At The Spire Center: Former Stompers singer Sal Baglio 'happy to find new audience'

Sal Baglio is a man of multiple musical personalities, which is one reason he’s having way too much fun these days.

Baglio is bringing his Sensational Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster Show to The Spire Center on Friday night. He is of course, first and forever known as the lead singer/guitarist/songwriter of The Stompers, the rock quartet that came out of Boston in the 1980s with a major-label record deal and uncorked a series of hits over that decade. They never quite made it big nationally, as so many had predicted, but they carved out a lengthy career as one of New England’s longest-running and most beloved groups.

The Stompers had formed in 1977, with Milton’s Steve Gilligan on bass, and some of their hits included “Never Tell an Angel,” “Rock Jump and Holler,” “American Fun” and “Coast to Coast,” all of them channeling basic 1950s-'60s rock into more modern, arena-rock forms, without losing an essential melodicism that invited Beatles comparisons. And the sheer joy and rockin’ fervor of their work at that time provoked comparisons to another up-and-coming rocker whose music had similarly cathartic and infectious energy, named Springsteen.

But as time went on The Stompers went their separate ways and it was a while before they even began doing reunion shows. Gilligan, for example, went on to a career in more acoustic music, with bands like the excellent City of Roses. Baglio, meanwhile, never stopped writing music, and brought his musical talents to a variety of formats. He released two albums in 2003 and 2005 under his Rock E. Rollins moniker. After a 2001 reunion, The Stompers played here and there before deciding to finally put that band to bed in 2021.

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One major tie in Baglio’s career was with drummer and bandleader Tom Hambridge, who’d lived in Boston in the ‘80s when he fronted the rock band T.H. and the Wreckage. Hambridge had moved to Nashville and became a much-in-demand record producer and songwriter, and with his more simply titled Tom Hambridge Band he backed up a number of more famous artists. Specifically, the Hambridge group – with Baglio on guitar – did numerous tours with blues rocker George Thorogood and had also served as opening act for Alice Cooper.

More recently, Baglio has performed as The Amplifier Heads, a project that had its debut with the 2019 album “Loudah,” and continued with the late 2020 concept album “Music For Abandoned Amusement Parks.”  Those albums found Baglio basically playing all the instruments on the records and were done in his Electric Zucchini Studio in Marlboro. For live dates, Baglio would enlist musicians for a quartet.

Last year Baglio brought forth “The Peppermint Kicks,” another sizzling celebration of rootsy rock with that 1960s grit and those melodies that evoke the British Invasion. The Peppermint Kicks, a quartet, was the vehicle for songs Baglio co-wrote with guitarist Dan Kopko.

Another musical identity came when Baglio joined songwriters Allen Estes, Needham’s Jamie Walker and former Bob Dylan sideman Stu Kimball for a Songwriters In the Round series of shows in 2020.

Just two weeks ago, Baglio was part of another fascinating project, with a show at Arlington’s Regent Theatre celebrating the release of “Butcher, Baglio and Estes,” an album that unveiled a virtual supergroup of Boston’s best '80s rockers. In that combo, Baglio joined rocker Jon Butcher, famous frontman of The Jon Butcher Axis, and Allen Estes, the singer/songwriter who was one of the pioneers of the country-rock scene in Boston. Their album includes tunes they wrote together and separately but the threesome proves to be a potent musical force that also creates smooth vocal harmonies.

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Fans can expect music from all those eras of the multipronged Baglio career.

“The ‘Sensational Rock ‘N’ Rollercoaster Ride' is all my new music from the past few years,” Baglio explained from his home last week. “I haven’t been using The Amplifier Heads as the name. After The Stompers stopped, venues still wanted my new band, but the name was not well known. I had done those Amplifier Heads records playing all the instruments myself, but I’d take four of us out for the live dates. This Spire Center show will also include some of the one-man show I’m working on, where I don’t just play the song, but also explain what it is about and how it came to be written, as well as just stories from my rock ‘n’ roll life.”

The Spire Center show will include longtime Baglio cohorts Marty Richards on drums, Brad Hallen on bass and Dan Kopko on guitar.  And don’t think Baglio is slowing down at all, either, for he has a new Amplifier Heads record due out in November and is well into the production phase with music for another new album, slated for an early-2023 release. He cautions music fans that his shows are probably not going to be a night of Stompers greatest hits.

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“I have been doing less and less of the old Stompers music,” Baglio explained. “When you realize that The Stompers' last new music was released in 1985, it is awesome that we were able to play that music for the next 40 years. But once that band was done, we had to kind of put that music to bed. These shows are more about me doing my new thing, or my next new thing. I think the majority of Stompers fans are open to new things, and not just tied to that one thing. And I’m also happy to be able to find a new audience. I know with the success of The Stompers, they could probably still sell out The Spire Center, but I just don’t want to sing ‘Palisades Park’ anymore.”

Baglio is honing his one-man show format as well as performing with this quartet. On Nov. 5 he will return to his East Boston roots for a show at Zumix that will be focused on his personal history.

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“I’ve written a bunch of new songs from what you might call a sexagenarian point of view, about my growing up, going into rock 'n' roll, and the fantasy of going home again,” Baglio said. “That’s the music I’ll have on the album I’m doing for 2023. Normally my one-man show is about going back in time, the music styles that formed us, the experiences I had. There is one of those new songs on the Butcher, Baglio and Estes record, 'Home Again' – they convinced me to let them include that.”

'Natural bon vivant': Providence guitarist Mike Tanaka remembered

There was sad news from Providence this week, as the multitalented Mike Tanaka died after a long period of declining health. Fans in Providence and Boston knew Tanaka as a versatile and engaging rock guitarist/bassist with some of Mark Cutler’s combos who also moonlighted with his own jazz trio. But those were only his fun jobs, and he was usually commuting to New York or Chicago for his main work as television producer for various network shows such as "Good Morning America," and most notably, several years for Oprah Winfrey. “Mike was an excellent friend, and a great musician. He left a big space in our lives,” said Cutler.

Former rock critic, now union organizer, Scott Duhamel noted in a Facebook post, “He was a truly special person – erudite, an amazing wit, a sharp and dapper dresser, overflowing with knowledge and critical acumen, a dazzling conversationalist, a man of infinite taste and an overwhelming plethora of interests, all of it marked by an easy, self-effacing charm ... rocker, jazzbo, pop cult writer, wine connoisseur, foodie, cinephile, voracious reader, motorcycle enthusiast, fisherman, natural bon vivant.”

A measure of Tanaka’s self-effacing wit could be seen during his stint with the Cutler band, as he loved to step out front for a torrid rendition of the old Johnny Rivers hit “Secret Agent Man.” But in Tanaka’s version, he changed the chorus slightly, gleefully delivering it as “Secret Asian Man.”

A favorite Tanaka story here involved comedian Gilbert Gottfried doing a guest shot on "Oprah." Gottfried’s comedy was acerbic, even absurdist, and he wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but on this day he had the host and all of her audience in stitches, and his brief segment was expanded. As producer, Tanaka had to pay the talent at the end of the day, and he quickly began checking the budget to find a bonus for the comic, who was getting the minimum fee. Eventually, Tanaka told Gottfried how wonderful his appearance had been, how he was welcome back anytime, and presented him with a check for $2,500, many times more than what he expected. “This is all for me?” the stunned Gottfried said. “Are you sure?” Gottfried hurried out the door like a cat burglar, hoping nobody changed their mind. It was a measure of Mike Tanaka that rewarding an underappreciated comic gave him immense pleasure – and of course another hilarious anecdote to share.

Weekend gigs: Brandi Carlile, Noah Cyrus, Augustana

THURSDAY: The artfully named Red Hot NOT Chili Peppers tribute act at Soundcheck Studios. Grammy-nominated popster Alexander 23 at Big Night Live. The roots quartet Porterfield at The Spire Center. Alt-country powerhouse Lucero at The Paradise.

FRIDAY: Brandi Carlile sure to charm the TD Garden crowd. Swedish metal band Sabaton at MGM Music Hall. Rock icon Leo Kottke at The Narrows Center. Indie rockers Bad Suns at Royale. The pop trio Echosmith gets The Paradise grooving. The sublime soul of Dwight & Nicole, with new funksters Soul Monde, at Soundcheck Studio. "The world's most interesting bassist," Quincy's Ric Naistadt, brings his new trio into The C-Note. Damn Tall Buildings celebrate a new CD at City Winery.

SATURDAY:  Noah (kid sister of Miley) Cyrus sings at The Paradise. Augustana is "solo-acoustic" at City Winery, meaning frontman Dan Layus by his lonesome. Vermont songsmith Noah Kahan at MGM Music Hall. Maine-transplanted-to-Austin songwriter Slaid Cleaves always compelling at The Spire Center. FKJ (or French Kiwi Juice, if you will) is the hot electronica star from France, at Roadrunner. Rockers Defying Gravity at Brighton Music Hall.

SUNDAY AND BEYOND:  Adam Sandler and his band take over MGM Music Hall, through Monday. Pennsylvania emo band Algernon Cadwallader headlines Royale. L.A. rockers AWOL Nation arrive at The House of Blues.

Sal Baglio

When: 8 p.m. Oct. 21

Where: The Spire Center, 25½ Court St., Plymouth

Tickets: $22.50 and $25

Info: 508-746-4488 or spirecenter.org

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Spire Center: Ex-Stompers singer Sal Baglio 'happy to find new audience'