Brad Bosse
Brad Bosse is a man’s man. Athletic, competitive, hard working. He has also carved out a busy career in southern New Hampshire’s solo acoustic/singer-songwriter scene. It is impossible for anybody to go out for dinner and drinks anywhere just north of the border on a regular basis without soon seeing him in a corner of the room with his acoustic six string, microphone, and PA system.
As a youth, Boss played in bands for fun while working in the sales department at PC Connection in Merrimack, New Hampshire. At that time the aspiring singer-songwriter was into drinking and partying. Thinking he was invincible, he got himself arrested for DWI, losing his drivers license for 20 months. Not one to be defeated, Bosse used that time getting gigs and getting rides to gigs. After playing at an open mic hosted by the venerable Paul Costley, Bosse found out about Costley’s 40 year old agency, Not So Costley Booking. Bosse, not mentioning to Costley he was sans driver’s license, began getting gigs through his new contact..
“I was really enjoying it and getting my name out there. Getting my license back , I just made a decision. It was a pivotal moment in my life. I quit drinking. It’s been six years since I quit drinking. I always played in bands It was always sort of hobby wise. The DWI pushed me into playing music full times. It was really a blessing in disguise.”
Brad Bosse; Seaketch; Hampton Beach; NH
Self taught on guitar and vocals, Bosse grew up listening to his mother’s record collection as well as his own varied taste. “I remember waking up Saturday mornings,” Bosse recounted. “My mom would be blasting .Bob Segar in the house. I enjoyed the music, but I was like ‘Oh, shit this means there’s chores today.”
Into heavy metal growing up, then purchasing Green Day’s Dookie on cassette at Ames Department Store before moving onto Metallic and Korn, he eventually joined a jam band phase in high school. Bosse would soon learn guitar through a relative.
“My uncle played guitar. I remember at family events the one song he played all the time was ‘American Pie.” As kids we would dance. I expressed some interest in playing music, playing guitar. He taught me some simple chords, Bosse said. “It was one of those things that if I’m not feeling well or down, I’d just pick up my guitar and lose myself in it. I used it as a safety blanket.”
As for his blossoming interest in vocals, Bosse just pushed himself to become a singer. “I was not a great singer at all in the beginning,” the singer-songwriter said. “I’m basically a big amalgamation of all the artists I like listen to and I pick up little traits on their voices I wanted to incorporate into mine.”
Using this current Covid-19 quarantine to put more time into a recording project, Bosse has carved out some songs using Pro Tools and Mac Book to document his original music.
Brad Bosse; habitually posting venue selfies
“I’m pretty far into it, and I’m literally doing it all by myself,” he said. “It’s all rough right now. I would definitely have somebody mix all the stuff I’m doing.”
The world will get to see Bosse’s brand new music at a sooner point in time than he initially planned, as he no longer has the hectic pre-pandemic gig schedule he once had.
“My buddy Patrick Morrison is going to play drums on it. I’m going to play most of the other instrumentation on it. I’ll probably have Paul Costley come in and do some percussion on it. I’m hoping within a year.”
Bosse’s songwriting is inspired, like most songwriters‘ material, by different experiences in his life, a song could be related to music, relationships, nostalgia.
“I’ll get a motivation to write something down,” the singer-songwriter said. “I’m always writing riffs. Riffs come easy to me. Music comes easier than the lyrics. Lyrics, for me, have always been tough. When I listen to other people’s lyrics I’m suddenly thinking it so genius and so simple. Then I read my own stuff, and I’m own worst critic. I want to make it better.”
A New Hampshire native, Bosse feels indebted for all his home state’s music scene has done for him. While aware that in a small scene, cutthroat people, jealousy, and egos abound, he‘s risen above the fray. “We’re just in southern New Hampshire trying to make a living and play music. There is no need for that kind of stuff,” Bosse said.
Brad Bosse with husband Bill Corbett
Surrounding himself with people who have wisdom that comes from experience, Bosse believes there is a huge support network in New Hampshire, even if there are a few “sour apples out there.” Known for his aggressive scheduling, Bosse play over 30 gigs each month, sometimes playing two gigs a day.
“I treat it like a sales gig,” Bosse said. “I worked at PC Connection for years, and it really taught me how to sell myself and talk to people and not be afraid to hit the phones. You have to cheat on the line of annoying the hell out of people sometimes. Restaurants and bars, not that music is an afterthought, they have so much to do. That’s why I like to work with booking agents because they do all the dirty work.”
This past year Bosse had to make the biggest personal decision of his life. After hiding his sexuality from even his own family for several years, he came out to the world, got engaged to the man he loves, and then he married him. He was relieved to no longer have to hide himself away from the world.
“I was so closeted with my sexuality for such a long time,” he said. “I don’t really fit into that stereotypical PC. I grew up an athlete. I grew up with all my buddies being athletes. I didn’t want to be gay. Then, I met this person, Bill, my husband, and it was such a secret for so long. He was so patient with me. He helped me become comfortable with myself. It got to the point where I was like ‘Damn, I love this person so much. I’m happy. I don’t care any more.”
Bosse has not seen any discrimination against him since his coming out. He only had a learning curve as to how to be open and how to talk about his life.
“I was so fast about lies about why I’m single and stuff like that,” he said. “It was pretty cool to be completely honest. I don’t have to lie at all about anything any more. I saw no negativity. No bookings were affected or anything like that. I don’t know why they would be anyway. But, when you’re in the closet, you have this paranoia, a different sense of what it’s going to be like. Then you do it. You see the reaction. You’re like ‘Wow!’ I wish I came out earlier.’ But, at the same time, I don’t. I’m glad it went the way it was. I wasn’t ready myself to come out. I wasn’t comfortable with it yet.”
Everyone in his life told him they didn’t care as to who he loved as long as he was happy. Bosse said that even his politically “far right” friends had no issue with it. Bosse feels he’s much closer to his family and friends than ever before.
Brad Bosse
“I was pushing my family and my friends away to hide this secret life I was living with Bill,” the singer-songwriter said.
Inevitably, Bosse will be including a “coming out song” on his upcoming CD. It is focused on the issue of finally being comfortable with oneself. He wrote it about a week after he came out.
“It kind of just like spilled out on the page, “ Bosse said. “It’s definitely going to be on there. My good friend Kaylea Verville (of Shelf Life) is going to sing harmonies on it with me. She’s actually the first person I ever came out to.”
Bosse, ever the determined optimist, looks to the future, beyond the current Covid-19 crisis. He wishes to still gig out somewhat but would most enjoy being a booking agent, managing his own agency.
“I’d really like to do that and play music as well,” he said. “That would give me a hell of a lot more time to record and write and do the things I enjoy.”
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