One of the interesting things about the Bacon Brothers Band, besides the great music that they play, is how all of the band members are involved in other areas of the arts and entertainment business. Take drummer Frank Vilardi for example. A graduate of the Hartt College of music at the University of Hartford, Frank has had a hand in jingles, film, television, and producing. Also, when he’s not playing with the Bacons, he’s toured the world with acts like Bobby McFerrin Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Celine Dion, Jewel, Judy Collins and many others.

Then there’s lead guitarist Ira Siegel. Ira has been playing professionally for over 35 years now. If you check out his website, www.irasiegel.com, you’ll see that he’s played on countless albums through the years along with a variety of movie and television soundtracks. This summer, while the Bacon Brothers are off the road, Ira will be touring with Donny Osmond.

Next up is Paul Guzzone, the band’s bass player and back-up singer. Paul is a composer, songwriter, teacher, and record producer. He’s also the owner of Triple Z Music in Manhattan which is a company that specializes in composing and producing original songs for live productions and multi-media shows. Of course that just scratches the surface of what Triple Z is all about and the website, www.triplezmusic.com, will tell you much more.

Big brother Michael Bacon plays both the acoustic guitar and cello when performing with the band. He’s also blessed with an outstanding voice. Michael is a classically trained musician who is skilled in composition and orchestration. In the seventies he made a name for himself with a folk/rock band called Good News. In the eighties he moved to NYC to compose music for film and television even winning an Emmy Award in 1993 for his score of the documentary “The Kennedy’s.” To date he has scored over three dozen assorted films, television shows, and mini-series.

Little brother Kevin Bacon sings lead and plays acoustic guitar. He also plays the harmonica and assorted percussion instruments. Kevin, an in-demand actor, has appeared in over fifty feature films. He’s been on a creative run lately with intriguing parts in movies such as “Mystic River,” “The Woodsman,” and “Where The Truth Lies.” His upcoming projects include “Loverboy,” a movie he directed that stars his leading lady Kyra Sedgwick along with such notable actors as Matt Dillon, Marisa Tomei , Campbell Scott, and Sandra Bullock. In addition there’s the highly anticipated “The Air I Breathe,” which Kevin will star in along with Andy Garcia, Brendan Fraser, Forest Whitaker, and Sarah Michelle Geller among others.

The Bacon Brothers are touring in support of their new studio CD called “White Knuckles.” They will be appearing in Connecticut on May 23rd and May 24th for two free shows at Club BB inside the Foxwoods Casino. I spoke with the Bacon Brothers by phone on March 22nd.

BH – Michael, it’s hard to believe that the “Forosoco” CD is almost ten years old now. How do you think your music has evolved over the past decade?

MB – “I think we’ve gotten better and better as both recording musicians and live musicians. And I think in a lot of ways that’s one of the things I’m most proud of is how far Kevin’s gone and also myself because there are things I do now that I couldn’t dream of doing back then. And I think we’ve gotten our studio recording to a very simplified, mean and lean, concept that really works for us. You know our last record we really did all the recording in a week and ‘Forosoco,’ god, we were just recording for months. I just think overall it’s been a really good road and it’s been an up and down thing but if you draw a line through all the curves it’s definitely a rising line.”

BH – Kevin, did you have a theme or an idea of what you wanted the songs to sound like on this record?

KB – “I guess the songs were, most of them I think, were kind of post 9/11 which has certain affect on the record. For me it was sort of an introspective kind of time. And I think it’s hard to say that there’s any real one kind of theme. I think we just kind of keep going through life and if something feels like it’s worthy of writing a song about it just kind of comes out.”

BH – Michael I really liked your three originals “Flowers,” ”John’s Song,” and “Coffins And Cradles.” My question is about “Coffins And Cradles” because I think I remember you telling a story about that song. Does it pre-date the Bacon Brothers?

MB - “Yeah it really does and that’s an interesting story because I’ve written thousands of songs in my life and one of the things I’ve always prided myself on was that I’ve never forgot a song. Where if I forgot a song, it wasn’t a song I really cared about. And I wrote that song about two months before Neil, my son, was born so that makes it twenty-three years old at least. What was going on was we went to the doctor and there was some kind of bad news about the pregnancy so like anybody we were really kind of nervous. So we were having a checkup and in those days they had this antique device that you put on a woman’s stomach and you can hear the heartbeat and that’s when I wrote that song. That’s what it was about, that heartbeat. Hearing that and realizing everything is going to be ok. Also, we were living in the country at that time and I was building Neil a cradle. And it’s a really crazy thing to do for a musician because if you go into a wood shop you don’t really even know what you’re doing, it’s absolutely lethal. I can’t tell you how many times I almost cut my fingers off! But I did successfully build the cradle which kind of looked like a coffin too. And it sounds like it’s kind of a morbid song but it’s a total song of joy. Anyway, I’m telling you this because I played it for a couple of years and Kevin of course heard it and then I completely forgot that I’d ever even written it. I had no recording of it. I went back through my archives of cassettes and reel to reel tapes and live shows and I realized that I had no recording of it and in fact had forgotten that I wrote it. Kevin reminded me of it and it took me about two years to dredge it out of my subconscious. And finally I got it all and then I wrote an extra verse to it. So it was such a great thing to be able to resurrect out of brain matter and then also the fact that my brother cared about the song enough to remember it and remind me of it who had forgotten it. So it was a great and really interesting process to resurrect it.”

BH- Kevin some of your new tunes like “Get Away With It” and especially “Good News” seem to be both tongue-in-cheek and loaded with inside jokes. Is the “Good News” song title a nod to your brother’s old band?

MB – “Only you would come up with that one Bill.”

KB – “There’s a lot of inside jokes in the song but that’s not one of them. That’s a definite road song. The whole thing was written when we were on the road I’m sure of that. And there was some gig we were supposed to play and the attendance was going to be so light that they just cancelled it. And you know that always a little bit of a hard thing to take. I was just thinking about what it was like to be on the road and the trials and tribulations of having an actor in the band and how a lot of people see that as an obvious upside but there’s a lot of downside to it as well. So I kind of took a few different stories from the road and put it in there. And the thing about that kind of song is it’s a little bit of a throwback to some of the ‘Forosoco’ stuff in that it’s a song that’s based on sort of a serious thing where you’re feeling like it’s not going well and yet it’s pretty lighthearted.”

BH – There might have been some initial skepticism with people about an actor fronting a band but don’t you think that after four studio records and a double live album that those attitudes are a thing of the past?

KB – “No, I think they’re still there. I think it’s always going to be there. I think there’s always going to be a certain amount of skepticism. And I think that’s just kind of built in. But its better, it’s better than it was. I mean there are things that are actually said some times about how we’re actually serious about this music.”

BH – You know Kevin you have a knack for writing catchy songs. Take me through your songwriting process.

KB – “Well maybe Mike and I are a little bit different I’m not sure but they kind of come together. Usually you get a general idea of what the song is going to be about and it’s time spent with the guitar and chords and building a melody around the chord structure. I like to think a lot about the kind of groove and the rhythm and what kind of drums will play on the song just because I’m kind of drum oriented. I often times write with a drum machine. It’s kind of helpful to have some sort of a rhythmic vibe. And I’m a total rhythm guitar player and I play my guitar sort of like a drum too. To me it’s not so much the actual melodic kind of line as it is sort of singing around a chord progression and a rhythm.”

BH – Mike, what’s the difference in your mindset between scoring and songwriting? And what comes first? Do you read a script and come up with music that will fit a storyline or do you have things written beforehand that might fit some project?

MB – “Starting on the last part of your question first, I always try not to pre-write too much. I don’t think I’ve ever successfully taken a piece that I’ve written for some other project that maybe didn’t work and brought it over to a completely different project without very bad results. So I always try to wait until I really have a project in my mind before I start writing it. Moving backward through your question, the process of scoring is a completely different one than writing songs because if you’re scoring, first of all, the reason that you do it comes from some external place. Like somebody calls you up and says ‘this is the project, this is the job, this is the money, this is the schedule.’ And then, if you’re like me, and most of the people that do what I do, you have a source to write music which is inexhaustible and is always there whenever you need it. So the other thing that’s different from writing songs is the architecture of what you’re writing comes from the film that you’re working on. So one of the big things of writing any kind of composition is form, and the form is going to come from the film and the creative part comes from this instrumental music source. So if you understand both of those things then it’s a fairly easy process that you can break down into hours of work in a work day and it’s just a process that I’m very used to. On the other hand writing songs takes an enormous amount of discipline because you neither have the inspiration which comes from a job that somebody else has given you when you’re writing scores for films and you don’t have any architecture that comes from any thing else, from an external source. So you first of all have to plant yourself in a room with your guitar or your piano whatever, and slug through the process of writing a song which is not always the most fun thing to do, it can be very difficult. And it’s very easy to walk away from because nobody is going to say ‘hey wait a minute you have to deliver that song tomorrow at 11:00’ like they to with a picture. It’s one of the hardest things for me, to have that discipline. I want to write songs but you really have to give yourself a lot of time and you really have to force yourself to sit in your room and hash through it and try to really figure out a way of sending out to an audience what it is that you’re thinking about and what it is that’s important to you in that particular mood.”

BH – When I saw you guys in Ridgefield you opened with a song I wasn’t familiar with called “I’d Write A Song.” Is that a new song and have you fallen into a pattern of introducing your new songs before a live audience before recording them for a studio release?

MB - “We did two versions of this record, a 13 song version and then later on we decided to expand it to 15 songs. So I think you have the 13 song CD.

KB – “Yeah, ‘I’d Write A Song’ is on the 15 song disc.”

MB – “OK so that song is on ‘White Knuckles’ just not the version that you got so we’ll have to get the new to you. We also put the song ‘Playboy’ which we just added to our set on there as well. We got a lot of pressure to make the record not more than 12 songs and we pushed it to 13 and then the band was really disappointed that ‘Playboy’ was not on the record so we started revisiting the idea and thinking ‘you know we recorded these songs, we did 15 songs and we like all 15 of them, so once we put the disc out with this new Spinner label, we would expand it to 15. So both ‘Playboy’ and ‘I’d Write A Song’ are both on the CD.”

BH – Through the years I’ve seen you guys as a duo, as a five piece band, and as a six piece band. What kind of show will you be bringing to Club BB?

MB – “I’m not exactly sure, it depends kind of on Charlie’s availability because what happens to us is we do some gigs with Charlie and then we do some without him and we really miss him. (Charlie Giordano plays piano, organ, and accordion on the ‘White Knuckles disc.) And we did this record with him and he was such a big creative part of it that all of the sudden with a five piece it feels like kind of a void. So we’re booking him whenever we can but he does a lot of road work and he’s very busy so I’m not sure whether he’s coming to Foxwoods but we’ll certainly try to get him there.”

BH – Michael talk a little bit about Paul Guzzone. He’s immensely popular with Bacon Brother fans and it looks like the two of you are the best of friends.

MB - “It’s funny, he’s kind of become like a brother and I wouldn’t be surprised if people think there may be three brothers just because he’s been such a big part of the band from the very first moment. And he’s an enormous support system for Kevin and me. He’s just one of those one in a million people who pretty much loves music and is not selfish about it. I don’t think we could have made it this far without him and he’s the one person that’s been in from the very beginning. Everybody else who has been in the band has not been in from the beginning. So there’s definitely a different relationship that we have with him for that reason and we’ve just gotten to be really close over the years and he’s just an amazing musician, and he loves to play with us, and he’ll come up with stuff about the band and ideas about the band that somebody who didn’t care as much just really wouldn’t do. So I think we’re really lucky to have him.”

BH – Kevin, I know how much you appreciate a great lead guitarist. Tell me about Ira Siegel and his importance to the band.

KB – “Ira’s a phenomenal player. His skill and his ability is almost freakish. He plays great and he plays all different styles. I’m always interested to hear what he’s going to play. He’s constantly trying new sounds and new guitars. He shows up with a new guitar every gig! He must have hundreds of guitars. And he’s always taking it to another level. He can fit in to the hardest stuff and the softest stuff really, really well.”

BH – OK Kevin I have to ask you about some upcoming movies. Tell me about “Saving Angelo.” I saw it listed on an internet site and I have no idea what it’s all about.

KB - “I directed the movie ‘Loverboy’ and there’s a little boy in the movie named Dominic Scott Kay. And he called me up, he was nine years old at the time, and he says he’s directing his first movie and would I do a part in it. So I was directed by a nine year old. So that’s the story of ‘Saving Angelo,’ it’s about him and a little dog.”

BH – When is ‘Loverboy’ coming out?

KB - “The first week in June.”

BH - Do you have a good feeling about “The Air I Breathe.”

KB – “Yeah I do. I think it will be an interesting movie. I haven’t seen any of it, just a couple of days of my dailies but that’s about it. Today I was just thinking I should email the director and see how it’s going and how he’s liking it. But I haven’t seen it but I think it will be cool.”

BH – Will it be out by the end of the year?

KB – “It could be. Release patterns are often times less to do with whether a movie is finished and more to do with the right kind of positioning. So they might have it ready for late summer or fall but I’m not sure what they’re planning.”

BH – Are there any special plans with the band? Will you tour overseas or get back in the studio?

MB – “I think what our usual process is we eventually feather almost all the songs from the new record in and then at the point we start to get bored with that and my brother has written 300 new songs for the new record (laughs), that is kind of the process. I don’t think we’re quite there yet. I think we’re still pretty excited about this record and we still think it’s got some legs. So I would think we would start getting back into the studio maybe next winter or next spring about a year from now or maybe a little less.”

So come on out to Club BB this month and enjoy the Bacon Brothers unique blend of folk, rock, soul, and country. The fact that some of the band members have other things that they do for a living has never affected the musicianship, chemistry, and brotherly love that makes them such a special band and makes a Bacon Brother show such an enjoyable concert experience.