Steelers part- owner Thomas Tull preps for next move with his band Ghost Hounds
Thomas Tull told the Pittsburgh PostGazette in June that ever since he was a kid, he loved two things: the Steelers and the Stones.
With a little money and some guitar chops, he’s managing to live out some dreams.
The 49- year- old Hollywood producer, who now lives in Sewickley, became a minority owner of the Steelers in 2008, and though he’s not likely to replace Keith Richards or Ronnie Wood any time soon, his band Ghost Hounds got to open for the Rolling Stones at FedExField in Landover, Md., on July 3.
“I think that was the fastest 45 minutes of my life,” he said in a phone interview this week. “And it was one of those rare things in life that was even better than what I was hoping for.”
And rare is the band that can go into a stadium situation like that, as an unknown, and win over the crowd.
“Friends of mine who had opened for the Stones or been in those situations said, ‘ Look, this is as big as it gets and don’t get flustered if you get no response or someone starts yelling, ‘ Where are the Stones?!’ ” Tull said. “But, thankfully, the crowd really responded, and by the end of the set, they were really into it, and we got some great compliments from the Stones both during their set and after we came off, so it was super gratifying.”
Ghost Hounds had a trial run before that playing for the early day crowd at the Outlaw Music Festival at KeyBank Pavilion with a set that was a good indicator of success in the Stones gig. The band, which Tull originally formed here in 2009 and now has all new members, has a Stonesy feel rooted in blues- rock, soul and a touch of country.
It also has a dynamic soul- belting frontman in New York singer Tre Nation, who can work a large stage.
“We were looking nationally for a lead singer,” Tull said, “and couldn’t quite get it, so John [ guitarist Johnny Baab] actually came in with a 13- second Instagram video and he said, ‘ You gotta see this,’ and Tre probably sings for 4 seconds, but you watch him move around and as soon as he sang the first note, it was like, ‘ That’s the guy!’ So, at the time, Johnny didn’t know him and we had to forensically track him down.”
Baab managed to befriend the singer and invite him to move to Pittsburgh and join the band.
“I grew up singing gospel music,” Nation said. “So many singers in this genre, it’s familiar, it’s home base for them. But I feel like the best thing is to appreciate influences throughout different genres, so I have just as much appreciation for the Stones and ZZ Top as I do for Florence and the Machine and Beyonce. It’s more an identification with a passion and being engulfed in the magic of music.”
He throws out the ZZ Top mention because Ghost Hounds just announced this week that they will be touring with the bad boys from Texas in October, around the time Ghost Hounds releases its debut album.
Asked how he’s juggling all of this, Tull said, “I run a very large company and between that and the Steelers football season and having twin boys, I have to be very judicious in scheduling, but this is very important to me.
“But I’m not a golfer and I don’t have hobbies and things of that nature,” he added. “What’s great is the rest of the band members are just so talented, so it’s great to be able to plug into that, but they’re also incredibly accommodating and understand the precision with which we have to run rehearsals just because my life is my life and I can’t take my eye off the ball in other places.”
This week, Ghost Hounds will be in the heart of Downtown to play the annual Rock, Reggae & Relief, a two- day festival that benefits cancer research through the Piatt Family Foundation.
“Being able to play and show people what the band is about is exciting,” Tull said, “but more important, this is an extraordinarily important cause and we’re humbled to be a little part of that and help out.”