Brad Elvis - The Handcuffs/The Romantics

Brad celebrated his 50th year of his first band gig this past June with 4,321 documented live shows. Brad is still drumming and songwriting with his band The Handcuffs who will be releasing their fourth album this year with no plans to retire. Brad has also been drumming for The Romantics for the past sixteen years and they call him the second original drummer with now being with the band almost three times as long as original drummer, Jimmy Marinos. Brad grew up in mid state Illinois in Pekin and Peoria, IL before moving to Champaign, IL with his band Screams, in late 1976. He details his varied and exciting career throughout our conversation. I want to welcome Brad to the show. Screams were signed in late 1978 and they released their debut album in 1979 on the short lived record label, Infinity/MCA. Screams toured with Van Halen for four months before heading to England to headline their own tour. In Brad's lengthy fifty career he has shared concert bills with hundreds of acts such as The Ramones, Cheap Trick, The Clash, Billy Idol, Psychedelic Furs, Blondie, B-52's, The Raspberries, Iggy Pop, on and on. Brad's next band, The Elvis Brothers released two albums on Portrait/CBS in the golden era of '80s MTV and also an independent album in 1992. From there he formed Big Hello with three albums and they were the darlings of the early IPO festivals in Los Angeles. Brad and his wife Chloe continued on to The Handcuffs who continue to perform live and release critically acclaimed albums. Brad is a self taught drummer who was drawn to the drumming style of Keith Moon from purchasing The Who single at the time, "I Can See For Miles". Young Brad inhaled any and everything by Moon and The Who along with other drum heroes like Ginger Baker, Ringo and John Bonham to name a few. Brad has been drum stick twirling, drum stick bouncing and drumming on many recording sessions and shows ever since. With a dozen albums released in his lengthy career, he has performed in thirteen countries and thousands of shows, Brad is now writing his book of his nonstop journey in rock and roll with more stories than you can shake a drumstick at. Meeting along the way, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Pete Townshend, Carl Perkins, Charlie Watts and too many to name. Brad also sat in on drums a few years ago as guest drummer with The Beach Boys and The Bangles along with many other experiences which will be in his book. See you all in 2021.

You can listen to Brad Elvis - The Handcuffs/The Romantics online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Brad Elvis - The Handcuffs/The Romantics is an episode from Friends and Music with Brian Doherty by Brian Doherty.

This episode is 01:25:21 long.

This episode was published on Oct 6, 2020.

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