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[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]

Larry Tasse helped define an era—from New York City’s Tin Pan Alley to The Hello People, to working with Todd Rundgren, to film touchstones like Almost Famous, Six Feet Under, and Easy Rider. Now, his journey fuses with the future-forward pulse of Botz on “Larry Tasse + Botz” — with a potential 2.0 on the horizon. Rockers don’t fade—they evolve! Join the Interstellar Gazette as Larry Tasse is inducted into the Star of Fame

We are thankful for this opportunity to interview Larry.

🎶 Larry Tasse Interview

Presented by Interstellar Gazette — Star of Fame Series

Career & Legacy

1️⃣ Larry, You started your career in the legendary Tin Pan Alley. How did that environment shape your early approach to songwriting?

The environment of Tin Pan Alley was exhilarating!

A physical geographical location in Manhattan NYC on Broadway between 42nd and 57th Street — home to all the great live theatres, concert halls, jazz clubs, music recording studios, music stores, and the music publishing houses. Let me back up a bit to include my father who was my collaborator, mentor and lyricist at first. He was also a musician-jazz drummer and was pitching his songs which he wrote with his musical collaborators, one of which was my first piano teacher long before I came along. So I grew up musically not only in the creative world but also in the business of music.

Whatever I say about myself is with humility and gratitude. My talents lie in playing the piano in a variety of genres and writing music with lyrics and music composing. Besides having a natural and inherited gift for writing songs, I also learned how to write music/songs as a craft.

When I became a Tin Pan Alley staff songwriter for Kama Sutra Records I started to learn how to pinpoint songs for certain recording artists which styles of songs they wanted (and/or their record companies) wanted them to sing.

Yes, even though I was making a modest income against future royalties it was under quite a bit of pressure as the competition was fierce. Remember Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Burt Bacharach et al including all the great Motown songwriters were all vying for recording artists to record their songs.

Then the Beatles, Bob Dylan and all the great and not so great, one hit wonders, British bands and then American bands came along – but not only did they arrive on the scene – THEY WROTE THEIR OWN SONGS!!!

Tin Pan Alley was no longer its bustling self and eventually became real estate. The music business moved out to Los Angeles. FM Radio eventually became one of the primary sources for performance royalties. The recording technology radically changed for the production of incredible music and sounds behind the singer; not just for a singer – but also for the bands themselves, who all wrote their own music by now and had all this technology at their fingertips.

We evolved from recording live without any overdubbing or monitoring, where you had to be spot on or waste a lot of money redoing the song from the beginning/scratch again – this was recorded on 1/4 inch magneted tape in stereo, and any editing had to be physically cutting the tape with a one sided razor blade and splicing block then the cuts held together with splicing tape.

Next up 1/2 inch tape and 4 track overdubbing and a monitor system and outboard gear like reverb and echo and noise reduction and direct instrumental recording bypassing an instrument’s amplifier or in conjunction with those. Then 1 inch tape and 8 track overdubbing, then 2 inch tape and 16-32 track overdubbing and then the digital age of recording and the infinity of producing music for however long or as much time as the songwriter or band and/or their recording companies or their backers could afford. All against any royalties the band or songwriter earned.

We are now in the age of self-producing, self-recording, self-publishing, and self-distribution our own music with the help and use of AI, streaming platforms, beats, digital recording platforms and the infinite variety of genres, sub-genres and even sub sub-genres of music – and please don’t forget the whole world of sync-licensing.

Let’s back up to the beginning. In real estate it is “location, location, location.” In music and all of the arts it is “content, content, content.”

May your ongoing journey to creating “content, content, content” be filled with passion, productivity and prosperity.

2️⃣ What was it like working with The Hello People, blending rock with performance art and mime?

Ah yes The Hello People! Please Google to keep me honest 🙂 As a founder of The Hello People and a creator of the songs and pantomime routines we were able to combine the visual with the audio. Sort of a “Pocket Broadway Musical”. The band appeared on the “Tonight Show”, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and the Fillmore’s East and West while constantly touring the United States.

I love the theater and all the visual arts and learning the art of pantomime was a natural for me and then combining the music/songs with the visual effects of the pantomime vignettes was a perfect fit.

We were active from 1967-1980 and our music and our act reflected a lot of the social and cultural events of those years.

I do in all modesty ask you to Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Instagram and put The Hello People into their respective search engines as they will give more nuggets then I can mine 🙂

Performing live and going on tour helped sustain us during those incredible golden years of rock and roll.

May your performances bring you and your fans all the happiness and love there is to have.

3️⃣ Todd Rundgren played a huge role in your career — what lessons did you take away from working with him both in the studio and on tour?

Yes, Todd Rundgren did play a huge role in my career. First, how did we meet?

We met Todd when we were on our first tour to promote our first record album “The Hello People”. We were on the bill with him when he was also starting out with his band “The Nazz”. This was in a venue in his hometown of Philadelphia. We became friends and soon we developed a mutual musical relationship. Like us, Todd was a consummate pro. His music, songs and guitar work are legendary as are all the other acts he either produced or engineered for.

What I learned from Todd was to be spontaneous and “darn the torpedoes – it’s pedal to the metal.”

Making records was so “primitive” back then compared to today and Todd just used every ingredient and instrument, cable and outboard gear he could get his hands on. I also think it was a two way street as he learned from us vocal harmonies and visual performance.

His production of our last two recordings “Handsome Devils” and “Bricks” was spot on capturing the essence of the music and songs. He was gracious enough to let us include a few of those songs on his “Back to The Bars” tour. Rock on Todd! Roll on The Hello People.

Larry Tasse and the Hello People Promotional Photos

Industry Insights

4️⃣ You’ve witnessed the music industry transform — from vinyl and radio to streaming and AI. What changes have excited you most, and what challenges concern you?

I am grateful for my musical creativity longevity, and yes – I have been there done that and still being there and doing that. From analog to digital to AI and what’s next? As with Botz, the music industry still depends on music and songs to nurture but all is a collaborative effort.

The changes that have excited me the most, without being flippant, is all of them. I am amazed at the parallel universes of the birth of the music creators and the technology that was and still is at their disposal. To keep it short without the invention of the piano what would Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elton John or Paul McCartney have done? Without the invention of the guitar what would Segovia, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan or the Beatles have done?

The only challenges I perceive is the learning and mastering of any technologies that are available or will be coming on board in the future.

In my humble opinion there really isn’t any “artificial” intelligence, as once music creators went from natural singing, whistling or humming or imitating natural sounds and started making or using ready made instrumentation to reproduce instrumentally those sounds the creation of those instruments was and is natural. Remember the electrons that are harvested to make digital and electronic music are natural in nature.

Unplug the electricity or destroy the instruments then what?

Sort of a Botzian what came first “The Chicken or …?

5️⃣ Many of your songs have been featured in timeless soundtracks like Almost Famous and Six Feet
Under. What does it mean to you that your music continues to resonate with new audiences through film and TV?

I have always loved writing music to fit the ambience of a visual product be it still life or motion life.

In all modestly have I been immortalized due to the continuation and 24/7 world of what we now know as social media and who knows what that phrase will morph into in the future? It was once said “Your fifteen minutes of fame” now it’s more like 15 billion years of fame as all of our radio and media sound and visual waves expand out into the universe. Heck, maybe some hip and cool alien race will get a kick out of humanity’s culture achievements.

Getting back to your question, it is gratifying to know that my music helped to be part of the collective effort to bring “Almost Famous” and “Six Feet Under” to the viewing audience and to underscore the emotions of the scenes my music was used in. I also was a co-writer on a song called “Pass Me By” which was included in the soundtrack to the movie “Easy Rider” and also “Dinosaur” which is included in a new movie release called “The Lemurian Candidate” currently showing in festivals across America.

Music & the Future

6️⃣ In collaborating with Botz, you’re helping to bridge classic rock traditions with futuristic electronic
sounds. How do you see genres evolving in the next decade?

Ahh the Analog vs Digital debate! The Man vs Machine debate. I go back to my previous comment(s) – content, content, content. A keyword here being “collaborating.” Did people take advantage of the Gutenberg press when it was invented or did they ignore it and continue to write with quill and ink? What about the invention of electricity, the telephone, microphone, and the gadget list goes on and will go on as long as mankind’s curiosity exists.

Like a fine ensemble the blending of the sound(s) is what makes or breaks the performance. Same with recording technology, the blending of all the different human and nonhuman components creates the work.

However there is nothing like the live performances 🎼🎶

7️⃣ What advice would you give to younger musicians today?

The advice I would give to younger musicians today is to say, “practice, practice, practice your craft(s)”—whether it’s your instrument(s), your voice, your songwriting, or your music composition. And of course, stay on top of all the old, new, and future music technology that is and will be available.

On a personal level keep yourself clean and healthy in body, mind and spirit. Follow your instincts, your inspirations and visions. Be patient, be brave and above all be yourself.

Remember “music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything”.

8️⃣ If you could collaborate with any artist (past, present, or future), who would you choose — and why?

As the writer of both the music and the lyrics as well as a composer of music without lyrics this is a tough question for me to answer as I love the work of so many other composers and songwriters.

Joni Mitchell, Cole Porter, John Lennon, Beethoven, Stephan Sondheim, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder, a Botzer.

And why? – Because of their originality, whimsy and harmonic structures and timeless melodies.

9️⃣ Would you be willing to create another album with Botz in the future?

Yes I would be more than happy to create another album with Botz in the future and I have already written new songs and have other songs in my archives that are ready to go.

Personal Reflection

🔟 You’ve said your passion has always been songwriting and performing. What keeps that fire alive for you after all these years?

I was born with the fire and the passion to write songs/music and to perform playing songs and music. I just had to hone the skills doing both and my history though at times serendipitous was also filled with purpose.

With purpose I learned how to play the piano and learned how to write songs and music and a serendipitous birth to a father that was already on his music and songwriting journey where with purpose I learned the business of music then became a staff songwriter, then through serendipity started a musical rock and roll career with The Hello People.

When that part of my musical career was over I purposefully entered the world of the wedding band market in the NYC tri-state area.

Serendipity – I got married and my wife and with purpose started writing songs together and formed a very successful cabaret duo called “Radio Elegance”.

I purposely learned the art and skill of sound design and worked in the live theatre venue of the San Francisco Bay area and also composed music for the sync-licensing market.

I purposely taught piano and songwriting to give back what was so freely given to me and now through serendipity and a bit of research,

(I’ll give a nod to LinkedIn here) it seems the torch and the flame has been passed to my incredible collaboration with Botz. May any future years we have together and individually be filled with purposeful serendipity.

1️⃣1️⃣ How do you personally define success in music today?

I personally define success in music today as just sitting down at the piano with no purpose in mind and let a 12 bars blues tune serendipitously enter my soul, come out my finger tips, press the keys and then on purpose tap on my iPhone voice memo app and surreptitiously record the outcome. As my father once said to me, “son you never know who is in the audience.”

Let it begin and continue with you.

Thank you,

Larry Tasse
❤️🙌🎹🎼✍️🎶🙌🎹🎼✍️🎶

🪐 A Legacy Written in Sound

From Tin Pan Alley to touring with Todd Rundgren, composing for several films and now collaborating with futuristic tracks — Larry Tasse’s story spans eras and galaxies of music evolution.

🎧 Listen: Larry Tasse + Botz (Soundcloud)
🌍 Explore: Search “Larry Tasse” to discover more from this music legend.

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