ROCKERS RETURN,
Maine’s Kurt Baker makes Madrid his music home
There’s a firmly established system for New England musicians: Become a big deal in your hometown, move to Boston and become a big deal here, outgrow the Hub and go national.
That’s how it’s supposed to work.
So three years ago, when Portland power pop maestro Kurt Baker needed to expand his audience, he started looking at Boston apartments. After a nasty dose of sticker shock, Baker decided to skip Boston entirely. He moved directly to Madrid.
“I was asked to do an acoustic tour of Spain (in 2014) with my friend Dario (Argento) from (the Italian band) Radio Days,” Baker said ahead of his Saturday show at O’Brien’s Pub, the finale of a three-week stateside trek. “I’d been to Spain many times before on tour, and it was always so fantastic. The music venues, the rock ’n’ roll fans, nice weather and delicious food — a rock ’n’ roll paradise.”
After the acoustic tour, Baker settled into the scene in Madrid and quickly found a new backing band made up of Spaniards — the Kurt Baker Combo. Thanks to Spain’s fetish for power pop, punk and pub rock — styles Baker excels at — he’s been busier than ever in his adopted country.
“There is an aspect of positive energy and attitude in the music style of power pop and rock ’n’ roll that is very relatable to the way Spaniards are,” he said. “They love going out, being in large groups of friends and staying out all night long. Rock ’n’ roll is great party music, and the Spaniards love to party.”
Baker has plenty of fans at home in the United States (although he does move more tickets across Europe), but one fan has made all the difference.
In 2012, Steven Van Zandt picked Baker’s “She Can Do It All” as one of his “coolest songs in the world” on his Underground Garage radio show. Months rolled on, and the E Street Band guitarist and “Sopranos” actor continued spinning Baker songs. Eventually Van Zandt reached out to the young songwriter when he was looking for new music for his Wicked Cool Records label.
“The (Kurt Baker) Combo had just finished tracking our new album ‘In Orbit,’ and we were about to start looking for a label to release it,” Baker said. “The timing worked out perfectly, and the Combo’s album was the first record to be released by the new and updated version of Wicked Cool Records.”
The Wicked Cool connection has certainly helped raise Baker’s profile. The Combo will continue to tour North America but, for financial and artistic reasons, the group will call Spain its home base for the foreseeable future.
“We’re hoping to come back in the fall, but perhaps this time we’re gonna do a West Coast tour,” he said. “But when we get back to Spain, we’ll be playing some very fun festivals, as well as doing a tour of Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom.”