Albert Thomas Bouchard (; born May 24, 1947) is an American musician. He is a founding member and the original drummer of the hard rock band
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The band h ...
and current drummer of
The Dictators
The Dictators are an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1973. Critic John Dougan said that they were "one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth."
Origins
The band was formed in 1972 by Andy "Adn ...
. He is the brother of former Blue Öyster Cult bassist
Joe Bouchard
Joseph J. Bouchard (; born November 9, 1948) is an American musician. He was the bassist and one of the lead singers of the hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult during their most successful period. He is the younger brother of original Blue Öyster ...
.
Biography
![Blue Oyster Cult 1977 publicity photo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Blue_Oyster_Cult_1977_publicity_photo.jpg)
Bouchard was born in
Watertown, New York
Watertown is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, New York, United States. It is approximately south of the Thousand Islands, along the Black River about east of where it flows into Lake Ontario. The city is bordered by th ...
, and grew up in
Clayton, New York
Clayton is a town in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 5,153 at the 2010 census. The town is named after John M. Clayton, a federal political leader from Delaware.
The town contains a village also named Clayton. Bo ...
. He was a founding member of the hard rock band
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The band h ...
and a driving force through the band's first decade.
In 1981, Bouchard left Blue Öyster Cult. He began to work on an intended solo album that would become the ''
Imaginos
''Imaginos'' is the eleventh studio album by the American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult. It was released in 1988, and was their last recording with their original record label, CBS/Columbia Records.
The album took nearly eight years to c ...
'' (1988) released under the BÖC name.
He has also played on records for
Mike Watt (a version of BÖC's "Dominance and Submission" for the flip side of Watt's 1995 single "E Ticket Ride" ), and
Richie Stotts Richard Eugene Stotts (born 27 October 1953) (better known as Richie Stotts) is a musician, who was the first guitarist and one of the founding members of the punk/metal group Plasmatics.
In 1978, Richie was among the earliest musicians to sport a ...
(
Plasmatics
The Plasmatics were an American punk rock, hardcore punk and heavy metal band formed by Rod Swenson and Wendy O. Williams in New York City in 1977. They were a controversial group known for chaotic, destructive live shows and outrageous theat ...
),
Gumball and
Fabienne Shine. Bouchard has produced records for many other musicians, including Maria Excommunikata, Heads Up! and David Roter.
Until 2006, Bouchard's main musical project had been
Brain Surgeons, with whom he released several CDs on his own Cellsum Records label. Cellsum grew to host a number of other artists, including Les Vegas, The X Brothers, David Roter and Helen Wheels. In 2007, Bouchard formed Ünderbelly with original
Soft White Underbelly singer Les Braunstein,
Brain Surgeons bassist David Hirschberg, and guitarist Adrian Romero. They were featured on the 2008
Motörhead
Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...
tribute CD ''Sheep in Wolves' Clothing'', and released the songs "Critical Mass" and "Astronomy" in 2011.
In 2008, Bouchard formed the band 'Blue Coupe' with his brother Joe and original
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
bassist
Dennis Dunaway
Dennis Dunaway (born December 9, 1946, in Cottage Grove, Oregon) is an American musician, best known as the original bass guitarist for the rock band Alice Cooper (1962–1975, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021).
He co-wrote some of the ...
. Originally an Alice Cooper/Blue Öyster Cult cover act, 'Blue Coupe' has released three albums of original material: ''Tornado on the Tracks'' in 2010, ''Million Miles More'' in 2013, and ''Eleven Even'' in 2019. In 2014, Bouchard released his first solo record, ''Incantation'', which was followed in 2017 by a second album, ''Surrealist''. He has a new album released in November 2020, titled ''Re Imaginos'', a mostly acoustic version of the album ''Imaginos'', and is working on a follow-up ''Re Imaginos 2 Bombs Over Germany''.
References
External links
Albert Bouchard's web page2012 Audio Interview with Albert Bouchard from the Podcast "I'd Hit That"Blue Coupe web site
American heavy metal drummers
American male singer-songwriters
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
Blue Öyster Cult members
Living people
1947 births
People from Watertown, New York
People from Clayton, New York
20th-century American drummers
American male drummers
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
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