BoshNelson Band is a group from Akron with a classic rock sound. The group has been making music together since the summer of 2016. Although the group is most known for their hit “Before I Can Say Goodbye,” it has two other albums. The band members, by stage name, include: lead singer Bosh Nelson, guitarist and back-up vocalist Doc, bass player Marty and drummer Mark Page.

Bosh Nelson spoke on the band’s behalf for this Q&A with The Kent Stater and KentWired.

Q: When did you guys get started?

Bosh Nelson:We got started in the summer of 2016 after I graduated. I made a Craigslist ad about how I was serious about wanting to do original music and then some guys messaged me back, and now we’re here.

Q: What kind of music and vibe do you guys go for?

BN:We’re more of a classic rock band. We try to stay in that genre, not too much hard rock. We’re more of a ‘70s, ‘80s classic rock — Led Zeppelin, Van Halen kind of stuff.

Q: Do you have any albums out?

BN: We have two albums out now on Google Play and Spotify. We’re also working on an all-acoustic album that we’re trying to get released next year, so we’ll see how that goes.

Q: What’s a challenge you’ve faced in creating the band and getting your music out there so far?

BN:You know, of course with all bands you can get a lot of negative comments. I just take it as criticism. A lot of people like our music, and then a lot of people dislike it and say it’s a little too wimpy and we have too many slow songs. But then a lot of people like the slow songs. So you just have to overcome that stuff and work with it.

Q: How do you overcome those challenges? Has there ever been an obstacle you couldn’t get over?

BN: No, not really an obstacle we couldn’t get over. I just take a lot of the good and the bad and work toward things to build our fan base more. I mean one of our slower songs has over 100,000 views, so I’m not really stressing over it too much.

Q:Would you say you have a pretty good fan base so far?

BN:Yeah, I would. We’ve opened up for a lot of cool musicians these past two years. Next year, we’re opening up for Chester See, who is a pretty big YouTube sensation. I’m pretty excited about that. So hopefully us opening up for bigger bands will get our fan base out there more.

Q:What’s the best thing that has happened to you since starting the band?

BN:Probably writing our song, “Before I Can Say Goodbye.” That’s the song that really put us on the map. I wrote that about my ex-girlfriend from high school, and that was the very first song I had ever written, too. … At some shows people get mad because we play that song at the very end. And it’s just like, “We have other songs,” and I feel like sometimes people don’t give our other songs a chance … just want to listen to that one song. So I guess writing it was good and bad.

Q:As a musician, how do you tackle getting people to listen to your other songs besides just the one big hit?

BN: It can be a struggle. We realized that on social media we won’t share that song anymore because if you want to check our band out, that will show up first because of the view history. So we work more on getting our other songs out there. We would promote them before, but mainly our big hit because you want that hit to keep growing.

Q: What are your future plans for the band?

BN: We hope to headline a big venue. We’ve played some cool venues, but we’re usually either opening up for a band or playing as part of a festival. And my personal goal is to play in the UK sometime. 

Q: Will you be touring with the new acoustic album? How far out will you go?

BN: We’re trying to play all over the U.S., but we have a lot of fan base in Ohio and the states surrounding us, like Pennsylvania and Michigan. We normally do four to five states, but we like to branch out more when we can open up for someone and find a good business opportunity.

Q: Before the interview, you mentioned a solo gig you’re working on. What’s the plan with that?

BN: I fired the original people I started the band with, and I have new people now that  have to get acclimated. I feel like I should do some solo stuff while I wait for that. So we can still get the name out and everything. We have a new guitar player, bass player and drummer. So it’s just going to take some time to get everything to gel.

Q: What happened to the old band members?

BN: Half of it was the direction of the band and half was the maturity of the band. One guitar player was always late for practice and shows and thought he was above the rest of us, and I couldn’t do that anymore. For the bass player and the drummer, they wanted the band to be more heavy metal and I feel like we already had a fan base with what we were doing. … If we change it up it could change the direction of the band and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to keep the classic-rock feel.

Q: So back to your solo gig. Besides not having your bandmates with you, what makes performing solo so different?

BN: With the one solo show I did, I personally like it better. Before each song, I connected with the crowd and got to communicate with them. … I feel like there was a better interaction between me and the crowd than with the full band. I like that. I know a lot of people go on stage, play and then leave, but I’m not like that. I like talking after the show, and I think that helps build the fan base, too.

Q:Anything else you want people to know about your band?

BN:All my music is from the heart. I don’t write anything fake. All my songs are written with the emotion I felt at a certain time. On my website there’s a bio on all my songs where you can read exactly what they’re about. I feel like the reason people connect with my music is because all my songs are filled with emotion and feeling. I think that’s why a lot of people like “Before I Can Say Goodbye,” because a lot of people have been heartbroken and hurt before, and they just connect with my music.

BoshNelsonBand’s music is available to stream on SoundCloud, Spotify and Google Play. For more information, follow the band on Instagram and Twitter @boshnelsonmusic, or online here.

Maria McGinnis is a features writer. Contact her at [email protected].