It’s hard to believe New York’s own The Bogmen are still playing live and releasing new material some 31 years after their inception. Largely an East Coast phenomenon, the band garnered a huge buzz which caught the attention of Arista Records who issued two full-lengths – ‘Life Begins at 40 Million’ (1995) and the greatly under-appreciated and acknowledged ’Closed Captioned Radio’ (1998).
Photo credit to Matt Licari
The Bogmen’s debut sold a respectable 50,000 records and helped them land some coveted support slots with national acts such as The Barenaked Ladies, but the latter would get them dropped from the label. Largely a victim of their record company not knowing how and where to market the band, The Bogmen would inevitably break up just a year after their 2nd release.
And although the band would re-unite on different occasions with great results, their newest release – ‘In My Kingdom’ – is just what their fans have been clamoring for. The players live and on the record are: Billy Campion (lead vocals, guitar, ukulele) Brendan Ryan (keyboards, accordion, trumpet) Billy Ryan (guitars, mandolin, banjo, vocals). P.J. O’Connor (percussion, vocals) Paul Frazier (bass, vocals) and Matthias Bossi (drums, omnichord, marxophone), Dave Smoota (trombone), Paula Henderson (baritone sax), and Alicia Rau (trumpet). Original members Mark Wike (bass) and Clive Tucker (drums) added to some album tracks also.
We caught up with Billy and Brendan Ryan while preparing for the big gig.
Capital Chaos TV: It’s been a minute, but what do you remember about your Arista years?
Billy Ryan: At first it was exciting to be signed by Clive Davis and A&R guy Lonn Friend on a major label. They were noticing bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam explode and wanted in, but we were not easy to market for them as we weren’t grunge and hard to categorize. DJ’s heard Arista (records) and just thought of Whitney Houston and Biggie Smalls. Arista did have catalogues like The Grateful Dead and Patti Smith, but they were self-sufficient artists. In the end, it didn’t work. They wanted us to be something that we weren’t. The price of an education I guess.
Brendan Ryan: We had gone two years full time prior to the deal. Having Lonn Friend was a huge asset, but it became hard for him to drum up label support. We had a hard time making a living and paying rent at these times. They did spend a good amount of money on recordings and tour support. They enabled us to open and tour with bands like Shane McGowan & The Popes, KISS, and The Barenaked Ladies.
Capital Chaos TV: Bill Laswell was an odd choice for a producer. How did that work out for the ‘Closed Capitioned Radio’ record?
Billy Ryan: We had the same manager as Laswell and we were intrigued by his eclectic catalogue, especially the world and alternative music such as The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Africa Bambaata, Bernie Worrell, Iggy Pop, and PIL. We weren’t quite satisfied when he thought we were done so we finished the record with Godfrey Diamond (Lou Reed-Coney Island Baby, More, More, More).
Capital Chaos TV: You have a new record after a 25-year wait. Where did you record and who produced it? Any stories about the process? Any songs that were from your Arista years?
Brendan Ryan: The three of us (Billy, Billy and myself) began writing music and pooling our influences during the difficult times of the pandemic and the loss of a close friend. This resulted in a full length album of new songs, as well as some re-recorded oldies that we are really proud of. We recorded drums, bass and horns at The Carriage House in Connecticut which we absolutely loved! We also did some guitars, pianos and a horn section. We recorded overdubs and mixed in my studio as well as Billy Campion’s. I think we used some guitar tracks from Billy’s studio. It helped that each of us has our own recording set up so that we can go home and work on ideas. It was a very collaborative recording process between the three of us. In the end, Billy Campion and I produced it with a lot of input from Billy Ryan. As far as songs from the Arista years, we re-recorded “Raga” for the new record. We’ve added electronic drums, horns, mandolin and accordion.
Capital Chaos TV: Will you guys ever get an agent and do a proper US tour again? You definitely have fans out here in the San Francisco / Bay Area region.
Brendan Ryan: We hope so. It’s like the movie ‘The Blues Brothers.’ We have to do some promotion and be on a mission from God. We are currently looking for an agent or management.
Capital Chaos TV: The Bogmen headlined the Bowery Ballroom in the past. Why Irving Plaza for your comeback show?
Brendan Ryan: It’s a perfect-sized room for where we are at right now and, obviously, there is a history with us playing there. Our fans broke the bar record there several times (not that we advocate drinking heavily at our shows). The post 9/11 shows we did in December 2001 were heavy yet cathartic not only for us, but for our audience as well.
The Bogmen headline Irving Plaza located at 17 Irving Place in New York on Thursday, May 30th. Pan Arcadia open the show. Tickets starts as low as $59 and can be purchased at www.irvingplaza.com. Doors open at 6pm and the show kicks off at 7pm. All ages are welcome.
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Eddie Jorgensen
Categories: Interviews, News, The Bogmen
Capital Chaos TV 
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