Hermine Schima Basso
Over the last five years Hermine Schima Basso has become a fixture in the live music scene around greater-Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Having grown up in a musical family, singing with her family as a child, Mrs. Basso was ready when her guitarist son asked her to be his singer at an acoustic duo gig.
“As an exceptional guitar player he has been playing out since he was 14,” Basso said. “He had opened up the Boathouse (in Dracut, Massachusetts), the B4B Benefit for breast cancer every year. One year, he had no singer. So, he looked at me and said ‘Do you want to do it?’”
Trepidatious, Basso enlisted her friend Malcolm Collins to play drums and another friend Evan Desmarais to play bass. They threw a little set together and opened B4B with Basso’s son on guitar. A year later, Basso’s fate took an unexpected turn.
“Malcolm had written on Facebook that he was putting a Black Crowes tribute band together. I jokingly said ‘Can I be a backup singer?’ My joke ended up being taken seriously,” she said. “He called me a month later and said ‘We’re ready.’”
Hermine Schima Basso
Basso became an Amoricans’ co-backing vocalist with Shari Richardson, another fixture on that local scene between Manchester, Nashua, and Chelmsford. Amoricans swiftly gained a following, resulting in gigs in Georgia, New York, and many in Boston. Basso and Richardson later formed Triple Play, an acoustic trio, with Amoricans’ guitarist Kevin Meaney. From there, Basso became a co-lead vocalist with Adam Roberts in a Gleason founded cover band called Sindicate, which, like Amoricans, swiftly became popular.
Basso’s sudden eruption into the scene could have been the result of something percolating deep within her psyche for many years.
“My family was musical,” she said. “When my mother was a child she used to do singing competitions. One of her younger brothers is an exceptional guitar player. Myself, Heather Anne from Roadhouse; she’s my cousin. Myself, Heather Anne, and her sister grew up singing to my uncles guitar playing. When we were little, we used to stand on the hearth at the fireplace during family holidays and give little concerts for the family.”
Jumping into the scene, though, was only a dream until Collins gave her a push here and there. As March is Women’s History Month, Basso discussed the women in her music scene she has learned the most from.
Adam Roberts, Hermine Schima Basso; Sindicate
“I’ve learned there a lot of women I admire right now,” the singer said. “My cousin Heather Anne, her power is incredible. Shari Richardson taught me fearlessness because she is always smiling and energetic and she will tackle any song that’s thrown at her. She really taught me not to be afraid of anything and just push anything aside. Lola Domino from J-Lo Acoustic; she’s glorious and her command over a crowd is so admirable. And Neeley Luna. Her voice is just incredible. She’s somebody I aspire to have my vocals be that quality. The Far is the name of her band. She’s just an absolutely incredible vocalist.”
For Basso, joining her local music scene has been life changing, particularly with Amoricans and the whole underground following for Black Crowes and the Crowes’ spin off Magpies.
“They started to come and support Amoricans early on, and they have become so near and dear to my heart, the relations I have developed,” Bass said.
Hermine Schima Basso, Kevin Meaney, Shari Richardson; Triple Play
Another twist in Basso’s life and music career happened when Amoricans’ bass player Steve Gleason invited Basso to join the local cover band he manages as a side project, Sindicate. Gleason and his Sindicate band mates initially needed Basso to step in here and there to give the lead singer a break. Her job morphed into being a co-lead vocalist.
Being a co-lead vocalist in Sindicate has been a hard act for Bass to perform, challenging. Basso does not get to choose her own songs for that outfit. Her band mates vote on which songs to play.
“I’m singing some things that had you had presented them to me, I’d say ‘No, I can’t sing that.’ But, I’ve surprised myself and handled things I never thought I could handle. I really love the challenge of Sindicate.”
Basso identifies with Gleason as a human being. Neither of them believe in being stagnant “We’re both very driven to be a better person today than we were yesterday,” she said. “Getting into the Amoricans, we were probably the two least experienced musicians to join that project. We both worked really hard to have the staying power.”
Basso’s experiences with Amoricans force her to pinch herself to see if she’s dreaming. She found herself and her band mates in venues in Georgia, Boston’s Loretta’s Last Call and The Midway, Stone Church in Newmarket, New Hampshire, and the Daryl Hall owned venue Daryl’s House in New York state.
Hermine Schima Basso
“When I was in Daryl’s House, it was just a surreal experience,” Basso explained. “I just felt like ‘How did the little girl singing into her hairbrush in her bedroom mirror end up here?’ It’s all been a fairy tale to me. It really has felt like that.”
Being in Triple Play Acoustic works well for Basso because her friends are in it with her. “Shari Richardson is one of my dearest friends, and I just love working with her. We have such a great relationship. We are not competitive with each other. We support each other. We have so much fun together. I just love that project. It’s really laid back and fun and working with Shari and Kevin Meaney is just wonderful.”
Progress is the common theme running through all of Basso’s work with each of her bands. Always striving to be better, Basso turned her music scene participation into a huge self-improvement project.
“Amoricans helped me get my foot in the music door,” she said. “I started off doing backups and learning that way and have gradually come out front more and have Triple Play and Sindicate that I do co-leads with. Everything has been a stepping stone to more progress, trying to become a better version of myself and become a better musician.”
Steve Gleason, Hermine Schima Basso; Sindicate
Basso’s primary criteria for band mates is she wants to work with the kind of people she would hang out with outside of music. “I want to work with good people,” she said, “a camaraderie, constructive criticism. I like working with people who will suggest to me ways I can be better.”
Original music is something that Basso will consider if it presents itself in a meaningful way. “If it’s a party of my journey, I’m definitely in.”
Basso’s first job was working as a janitor for her father’s cleaning company. Today she is the marketing specialist for a large Realtor. Climbing up the ladder was not always easy. “It’s a lot of work,” she said. “Thankfully, I have the attitude that I’ll sleep at some point.”
Basso frequently has to shift gears from her day job to singing in her bands. “There are some nights I have to go right from work to a gig, which can sometimes be a bit of pressure. By the time I get in the room and get ready to get on the stage, I’m ready to go.”
Basso can manage her family, work, and music life because of her loved ones. “My son is 24 and lives on his own, and I have a very understanding husband who usually comes for the first set of a gig. My life is pretty much work and work.”
Eventually, Basso’s goal would be to move to larger rooms, like a theater, and try to convey the lyrics she sings to move a mass of people. “The best compliments I get is when somebody has goosebumps or they started to cry, the song I sang brought them back to a really important time in their life. That’s why I do this.””
