplay', 'Something About You' 'Amanda' and more. It seems you cannot go anywhere without hearing at least one song by BOSTON.

The lineup for White Plains is in this order: Tom Scholz lead and rhythm guitar, bass, keyboards, Gary Pihl, rhythm and lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, Tommy DeCarlo, lead vocals, keyboards, percussion, David Victor, guitar vocals, Tracy Ferrie bass guitar, Curly Smith, drums, percussion, harmonica, backing vocals. Their famous logo is the BOSTON spaceship.

NY Rock Music Examiner spoke with singer-guitarist David Victor about their upcoming tour and what keeps the band going. He's the newest member of the band from California.

"I've never been to New York--but I'm looking forward to the County Center show!" said David Victor in a telephone interview. "It's pretty mind blowing to be an actual member of 'Boston' it's incredible the tribute bands that I've been in we play all kinds of music but every time we do BOSTON people are astonished-- it's not often that bands can pull off a show like ours."

We asked what brings the band BOSTON to Westchester.

"It's a new line-up for BOSTON. It's not just me that's new in the band we have a bassist and a drummer and it's the idea of doing a few shows this summer and get things revved up and ready to hit the road and possibly again next year," Victor admitted.

Surprisingly, the band does not spend much time on the road.

"I know that there's a lot of bands that are out playing all the time but BOSTON plays once every three or four years so it's not like you open a paper and say, 'Well we saw those guys last year you want to see them again?' You got to get out there and see us when you have the opportunity," he stated. "You never know when the next time we'll tour."

David's favorite BOSTON tune is 'Peace of Mind.'

"I like 'Peace of Mind.' I'm one of two lead singers in the band and the song has such a good message and melody. The songs are pure rock 'n' roll we know them and it's hard to remember a time when they didn't exist if you ever stepped back with a fresh ear and listen; they're just amazing songs and great lyrics and very positive."

One of the bands that David is in is BOSTYX, a tribute to both bands, BOSTON and Styx. Around the time he auditioned for Boston, he was in a 'straight-up' Boston tribute band. Turns out, he blended right in with the real BOSTON! They liked his singing and guitar playing.

"It's all good because it's the 'sunshine 70s arena rock' where life was a little simpler!" Victor said laughing!

David got his start from being a member of Velocity where he opened for Night Ranger, Quiet Riot, Y&T and Warrant.

"I'm a bit of a 'tweener' a little late for the 70s and 80s and I blossomed into a professional musician--I'm more from the later 90s era. Velocity was kind of an original band and playing with those acts and that's all you want to do is play and open for bands that the fans would appreciate and it was a lot of fun stuff I got some airplay I wish we could play some of the places that we played then--but I think BOSTON has some shows with Night Ranger and some of the bands I opened for with Velocity so it would be great to reunite with some 'pals' again!"

David enjoys playing live to fans.

"You can watch a video but it's not the same thing as playing live. With a lot of acts, they use pre-recorded backing track and BOSTON is all live--it's all doing everything live without a net it's all vocals, keyboards, guitars, drums, it's nothing digital it's kind of a 'throwback' but in a way it's a beautiful sound," he said. "I don't blame anybody for using digital recording but we're fortunate that we get to do shorter tours. On the other hand, I heard rumors that we may go out this summer too but for this tour we're not hitting the West Coast. There's plenty of the rest of the country to cover next year."

Whenever BOSTON hits the road, it's always a celebration of their legacy and their music.

"BOSTON, Peter Frampton, Styx are all arena rock headliners. The guys in the band are so great it's so much fun. I'm now one of the 'veterans of the band' the bass player is new the drummer was with the band since the 90s. BOSTON is one of those bands with so many recognizable songs. I remember when the first album came out back in the music business then you had to crank out an album every nine or ten months otherwise you might get fired or who knows? I'm going to turn 50 when they play at Sturgis it will be a motorcycle crowd up there!" Victor mused.

If you've never seen BOSTON live, the anticipation is building! Get ready to rock 'n' roll!

"What you see is what you hear we're singing and playing everything live it's a real authentic rock 'n' roll concert experience it's an energetic show huge video there's nothing scaled down everything is 'first class!'"