Up Close: Bassist Brad Bowers

By Ryan Lytle

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Brad Bowers, a 15-year-old sophomore at Potomac Falls High School in Sterling, has a very special talent.

He can play the bass guitar like a seasoned professional. What started out as a hobby a few years ago has blossomed into a budding musical career.

Bowers spends a great deal of his time touring across the country with the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars, and he recently had the opportunity to perform at the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock on the National Mall.

Bowers sat down with LoudounExtra.com to discuss his reasons for playing bass guitar, sacrifices he has made for the music and what he hopes his legacy will be.

Q: Talk about how you got interested in playing bass guitar.

A: I started off playing piano. I was probably in second grade, I think. I didn't really like the music. The music was really boring for me and I wanted to play other stuff so I decided I wanted to start playing bass. I started playing bass for about two years and then found the Paul Green School of Rock and started playing bass there. Last year, I tried out for the Rock All-Stars and I've been touring since then.

Q: Did playing piano help you in regards to reading music for guitar?

A: Well, I play by guitar tabs. I should go back to reading music and count on some of the theory I learned from piano but I haven't gone back to it for awhile. It's a lot harder to do and I'm just lazy with it.

Q: At a young age, most kids that play guitar usually would not think about playing bass. What made you want to play bass guitar?

A: I think I was listening to The Who and they have a really awesome bass player. From there I just found other bass players, and they weren't playing the normal root stuff. They were going beyond that and playing some really cool stuff and I wanted to do that. That's what made it more interesting for me.

Q: What made you realize you could actually be pretty good at bass?

A: I was just picking up the music really quick and no one else really played bass so I was different, and I liked that.

Q: Talk about your experience with the Paul Green School of Rock.

A: I started off at a school in Vienna and I played there for a year. I played bass there and we got to do a show every three months. I did four or five shows with them, and then a new school opened up in Ashburn. I moved there because it was a lot closer to home for me. There's the school and then there is also the all-stars, which are the best kids from the school. They are split into teams, and the different teams do different tours. There are three all-star teams in the country. There's one in New York and two in Philadelphia. I'm on one of the Philadelphia teams because it was the closest team to where I live.

Q: Talk about some of the opportunities you have had touring with the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars.

A: I did a winter tour, starting at B.B. King’s in New York. After that, I went to NAMM which is a really big music convention in Anaheim. It was a really small team that went to that and we got to play a bunch of shows, so that was cool. I toured with Napoleon Murphy Brock, who played saxophone and sang with Frank Zappa for awhile. He was in the band back in the beginning so that was really cool. Then I did a tour in Wisconsin, then went down to Florida and toured back up. Touring goes all year long. We have rehearsals on Saturdays so I get a ride to Philly on Saturdays.

Q: Has it been difficult balancing the music with your academics?

A: No, not really. It hasn't been tough to keep it all under control.

Q: Do you enjoy all the touring that you do?

A: Yeah, touring is awesome. It's just a bunch of other kids with the same interests in music as you. We just all want to play music and it's a lot of fun. I just like all the shows when it's a packed house and everyone is really enjoying it. That's the best part of it. Everyone's just really feeling the music.

Q: You had the opportunity to play at the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock on the National Mall. What does that mean to you?

A: I think the whole event of it, paying tribute to it, is really cool. I think it's really cool that we get to play the music that was so monumental back then. I think that some of the people, it means more to them than us. I mean we weren't there for it but there are people there that understood what it meant so that’s cool.

Q: You've already accomplished so much musically already. Do you ever have problems with trying to stay humble about it all?

A: Yeah, I think so. When you hear people talk about how good our group of musicians are it's hard to stay humble. But, I think you have to keep in mind that there are a lot of other people out there that are better than you. You just want to try to be better.

Q: What are your ultimate goals in music?

A: Play music. That's all I want to do. Any of it would be cool, whether playing in a band or playing back-up for someone. Anything will be great as long as I'm playing music.

Q: You're so young yet you travel and have a lot of commitments. Talk about how important of a role your family has played.

A: It's mostly my mom. My mom has to drive everywhere. She's always doing a lot of driving, and some of the stuff is on short notice. It will be like, two days later you'll have to drive me to Philly and no one else can drive. I think it's hard for her but she does it.

Q: Away from the music you play, what kind of music do you listen to?

A: I try to listen to everything. I listen to all the old stuff like Led Zeppelin and the Stones. I really like R&B and Motown. I don't mind if a catchy Disney song comes on the radio. I'll listen to the Jonas Brothers if I have to. I mean, pretty much everything has some sort of musical value and I'll appreciate it.

Q: What's going to be the moment when you decide to form your own band?

A: Well, right now I'm really fine with playing other people's music and playing covers. I'm still trying to find the influence that I want and I don't know what I want quite yet. I think when I start wanting to create and writing my own music that's when I should start it with a band. I'm just not ready yet.

Q: What do you like to do with friends in Loudoun?

A: I don't really have that much time for anything else to be honest. I've just been too busy with things for the last year to even be able to hang out with my school friends as much as I'd like to. But, I think staying busy is alright because I'm playing music and that's what I want to do, and I've made a bunch of new friends from across the country, too.

Q: When it's all said and done, what do you want the legacy of Brad Bowers to be?

A: I hope they say he made good music and influenced people. That people had a good time listening to his music. That would be the best part.

Your Thoughts...

Are you happy that the school year is over?