In a way, the latest BoDeans album was an educational experience.
“I was moving between houses and apartments and places and I had to learn to record in all different locations and make it all work,” said Kurt Neumann, lead vocalist and guitarist. “Then we went through the pandemic. I was going to release it right as the pandemic was starting and then it all got sidetracked.”
It took three years but the album would finally get its release this past summer. Songs from “4 the Last Time” are among those the audience will hear when the band performs at 8:30 p.m. Dec. 30 at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. Playing the venue at this time of year has become a tradition for the band.
“Every year somewhere between Christmas and New Year’s we tend to go to St. Charles and play a good show,” Neumann said. “The community seems to really love it, we love it, so it works out really well.”
Along with the classic BoDeans hits like “Good Things” and “Closer to Free,” fans will get to hear songs from the new album as well as newer tracks from the band’s last several releases, he said. Among those is the high energy “Ya Got to Go Crazy,” the first single from “4 the Last Time.”
“It’s a great, fun, uplifting kind of song so it comes across really fun. And when we play it live as well, it’s that feeling. When people come out to a show that’s what I always wanted them to feel, like it was kind of an escape from the stress of everyday life,” Neumann said.
Another new track from the album is “Come Along Way,” a song about the journey you take as a family, he said. “The ups and downs, the highs and lows. You kind of go through it together,” Neumann said.
Neumann’s experience writing music and quickly recording for the Netflix series “The Ranch” helped while working on “4 the Last Time,” he said.
“They wanted new music every week so I got real good at recording faster and the setup I use,” he said. “I was able to move and just set it up somewhere and just keep going. For a while I was in a rental apartment and you have to work around the hours that people are out to work instead of playing all night long.”
When the pandemic started and it became clear The BoDeans couldn’t tour in support of the new album, it was put to the side and work began on “2020 Vision,” which involved “rerecording a bunch of our old songs, and I would release one a week on YouTube and Facebook,” Neumann said. “It wasn’t just a recording but it was a video I would do with each song.”
For 24 weeks the band posted new recordings of its older works.
“We play a bunch of those new arrangements for people as well,” Neumann said of the upcoming Arcada show. “It gives people a chance to hear the new stuff and some new arrangements.”
The “2020 Vision” videos are available on The BoDeans website and YouTube channel, along with videos of Neumann’s podcast, “Staring at the World.” So far he has recorded two seasons worth of episodes, although he is currently taking a break because he’s moving.
For the podcast, Neumann talks with “people who do creative things in their life and try to figure out where it was that they made that turn or decision into ‘I’m going to live a life of creating positive energy or positive things,’ whether it’s writing or art or whatever they do,” he said.
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Neumann said he never imagined doing a podcast, but gave it try after his daughter, Tessa, suggested the idea. “And she asked me what would you do for one and I was like ‘I always wanted to teach a class on creativity,'” he said.
“In school I noticed creativity is almost never spoken about. You have maybe an art course or a music course you can take as a side thing. But all the importance is about math and science and what I know is just that, even in math and science, it’s all about creativity and yet we’re really not pushing that button.
“We’re really not telling people that this is the most important thing, learning to be creative and pushing that creativity. And they just don’t seem to do that in school. And so I wanted to make the podcast themed around that.”
The BoDeans
When: 8:30 p.m. Dec. 30
Where: The Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main St., St. Charles
Tickets: $59-$79
Information: 630-962-7000; arcadalive.com
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.